She obeyed, slidinglow in her seat.
Carson opened his door slowly, weapon drawn, using the truck door as cover. Around him, six other officers had fanned out, all with weapons trained on Eugene’s vehicle.
“Francis Whitmore!” Carson’s voice carried across the parking lot, using his real name this time. “Step out of the vehicle with your hands up!”
Francis emerged, and Carson’s blood ran cold.
He was wearing a vest. Strapped with what looked like explosives. His hand hovered near a device on his chest—a dead man’s switch.
“Everybody back off!” Francis shouted. “I’ve got enough C4 here to take out half this parking lot!”
The officers hesitated, looking to Carson for direction.
Carson’s mind raced. This was bad. Really bad. If Francis was willing to blow himself up, he had nothing left to lose. And Nora was still in the truck, less than thirty feet away.
“Francis,” Carson said, keeping his voice calm, praying calling him by his real name would somehow get through. “You don’t want to do this.”
“Don’t I?” Francis laughed, high and manic. “I’ve got nothing left to lose, Detective. You took everything from me. My family. My freedom. My cousin is in a hospital room under guard because of you.”
“Your cousin attacked an innocent woman. So did you. That’s on you, not me.”
“Innocent?” Francis’ face twisted with rage. “Her father destroyed my family! He started the investigation that got my uncle arrested. That made him kill himself. That left my mother broken and my cousin and me with nothing!”
“Your father embezzled money. He made that choice. Daniel Bell just reported it.”
“And now his daughter pays the price.” Francis’ eyes locked on the truck. On Nora. “She’s in there, isn’t she? Your precious victim. The one you fell for.”
“This is between you and me,” Carson said. “Leave her out of it.”
“She’s the whole reason for this! Don’t you get it?” Francis took a step forward. Officers tensed. “I’ve spent three years planning this. Three years watching her. Learning her. Waiting for the perfect moment to make her pay for what her father did to my family. And you ruined it. You saved her. Again and again. So now?” His hand moved closer to the trigger. “Now if I can’t have my revenge, nobody gets to be happy.”
“You blow that vest and you die too.”
“I know.” His smile was terrible. “But I’ll take you and her with me. That’s worth it.”
Carson’s mind raced through options. Francis was twenty feet away. Too close to Nora. If that vest detonated, the truck wouldn’t protect her.
He needed to draw him away. Get him focused on something otherthan Nora.
“You want revenge?” Carson called out. “Then take it. On me. I’m the one who shot you. I’m the one who arrested you. I’m the one who stopped you from getting what you wanted.”
“You’re stalling.”
“I’m offering you a trade.” Carson took a step forward, holstering his weapon. “Let Nora go. Let everyone else go. And I’ll come with you. We can settle this, just you and me. No explosives. No innocents getting hurt.”
“Carson, no!” Nora’s voice from inside the truck, strained with fear.
“Stay down,” Carson ordered without looking away from Francis.
“She cares about you,” Francis observed. “That’s interesting. Maybe instead of killing her, I should make her watch you die. That would be its own kind of revenge.”
“Or maybe you should stop hiding behind explosives and face me like a man.” Carson took another step forward. “You and me. Right now, Francis. No bombs. No tricks. Just fight.”
He was goading Francis. Trying to provoke him into making a mistake. It was risky. Francis could detonate the vest at any moment.
But Carson had to get him away from Nora.
“Stop calling me that!” Francis shouted. “No one calls me that anymore!”
