Page 134 of Sapphire Spring

Suddenly he was staring into Chadwick Brody’s eyes. Eyesthat looked like they hadn’t seen sleep in days.

“Go ahead,” Chadwick said, wetting his lips with his tongue.“Don’t worry. I wrote you a note.”

“A note?”

“A goodbye note. From you. To the world. What? Like it’ssuch afucking stretch? Little homos like you take aflying leap all the time.”

“How long have you been awake, Chadwick?” Naser couldn’tbelieve the preternatural calm in his voice.

“No, don’t even try that shit.” Chadwick shook his head likehe was trying to rid himself of a cap he wasn’t wearing. “Don’t try thatdistractionbullshit. I want you gone, Prancer. Gone.I thought I’d neverfucking seeyou again, and thensuddenly you’re back in his goddamn house and presto change-o, everything’sshit again. What? I’m supposed to think that’s acoincidence?You’re probably some kind of Persian witch doctor or something.”

“If Persian witch doctors were a thing, you wouldn’t havesurvived high school.”

Chadwick raised the gun another inch.

“What did I ever do to you, really?”

“What do you think? You brought up all that oldshit. In front of him. And then he…then he…”

“Youbrought it up. You’re the one who told him Isuck a mean dick, remember?”

“You changed him. You alwayschangedhim. Everytime he was near you, you changed him.”

“Oh, okay. I get it now. You didn’t do that to me behind thebleachers because of how I looked at you. You did it because of howhelooked atme.”

Chadwick took a step forward, gun raised. “Jump, Prancer. Gohead first. It’ll make it quicker. Trust me. I’m adoctor.”

The wind blowing against his back suddenly felt like aninvitation to oblivion.

In his head, he was imagining running. To the right or tothe left. To the right would force Chadwick to turn into the sun. Maybe he’dget blinded as he tried to take aim. Or maybe he’d fire the second before andNaser would get a bullet in the chest.

What if he taunted Chadwick into coming closer?

The closer the gun, the closer Chadwick’s gun hand, thebetter Naser’s chances of grabbing either and shoving them skyward so the shotwent over their heads. But the resulting tussle might send them both dancingoff the cliff.

Then he realized he was missing the most obvious point.

Chadwick Brody didn’t want him to jump so he could torturehim. He wanted him to jump because he was too scared to kill him. There was onlyfive or so feet behind Naser and the cliff’s edge, and Chadwick hadn’t shovedhim over the side. A cold-blooded killer would have knocked him to his deathwhile his back was turned, dropped the fake suicide note, and gotten the hellout of there. Instead, Chadwick was wasting time by running his mouth, holdinga gun on him out in the open when someone could come running by at any second.

And that’s what happened.

Naser heard the bike whiz to a stop off to his left.“Hey!”A man’s voice, like the crack of a whip.

Chadwick spun, firing in the direction of the cry.

The crack of the gunshot drove knives into Naser’s ears. Theguy’s bike went over. He dove into the low brush beside the trail.

Was he hit? No time to tell.

Naser hurled himself at Chadwick with all his strength.Chadwick slammed to the earth and rolled onto his back. As soon as he took aim,Naser brought his foot down on the man’s crotch with enough force to crusheverything underneath.

Chadwick yowled like a dying dog, loud enough for Naser to hearover the terrible ringing in his ears. The gun didn’t fire.

Lungs burning, Naser ran. Ran in the direction of theparking lot, the direction of help.

Heard a dull crack behind him, another shot.

Nothing struck him.

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