“Agreed. Once Manuel knows I didn’t show up for targetpractice, who knows what he’ll do.”
They made their way to the brown building, with no one in sight except the homeless man, and it looked like he’d dozed off. Once inside, they quickly and silently began clearing rooms.
***
“So, he just walked right up and let you shoot him?” Manuel seemed surprised. “I didn’t think it would be that easy…you’re sure he’s dead? No cops, huh? Well, all right then, come on back, and we’ll celebrate.”
Maggie’s tears fell freely. Mitch was dead. She could tell from the one-sided conversation and the glee in Manuel’s voice what had happened. He’d shown up and let himself be shot. She couldn’t fathom it and thought she might be going into shock. Her heart felt like it was splitting right down the middle.
What was he thinking? He had to know Manuel wouldn’t just let her walk away. Why would he do that?
The clues. She didn’t give them enough to find her, so he must have thought showing up at the park was the only option. It was all her fault. She should have told them before going to the store. They could have come up with a plan. She should have given better clues as to where they were keeping her. Dammit!
After celebrating with a big swig from a Jack Daniels bottle, Manuel sauntered over to her, gun in hand.
“Hey, sweetheart. Don’t cry. I can make you feel better.” He traced her cheekbone with the barrel of the gun. “You and I are going to have a good time tonight.” The tears fell harder. Mitch was dead, and she would be raped and then, in all likelihood, killed tonight.
She hung her head, defeated. There was only one option left. It was a long shot and would probably only serve to get her killed faster, but she wasn’t going down without a fight.She tried inconspicuously to reach into her front pocket. Having her hands tied made it difficult, but at least they were in front of her, and she finally got was she was after.
A loud bang made her look up. The door flew open, and there he was. Alive! She gave a cry of relief. “Oh my God.”
“On the ground, assholes,” Mitch yelled, his gun pointed at Manuel’s chest. Adam was right beside him, pointing his gun at Manuel’s buddy.
“What the…? You’re supposed to be dead!” Manuel sputtered in disbelief. Rather than drop to the floor as commanded, he pointed his gun at her head and said, “I don’t think so. Stand up, darlin’.” He positioned her in front of him, using her as a shield.
“Coward,” Mitch taunted. “Hiding behind a woman? What a pussy!” At the same time, he gave Maggie the slightest of nods and then motioned with his eyes to his right. She nodded back, indicating that she understood. The next thirty seconds played out in slow motion.
Maggie used the pocketknife to slice the arm around her neck. She pushed hard and cut deep. Manuel screamed, and his instinctive reaction to push her away proved fatal. As she dove to the floor, Mitch fired twice, hitting Manuel in the chest.
Manuel’s eyes, wide with disbelief, quickly narrowed in anger as he raised his gun to shoot. He managed to pull the trigger on his way down, firing off a wild, random shot, before hitting the ground, dead.
Mitch was hit and thrown back, hitting the door behind him and sliding to the floor. Maggie screamed as Adam shot the other man, who had pulled a weapon and was taking aim at him. Adam then turned his gun back to Manuel, who lay motionless. He ran over and kicked the gun out of his hand.
Satisfied he was dead, Adam reached to help Maggie up and wrapped her in his arms. She took a split second of comfort and then ran to Mitch. She could hear running, yelling, and gunshots in the hallway. The police had arrivedand were rounding up the rest of Manuel’s gang.
“Oh God, Mitch.” She was crying in earnest, running her tied-up hands over his body, trying to find a wound. She had just realized there was no blood when suddenly, he coughed. “Adam, he’s alive!”
He knelt and knocked on Mitch’s chest. The thumping sound made it obvious he was wearing a bulletproof vest. He was coming to, groaning, and cussing up a storm.
“Shit, that hurts,” he growled.
“It’s a damn good thing you wore that. I was going to kick your ass if you hadn’t.” Adam grabbed him by the back of the collar and dragged him to the other side of the room, commanding Maggie to follow him.
“The last thing we need is to get shot by our own SWAT team,” he explained. “Thank God those other idiots were on a different floor and couldn’t get here quickly. This could have gone very differently,” Adam said, still on edge.
“Manuel?” Mitch looked around.
“Dead. Nice shot.” Adam moved out of the way so Mitch could see Manuel’s body on the ground.
He heaved a sigh of relief.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
“Can you believe that shit about Lance?” Adam asked from the passenger seat of Maggie’s grandparents’ Toyota. It had been a couple of days since the shooting, and they were driving back to pick up their cars.
“No, man, that’s seriously fucked up. What was he thinking?” Mitch responded.
“Apparently, his gambling problem left him with some serious debt. There were several people after him trying to collect money. Add to that, he knew it would come out that he was giving inside information to Manuel. Probably figured he’d lose all credibility and most likely his job. He didn’t see any way out.”
