The Darkness - Jason Pinter [124]
to follow them at gunpoint, he knew the time for hideand-seek was over.
It was less than ten minutes before the cavalry arrived,
and it took less than one to tear open the gated entrance and
force themselves inside. Jack didn't know what to expect,
but when he saw the massive warehouse and the sentry
guards, the fence barricading the area from both trespassers
and onlookers, he had a feeling they'd stumbled onto the
very heart of where the Darkness was produced.
"Do we just wait until they run out of bullets then?"
Jack yelled above the storm.
Carruthers looked at him and shook his head.
Then he yelled to the rest of the cops perched outside,
"There are two innocents in there, including one of our
own. Let's get them the hell out of there!"
Then a barrage of gunfire strafed the outside of the
warehouse, shattering glass, shredding brick, smoke and
dust pouring from everywhere.
Jack covered his ears, felt dirt and gravel raining down
around him, stinging his face and neck. And below the pain
in his arm, the rapid pace of his heart that scared the hell
out of him, Jack had a feeling this was just the beginning.
50
When the gunfire first erupted, Eve Ramos went into
the stairwell to find out what was going on. I could see
her and Rex Malloy talking. Malloy was animated, pointing somewhere I couldn't see, gesturing like mad as
Ramos stood there impassively, processing it all. Behind
them, still in the room with me, was Leonard Reeves.
And unlike his two comrades, Reeves's eyes betrayed
him. He looked nervous, the kind of man who might
dish out violence but never expected it to come back to
him.
Whatever Rex Malloy was saying, it was frightening
Leonard Reeves something bad.
While they were preoccupied, I picked up the pen and
quietly walked over to where Reeves was standing. He
was not an especially large man, about five foot ten, not
fat but without much discernible muscle definition.
Sometimes you could take one look at a person, the way
they carried themselves, and know how brave they were.
What kind of fight they would put up. In Leonard Reeves,
I got the sense of a man who talked a big game but once
cornered, would piss his pants faster than an eight-yearold with a tiny bladder.
The Darkness
357
So with little time to decide my course of action, I took
a chance that could lead either to my freedom, or my death.
Gripping the pen in my fist, the point sticking out two
inches, I wrapped my left arm around the front of
Reeves's neck and jammed the pen right under his jawline
on his carotid artery, hard enough that I felt the tip
threaten to pierce skin. Reeves was surprised and struggled, crying out, but I whispered into his ear, "Move once
more and you'll see your blood all over Malloy's nice
blond hair."
Reeves relaxed. His hand was still on the arm that
held his neck in place, but there was no strength in it.
I could feel the gun against my hip, and holding the
pen I quickly grabbed it and swapped the writing utensil
for the pistol. Not a bad choice. I flicked the safety off.
I'd only held a gun once before, and even then it was out
of self-defense. I didn't want to fire it.
Right now, though, I was certain that if need be I would
use it. I wasn't sure who was more frightened: me
knowing I could be forced to end a man's life, or Reeves
knowing his life was in the hands of a man who had
nothing to lose.
I led Reeves into the stairwell where Ramos and
Malloy were standing. Windows opened onto the front of
the compound, but Ramos and Malloy were blocking my
view. I couldn't see who or what was out there. Whoever
it was clearly had their attention.
Eve Ramos turned around. Rex Malloy did as well.
They both stared at me, Malloy seeming more pissed off
while Ramos smiled at me like I'd just built a nice big
house of cards.
"Take me to Sheffield," I said. "As soon as we're outside, I let Reeves go. If not, he's a dead man."
358
Jason Pinter
"Henry," Ramos said, cocking her head to the side, that
smile still spread on her face. "I