Page 142 of Tactically Acquired

“They haven’t,” Spencer muttered.

“I was trying to be nice.”

“Why? They tried to kill us.”

He was right, but still…This was very unlike Spencer to be so bloodthirsty. Either way, it was time to move things along.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to turn in this evidence to the police and you’re going down for attempted murder.” I looked between the two of them and grinned. “Both of you.”

Spencer picked up where I left off. “The police should be arriving any minute now.” He looked at his watch, grinning at both of them. “I’d say you have five minutes.”

Woody growled at us, but it was Dick I knew we had to watch out for. And I was right. As predicted, he saw the guns left on set from the last film. Yes, we’d purposely put them there, just hoping to tempt him.

“Don’t do it,” I warned him. “You’ll only get in more trouble.”

Spencer watched him carefully, shaking his head. “He’s not brave enough. He knows there’s no way out for him.”

“Cornered men do stupid things,” I muttered. My fingers twitched at my sides and as soon as he turned and ran, I pulled the gun from the small of my back. I held my weapon exactly as Slider taught me. Apparently, I’d been doing it wrong all those years during filming. So much for the professionals we hired to teach us properly.

Dick held the gun in front of him, his arm shaking as he stared at both of us. “I will not go down for this. Do you think I’m stupid? That I wouldn’t have a way out?”

“Well, you went for a gun, so I’m guessing you didn’t,” I said, taking a step closer to him.

He whimpered out a laugh, turning his weapon on Woody. “This is all your fault. You couldn’t keep them under control. All you had to do was get them to finish the fucking movie!”

“I had it covered!” Woody shouted.

“Clearly,” Spencer nodded.

“Think about this, Dick. You don’t want to shoot anyone. The police are going to be here any minute. The last thing you want is for them to walk in on you holding three people hostage.”

A merciless laugh left his lips as sweat beaded on his forehead. “That’s where you’re wrong. I won’t be here when the police arrive.” He readjusted his hands on the weapon, backingup slightly. “You don’t have what it takes to pull the trigger, but I do!”

His eyes had barely left mine when he pulled the trigger, only to find that nothing happened. “What?—”

“It’s a prop gun, Dick,” I chuckled. “You’d know that if you were on set more often.” I took a few more steps forward, heeding Slider’s words about making sure I was in control before making my move.

“Careful, Audrey.”

I knew Spencer was worried. Yes, a half blind woman was not the best person to be holding a gun, but Spencer absolutely hated firearms.

“Dick, don’t make me shoot you. If you run, I will pull the trigger.”

Woody’s nervous eyes bounced back and forth between the two of us. I could see him inching toward the door, hoping for an escape. I swung my weapon toward him, shaking my head at him.

“Spencer, grab the handcuffs from the prop closet.”

“Audrey, I’m not leaving you.”

“Spencer, just do as I say. I’ve got this,” I said confidently.

I heard his sigh of frustration, but didn’t take my eyes off Woody. “You know, it’s really a shame you couldn’t work with us on the scheduling. I enjoyed making movies with you. Why did you have to go and try to kill us? You ruined everything.”

“I ruined everything?” he laughed. “You didn’t even tell the studio you were going fucking blind!”

“Yes, and I do feel bad about that. It was possibly a poor choice, but if you look at things from my perspective, I wanted to continue to make action movies for as long as possible. I knew once word got out that I wouldn’t be able to see, you’d find someone better to fill my shoes.”

“Exactly!”

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