The Darkness - Jason Pinter [101]
The suit. Something snapped together in my mind,
and I knew why this man was here.
Then I heard him pleading with me.
"Let me go! Please!"
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Jason Pinter
What kind of killer said please?
I held on tighter, tried to get a better grip to immobilize
the man. I needed to hold him down long enough for
someone to help me incapacitate him until the cops arrived.
"Get off him!" I heard somebody scream. I turned
around slightly to see Carolyn hovering over us holding
her desk lamp. It was a big thing, brass colored, metal and
a foot and a half long. We both looked, and then she
swung the pole at us.
Then I felt a massive crunch on the back of my neck,
and for a moment the world went black. I could feel the
man getting out from under me, so I blindly grabbed at
him. I managed to catch my fingers inside some sort of
pocket, which tore away as he escaped.
When the darkness cleared, I looked up to see Carolyn
standing over me. Her hand was covering her mouth as
she stammered.
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, I was trying to hit him!
Are you okay?"
I nodded, but felt exactly like I'd been hit with a metal
pole on the back of my neck. Carolyn dropped the lamp
and went over to help me up.
When I got to my feet I looked around. My stomach
lurched when I realized that he was gone. Not only that,
but the gun was gone, too.
I ran/stumbled out into the street, hoping to see a flash
of suit jacket, something. But the street was empty.
Business as usual. If anybody had seen where the shooter
had gone, they weren't letting on.
I turned around and jogged back inside where Carolyn
was still blubbering. That's when I saw Jack enter the lobby.
His shirt was covered in blood, and his face was a terrible
crimson mask. He looked at me, his lower lip trembling.
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"Hollinsworth," I said.
"He's gone," Jack replied.
"Goddamn it!" I yelled. "Who the hell knew we were
coming here?"
Jack came over to me and held out his hand. I thought
he was going to hug me, so I said, "Not now, Jack."
Instead he walked right past me, leaned down and
picked something up off the floor.
"What is that?"
Jack stood back up and showed me. It was a piece of
black cloth from the pocket I'd ripped during the struggle.
Beneath it was a folded piece of paper. Jack opened it.
"What the hell..." I said.
In Jack's hand was a money order. It was made out for
fifty thousand dollars to a Morgan Isaacs.
"I bet this guy knows," Jack said.
The payee on the order was a man named Leonard
Reeves.
40
"Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,"
Morgan said.
That his heart hadn't exploded yet was shocking, but
every pore in his body seemed to be leaking sweat, every
nerve ending on fire.
Once he was able to get away from the guy who'd
tackled him, Morgan found the car waiting for him just
like Chester had said it would. The door was open, and
somehow Morgan managed to dive into the car a split
second before it went speeding off.
Once inside, he found Chester waiting for him, a huge
smile on his face.
"The gun," Chester said.
Morgan handed it to him, his hand shaking like a leaf
in a hurricane. Chester took the revolver and put it into a
valise on the floor below him.
"You okay?" he said.
"I don't know," Morgan replied. "He's dead. Oh man,
he's really, really dead."
"How many times did you shoot him?"
"Three."
"Did all the bullets hit?"
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291
"I think so. I was pretty close, but everything...man,
everything just went crazy after that."
"It's a good thing you got away," Chester said. "You're
a resourceful man, Morgan."
"Thanks," he said. Morgan's heart rate was finally beginning to slow down.
The car sped down Broadway, and Morgan was pleasantly surprised to see that nobody was following them.
"No cops," Morgan said. "Nobody, they..."
"Don't worry about that," Chester said. "I'm just glad
you're all right. You did a great job, Morgan. I knew we
could trust you."
Morgan beamed inside. "You always can, sir."
"Yes," Chester said, "I know that now."
Chester leaned over and put his arm around