Slowly, we inch toward one another.
Caterpillar starts monologuing for the audience in classic villain style. “Good news, friends. Your fellow agent has struck up a deal. He’s convinced me to let everyone go and turn myself in. In exchange, all he needs to do is make a simple choice. Isn’t that exciting?”
Reed and I drift another step closer.
“I figured you’d enjoy being in here when he makes his selection. You know? To bear witness to his bravery.”
One more step.
Carnosaurus prattles on. “The suspense is killing me. Will he save the woman he loves or his own sister? One lives. One dies.”
Kenzie turns to the newcomers. “Ginny, don’t let him do this to me.Please. You have to stop him.”
Ginny looks away, cruelly blowing her off. She obviously has no loyalty to anyone but herself.
Now Kenzie knows how it feels.
I glide two inches closer, then freeze when Jabali swings his focus toward us.
“I just realized something, Agent Hayes. This must be painfully familiar to you, huh? Holding the power to decide someone’s fate.” He waggles his brows, trying to elicit a reaction.
When he doesn’t get one, he resumes his bizarre cajoling. “Must beagonyto be in this position. Especially considering your own mother had a choice. And she didn’t pick you, did she?” He clicks his tongue, feigning pity. “Aww. I can’t decide if it’s tragic or poignant that you’re faced with the same decision. Keep one and discard the other. The power is in your hands.”
The words Reed whispered late that one night replay through my mind.
My mother had a choice. And she made it. Perry and I paid the price for her selfishness.
Reed’s jaw hardens, anger locking it in place. His upper lips curves, and his neck muscles elongate. “How do you know about that?”
“Kenzie’s mother told herallabout your real family. The one who decided you weren’t worth the trouble.” He points the gun at my traitorous former friend. “She gleefully passed on every little detail, which I tucked in my back pocket and saved it for the perfect moment. It’s underhanded, I know. But you gotta give me credit for the way it’s come together.”
“Stop it, Silas-err-Jabali,” I blather in a flustered rush, refusing to let him cause Reed any more pain.
“Shut up, Lila. The men are talking,” Cacciatore snaps at me.
Bastard.
Using my above-average dexterity, I delicately slip the cap off the razor, exposing the blade, then tuck it in my front pocket.
WWKD? What would Kri do?
Jabali pads to Reed, ensnaring him in his chilling stare. “Kenzie told me how you were born to an eighteen-year-old unwed slut in the hills of Tennessee. Poor thing didn’t have a pot to piss in. She couldn’t possibly afford to keep you all.”
All?
“Stop it,” Reed seethes, his entire body trembling. “Shut the fuck up.”
Reveling in Reed’s pain, Jabali digs the knife in deeper. “She looked at the babies she delivered and played eeny, meeny, miny, moe. You and Perry didn’t make the cut, did you? Tragic.”
Despite some of that not adding up in my mind, I won’t let the man I love suffer. I’m done allowing Jabali to unearth this trauma for his depraved entertainment.
“That’s enough,” I rage at him, moving in front of Reed and turning my back on the devil.
“Look at me,” I tell my love, capturing his eyes. “Breathe with me, dimples. I’m right here, and I need you calm.” I hold his stare, reminding him of his vow. “In this lifetime first, remember?”
Carburetor cackles behind me, his cruelty eclipsing the room.
While he mucks it up, I flick my wrist, slicing through Reed’s wrist restraint in one smooth motion. “Told you I was good with my hands,” I whisper, adding a wink.
