If I Should Die_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [108]
From the corner of his eye, he recognized the blond guy Bobbie had been talking to at the bar on Friday night. Ian.
“I should tell you, if I don’t return with you or your girlfriend, Bobbie will kill the old farts slowly. She enjoys it. Come with me, and she’ll shoot them in the head so they won’t feel a thing.”
Sean gauged the seriousness of the threat. He didn’t know where Bobbie was staying, and they didn’t have time to track her down. And after seeing what they did to Deputy Weddle, he knew they’d do the same to the Callahans.
“Sean! Come now!” It was Noah.
“I can shoot that guy, too. He’s kind of bossy.”
“I’ll go,” Sean said.
“Out the front. We don’t need your friends getting trigger happy.”
Ian snapped handcuffs around his wrists and Sean felt a surge of rage. He hated being cuffed, but went willingly. Ian pushed him to one of the trucks and into the backseat.
Sean recognized the guy sitting in the passenger seat. It wasn’t hard; he was the only black man he’d seen in Spruce Lake.
“Go get the others,” Ian told him. “Dead or alive. I’ll wait here.”
Sean fought against his cuffs. He may have just made the biggest mistake of his life.
Lucy helped Patrick secure the two men who Sean had shot in the hand. Both were bleeding, but neither injury was life-threatening.
“Noah, Sean hasn’t come back out.”
Noah went back inside the house. Something didn’t feel right. Someone was watching her.
She reached for her gun at the same time she whirled around and faced a tall man with a gun pointed at her head.
“Frank!” a voice shouted from the corner of the house.
The man turned, taking his eyes off Lucy, and she dove toward the truck. A gun fired and Lucy almost thought she’d been hit, but she felt no pain.
Noah ran out of the house. His gun was aimed at a black man with a rifle. “Omar Lewis.”
“Well shit, just go blow my cover after I saved the girl’s life.”
“Where’s Sean?” Noah demanded.
“Bobbie wants him. She doesn’t want you.”
Omar fired his gun twice, into the side of the house next to the heads of two men who were tied up. “Don’t say a word,” he told them, “or I will kill you.”
“What the hell did you do that for?” Noah said, not taking his gun off Omar.
“Keep it down,” Omar said, his voice a low growl. “I have to leave the impression with the others that you and the girl are dead. If I bring you to Bobbie, she’s going to only keep one of you alive. Trust me.”
Lucy fumed. “Trust you? After you shot at us at the mine?”
“We’ll chat later, sugar,” Omar said.
Patrick also had his gun on Omar with one hand, and with his other helped Lucy up from where she’d dove away from Frank. She said, “There’s four of us, we’ll find a way to end this now. Noah—”
Omar interrupted. “I finally have Bobbie Swain Molina in the palm of my hand with Sherwood Lowell almost within reach and y’all come in and fuck it up. Do you know how long I’ve been setting up this sting? Tomorrow the biggest gunrunner in the U.S. would have been here, but I’m sure even Bobbie can’t keep a lid on all this shit. Now I’m going to lose him, and have that bitch to deal with. Stay here until I’m clear. Meet me at the Lock & Barrel at midnight and I’ll tell you where your man is.”
“You have to tell him we’re alive!” Lucy said.
Omar shrugged and slipped back around to the front.
Lucy almost ran after him, but Noah grabbed her and held her tightly around the waist. “Lucy. We’ll find him.” He turned her around to face him and gripped her firmly by the shoulders. “If anyone can get out from between a rock and a hard place, it’s Sean.”
She said, “But if he thinks we’re all dead, he’ll be reckless.” She prayed Omar did the right thing.
Sean listened to the two men—Ian and Omar—but all he could think about was Lucy, dead.
“Where’s Frank?” Ian asked as they drove away.
“The girl got the drop on him.”
“I didn’t like him anyway.”
“Any word from the other team?”
“They’re waiting for the kid to show.”
Sean pulled at his handcuffs, rage fueling him. A primal