Griffin
Griffin hit the floor, and the big guy toppled onto him. The guy strained, groaning, and then flopped, a lead weight. Lana cried out. She was on the ground too, a red stain spreading across her chest. Sweetie was heading for her, pistol raised.
“Lana!” Griffin shouted. There must have been two shots—Griffin had kicked Maggie’s gun, and she’d shot the big guyinstead. A second shot must have hit Lana. From the guy’s own gun, or Sweetie’s?
Lana tried to sit up, but fell back hard, shuddering onto her elbows. She touched her chest. Her hand came away coated in blood. She stared at it for a second, blinking. Her elbows slipped out, first one then the other. Her head lurched, her eyes locking onto Griffin’s. She reached out with the bloody hand, but her eyes rolled back and closed. She slumped, exhaled on a sigh, and was still, her mouth open and slack.
Shit. Griffin heaved against the hulk on top of him, but his upper body was nailed down, his hands bound. Sweetie delivered a savage kick to Lana’s side. Her body jerked limply and was still.
“Go help them,” Maggie shouted to Sweetie, as the banging on the door reached a crescendo. “I’ve got this.”
“Maggie, no.” Griffin could barely speak, with his lungs being crushed.
Maggie’s face was pure hatred as she gripped the pistol in both hands, aiming at Griffin’s head. “Like you say, I’m going down. But I’ll be forever famous for taking you with me,baby.”
She went to fire—but something swept in and knocked her sideways. Her gun clattered across the floor.
Lana. It was Lana. She stood where Maggie had been, holding the prop book like a weapon. Her hands and feet were no longer tied. Maggie was on hands and knees, clutching her head and groaning.
Griffin shoved with everything he had and managed to shift the big guy enough to wriggle out. As he stood, Maggie lurched for her gun. He swiveled and snatched it off the floor, half a second before she got to it. With his hands still tied, he managed to eject the magazine and clear the chamber. She sagged, tipping to one side.
Light streamed in, followed by people running—dozens of them—spreading through the cavernous space with an echoing roar. In the distance, sirens wailed. Four figures dressed in black encircled Griffin, Lana and Maggie—the celebrity goon squad. Griffin held up his hands and slowly lowered the gun to the floor. The gunslinger picked it up while the woman zip-tied Maggie. Across the soundstage, people surrounded the doctor, Sweetie and Jerry. He recognized the aging rocker from his street, Kiki the security guard, several of hisGods and Mortalsco-stars, a couple of paps, the fan from outside Darnell’s house, the regulars who hung out by his gate. And many, many people he didn’t recognize, half of them filming on phones.
He turned to Lana, who was also taking in the scene. She wobbled and he grabbed her as best he could, looping his tied arms over her.
“Whoa, crazy vertigo.” She slumped, clutching his arm, and they awkwardly sank to the floor.
He looked at her T-shirt. “You got shot. I thought you’d?—”
“I didn’t. Just… They sedated me—everything’s fuzzy.” She touched his cheek. “Except you. You are not fuzzy. Let me get that rope off you.”
“But the blood,” he said, as she untied him.
“It’s his blood.” She gestured at the dead guy. After being shot through at close range, he wasn’t a pretty sight. “When you kicked Maggie’s gun, it hit him and I got splattered. I thought ithadgotten me, at first.”
“You died. I watched you die.”
“Seven-hundred ninety-one-point…” Her brow furrowed. “Point-four-three-zero.”
He laughed. “You’re amazing. Are you sure you’re…”
She held up a finger, her eyes calibrating. “Point-four-three-zero-two-eight. That’s pretty much as long as they come. Screenacting. I read it on ebook last week. There was a chapter on death scenes.”
“Hands down the best death I’ve ever seen.”
“Griffin!” It was Estelle’s voice. As he turned, she took in his appearance, open-mouthed. He looked down. He too was covered in blood.
“I’m fine. Not my blood.”
“My sister!” Lana said. “The doctor gave orders to kill her.”
“She’s okay,” Estelle said. “She has police protection and is being moved to another hospital—Evangeline’s with her. Darnell’s awake and perking up, so Peter’s taking him to his doctor for a check-up. He says this is the most fun he’s had since the nineties.”
“I thought the cops were coming to the hospital forme?” Griffin said.
“They were, initially. See, I met this cop in Fitch—at the set—who used to work in missing persons in L.A. I called him earlier, and he called his buddies, and they were only too keen to go in and locate Vivien. He said they don’t often get a happy ending. Though a pap had gotten there first, snapping photos.”
“That jerk,” Lana said.
