Page 71 of Glamour and Grit

“Selene, get out of the way,” Justin says.

“I hate to agree, but do as he says,” I chime in.

“No,” she snaps. “If you want to kill him, Justin, you’ll have to go through me. How much is being a made man worth to you, Justin? Well, here’s your chance. It’s all yours. All you have to do is pull that trigger, and kill two people. One of them your own sister.”

“I don’t have any choice, Selene,” he says, tears streaming out of his eyes. “Please move. Please.”

My initial relief at seeing Selene alive and well fades. She’s taking a big gamble here. I could take aim and fire while Justin is distracted, but any movement might make him flinch and pull the trigger.

I have to trust Selene. She knows what she’s doing. I keep my gun pointed at the deck, and wait.

“Well? You gonna pull that trigger or what, Justin?” Selene taunts.

Justin lowers the pistol and his gaze.

“I…I never wanted anyone to get hurt.”

I shake my head and sigh. “Nobody ever does, kid. Nobody ever does.”

I go to Selene and hold her tight. She hugs me back, burying her face in my chest.

“I thought I’d lost you.”

“I'm sorry,” she murmurs into my shirt. “I’m glad you got my message.”

“I almost didn’t. You’re giving me too much credit.”

A sudden chill shoots down my spine.

“Where’s Moreno?” I blurt.

Justin’s face goes white, and Selene grows worried.

“All right,” I say, flicking my safety off. “You two stay behind me, and keep a wall at your back at all times.”

I lead the way through the yacht, eyes peeled for any sign of trouble. A coughing, sputtering sound reaches my ears. At first I think it’s a heavy trawler engine in the marina. Then I place the sound as an outboard motor.

“Fuck,” I sputter, breaking into a run. I reach the end of the aft deck just in time to see Moreno and two of his goons skipping away across the blue waves of the pacific.

“That bastard,” Selene says. “After all this, he’s going to get away.”

“Not if I can help it,” I say coldly, drawing a bead with my pistol. This weapon is hardly a long distance rifle. The wind, the waves, the bobbing of the boat, and distance are all factors against my hitting the target.

But if being with Selene has taught me anything, it’s that you don’t always have to take the obvious, beaten path. You can take a divergent course and still wind up where you needed to be all along.

Selene led my heart out of darkness. Now it’s my turn to lead her out of fear, by making sure that Moreno is taken care of.

His head is a small, distant target which grows further away all the time. The outboard engine on the back of the boat, however, is going to be much easier to hit.

My finger curls around the trigger. The first shot brings up a gout of water. The second splinters the fiberglass hull of the little speedboat.

But the third shot strikes true. The outboard engine sputters, spewing out a thick plume of cumulus black smoke. Moreno is soon dead in the water, at the mercy of the currents and tide.

“Navy can pick him up,” I growl. “He ain’t going nowhere now.”

“Nice shooting, Tex,” Justin says with a whistle.

“You should see me when I don’t have a pea shooter,” I say.

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