“That’s enough.” He shoved her forward, into the tunnel. “Let’s go see what your husband and his brother are up to.”
“Ernie, stop,” she pleaded, pressing backward to no avail. “You used to be friends. You were just boys. You played together. Please stop,” she begged. “There’s no need for this, because there’s no business anymore.”
“Silly girl. This isn’t about business.” She felt the cold, hard mouth of his gun at her temple. “Now, move!”
Ernie Willoughby was a madman. He wouldn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, and she had to warn John before he found him and killed him. She grabbed on to the arm that had locked around her neck and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Ernie is here! He has a gun!”
twenty-sevenJERRY
Jerry shut the door to his car and headed into the barn, wondering how much John had accomplished while he was gone. They were doing well with moving stock, but this last shipment to Dutchie was going to keep them busy for a couple more days, he thought. Still, it was encouraging, seeing the boxes and bottles leave his hands for the final time, knowing he would no longer have to worry about deadlines and quality control as well as everything else. Soon he would be done, taking his wife out for the night, watching her belly grow with his child.
As he reached the top of the tunnel, he saw the two crates hidden back in the corner. That meant Adele had finished her job of pulling together the last fifty bottles from inside the house for delivery. It was a chilly night, and he hoped she was all bundled up inside now, keeping warm in front of the fire. Maybe working on that tiny white sweater she’d been knitting last night.
He had just placed his boot onto the top rung of the ladder when he heard a sound that cut through him like a blade. A woman’s gasp, caught on a sob. Adele was here. She was afraid. Everything in Jerry’s body flashed with anger.
“Let her go,” he heard John growl. Jerry held his breath, listening for the response, though he already knew who it would be.
“That would be a stupid move on my part,” Willoughby replied calmly. “I have all the advantage here, don’t I?”
“You should have let me kill him,” John had said. Jerry wished with all his strength that he had.
“What are you doing here?” John demanded now.
“I wanted to see for myself how the famous Bailey brothers were still in business. Pretty easy, since I’ve got eyes and ears everywhere. They led me straight to your house. Then I saw this pretty little thing carrying a crate to the barn and I thought, No, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep their stock on their property. But it appears you are indeed that stupid.”
Jerry was hot with fury. For the past week or so, he had ignored the vague warning pulsing in his chest that told him he was being watched. Never should have done that.Listen, Jerry! Never stop listening!
He had to get down there undetected. Travelling back in time to another tunnel, where silence was everything and listening was even more, he moved down the ladder like a cat, checking for loose gravel before he put his foot on the ground at the bottom. No rocks or dust in sight. Nothing to give him away.
From his belt, he grabbed his gun, then he turned toward the tunnel, his arms held straight in front, but what he saw froze him in place. Willoughby stood about eight or nine feet ahead of him, taking up most of the space in the tunnel, but he could see a little bit of blue at the bottom: the hem of Adele’s dress. Every part of her was shielded by Willoughby. There was no way to get a shot off unless he wanted to shoot through them both. His only option was surprise.
Adele made a little sound, like a hiccough, tearing Jerry’s heart. “Stop, Ernie,” Adele pleaded. “You don’t have to do this.”
“Let her go.” It was John’s voice. He was trapped at the far end of the tunnel. They’d never dug another entrance. There was no escape.
Willoughby was moving slowly forward, closing in on John, so Jerry edged forward a little faster, knowing the terrain so well. That’s when he saw Willoughby had Adele around the neck, his Colt 45 pressed against the side of her head. She was gasping back tears, trying to be brave, and in that moment, he wondered if it was possible to love someone so much he could actually die. Because seeing her there, witnessing her terror, was ripping him apart. He clenched his teeth together, knowing he had to focus. Solve this problem.
He was closer now, could see John, his gun raised, but neither of them could take the shot with Adele in front of Willoughby like a shield. No matter how John felt about Willoughby, Jerry knew John would never endanger her. John would give his life for hers. His brother’s eyes flitted to him for the briefest second. He didn’t want Jerry to interfere.
“What do you want, Willoughby? Our booze? It’s yours. I won’t even fight you for it.” John sounded a little more confident now, knowing Jerry was there, but Willoughby didn’t hear it. Willoughby never heard anybody but himself.
“If I wanted your booze, I would already have taken it. I think I’ve proven that. It’s you I want now, Bailey. You and your brother. You’ve humiliated me at every turn. You are gonna pay for what you did. I want you gone.”
“What do we owe you?” John asked. “How are we supposed to pay for saving your life?”
A slight pause. “Don’t try to turn this around. Frank would be here if it weren’t for you. I’d have a full hand and I could have gone out there to fight for our country. Come to think of it, if I’d gone, I could have shot you over there instead.”
“Many tried,” John said, rolling his eyes upward, pausing at the ceiling in an exaggerated way.
That was for Jerry’s benefit, and his heart constricted, realizing his brother’s intention. There had to be a better way. There had to be. He mouthed a no, but John never saw it.
In that moment, Willoughby shoved Adele to the side and fired off a shot, but John was already ducking, rushing at Willoughby. Adele dashed out of the way just as Willoughby raised the butt of his pistol and brought it down on the back of John’s neck. John dropped like a stone.
Without a second thought, Jerry leapt forward, one hand on his gun and the other reaching for the back of Willoughby’s coat, yanking hard to throw him off balance. He was heavy, and he fell with a thud.
Adele stood trembling against the wall, frozen, and Jerry reached for her hand. “Get out of here, Adele. Right now. For our child’s sake.”
