Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [221]
In one quick motion, she jumped out from behind the Dumpster, scrambling to take a firm stance, legs apart, arms in front, aim focused on the back of the bastard’s head. It wasn’t until she cocked the gun’s hammer that she saw Stucky flinch.
“Don’t move an inch, or I’ll blow your goddamn head off.”
“O’Dell,” she heard Turner say.
She could finally see him. He was standing close to the building, a shadow covering most of his face. With Stucky between them, Maggie couldn’t see if Turner had his gun drawn. Instead, she concentrated on her target, not ten feet in front of her.
“O’Dell, it’s okay,” Turner told her, yet he still didn’t move.
Did Stucky have a gun pointed at him?
“Drop whatever you’re holding and put your hands up behind your head. Do it. Now!” she yelled, surprised at her own voice, amplified and bouncing off of the brick buildings.
The footsteps behind her had slowed, their echo making what Maggie knew to be only several men sound instead like a whole troop. She didn’t turn. Her eyes never left the back of Stucky’s head. He hadn’t moved, but hadn’t obeyed her command either.
“I said hands up. Now, goddamn it!”
“O’Dell, it’s okay,” Turner said again.
But there was still no movement, not from Stucky, not from Turner, not from the men keeping their distance behind her. Maggie inched closer. Perspiration trickled down her back. A breeze swept strands of damp hair off her forehead but whipped others into her face. Still, she didn’t move, didn’t flinch. Her finger remained firmly on the trigger, pressing, ready to squeeze. Her entire body had gone rigid, freezing much too stiffly, threatening to lock her muscles into position.
“Last time. Drop what you’re holding and put your hands up behind your head, or I’ll blow your skull wide open.” This time the ultimatum came through clenched teeth. Maggie’s head throbbed. Her hand began to ache from the effort it took not to squeeze the trigger.
Finally, his hands went up while something slapped and crunched against the cobblestone. She could feel it splatter her feet, and knew it was the plastic take-out container he had been carrying. But she refused to look down. She didn’t want to see what part of Rita had been spread all over the ground. Instead, she kept her sights on where the nose of her gun pointed, in the middle of the tuft of black hair at the base of his skull. At this close range and at this angle, the bullet would drive through the skull and into the brain, shredding the cerebellum and ripping through the frontal lobe before it exited the top of his forehead. He’d be dead by the time his body hit the ground.
“Ease up, Maggie,” she heard Delaney say, and suddenly he was beside her.
The others stayed behind them. Turner stepped out so she could see that he hadn’t been injured. Silence filled the alley so completely, she wondered if they were all holding their breaths. Yet, she hadn’t dropped her stance or lowered her weapon.
“Turn around,” she ordered the back of Stucky’s head.
“O’Dell, you can put away your gun,” Turner said, but she didn’t look at him. She wouldn’t slip this time. She wouldn’t let her guard down.
“I said turn around, damn it.” Her stomach twisted into a series of knots. Would she be able to look him in the eyes?
He turned slowly. Her finger pressed tighter. All it would take was a minor adjustment, a split second for her to refocus between his eyes. Then one more second to squeeze the trigger. But she wanted him to see it coming. She wanted him to look at her. She wanted him to know what it felt like to know another person had total control over his life. She wanted him to feel fear, and yes, she wanted to see that fear in his eyes.
The man stared down at her with wide, frightened eyes, a thin, drawn face and shaking bony hands. He looked as if he’d faint from fear. It was the exact reaction Maggie had dreamed about. It was the exact revenge she had hoped for. Only the man was not Albert Stucky.
CHAPTER 23
Early Tuesday morning
March 31
Maggie opened her hotel-room door to