Speak No Evil_ A Novel - Allison Brennan [126]
“No.” Brandon let go of Josh and pressed his hand on his head. “No!”
Carina caught Josh’s eye, and he ran to her. She had him behind her back by the time Brandon turned the gun toward her.
“He’s a child, Brandon, please. Let him go.”
Brandon looked confused and undecided. Carina inched toward the swinging kitchen doors very slowly, shielding Josh’s body with her own. “You don’t want to hurt a little boy, Brandon,” Carina said. “He’s innocent. You have me. Let him go and take me.”
Two long strides forward and Brandon had her arm. The gun was to her head.
“Nothing stupid.”
“Run, Josh,” she said, not breaking eye contact with Brandon.
The boy hesitated for only a moment. He then ran for the swinging doors. Brandon followed, pulling Carina with him, looked out as Josh ran through.
“Cops are all over the place,” he said, sounding surprised.
“Of course. They were at your house. They know what you did.”
Carina caught a glimpse of a familiar figure crouched on the other side of the kitchen doors.
Nick.
“What do you want, Brandon?” Carina asked him, her right hand close to her gun.
“I don’t know. I don’t know! Don’t rush me.”
“Brandon, please, give it up,” said Kyle. “They’ll kill you.”
“No. Not with her.” He pulled Carina closer to him. Though he was a skinny seventeen-year-old, he was strong. He had to be, Carina thought, to carry dead bodies around.
“You let the boy go,” Carina said, “they’ll go easy on you if you just surrender.”
“No!” He hit her over the head with the gun. She faltered, trying to fall to the floor so Nick could get a clean shot from the door, but Brandon wouldn’t let her drop. He backed up to the counter, close to his original position.
Blinking back the pain in her skull, she assessed the distance between her and the knife on the butcher block.
The knife was gone.
She darted her eyes toward Kyle. His face was blank, but he had one hand behind his back. Brandon didn’t seem to notice.
“Okay, this is what we’re going to do,” Brandon said. “Kyle, you’re going to call the police. From your office. And tell them that I want a car. You’ll drive it, and I’ll keep her in the back with me. They won’t shoot as long as we have her.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you, Brandon.”
Brandon shook his head, his fingers crushing her arm as he held tight. “Why are you doing this to me? It’s the only way.”
“It’s not the only way,” Kyle said. “Good-bye, Brandon.”
Kyle brought out the knife and held it in both hands, the blade facing his own stomach.
Brandon was as shocked as Carina. As Kyle brought his arms up to stab himself in the chest, he caught Carina’s eye. She nodded.
She grabbed her twenty-two from her waistband at the same time that she kicked back and up, aiming right for his hairless balls. Direct hit. Brandon released her and doubled over, his face a mask of ferocious pain and anger, as he jerked the gun around toward her. She dove to the left, out of the line of fire that she expected from Nick’s position in the hall.
Nick rolled into the kitchen and shouted, “Police! Drop it!”
Brandon whirled around, his gun now aimed at Nick. Brandon fired. As Carina depressed the trigger of her gun, she saw Nick take a direct hit in the chest and fall back.
Carina fired again at the same time Nick did.
But it was the knife Kyle threw into Brandon’s back that hit first.
He fell forward, seemingly in slow motion, until his head smacked against the tile floor, eyes open and un-seeing.
Carina retrieved Burns’s gun as the SWAT team ran in through both entrances. She crawled over to where Nick was struggling to sit up, a pained look on his face.
“You okay?”
“Damn, that hurt.”
Thank God for Kevlar. She kissed him, helped him remove his shirt and flak jacket. A large purple bruise was already forming. She kissed his chest lightly, tears rushing to her eyes now that they were safe. “How are your ribs?” she asked, trying to sound casual, her voice cracking at the last moment.
“Intact,” he said as he exhaled and Carina helped him sit up. “I’m fine.