Page 56 of Hero & Villain
“Bull. He’s due to be put down because the poor misunderstood creature keeps killing people.”
I shot her a look. “Maybe you should tell me exactly what kind of Girl’s Night Out requires a bull, tacos, and a helicopter.”
She sighed and tapped the steering column. “All right. First, there’s going to be a diversion. That’s Minx. She’ll be parked on the side of the road with a broken-down car. Second, there’ll be the bull. He’ll be parked in the middle of the road, and when the semi swerves or hits it, we go in and clean up.”
“You want to cause a car wreck?”
“It’ll be going slow around that curve, particularly after they see Minx. It’s what men do when they see her. There won’t be any fatalities, and it’s the safest thing for everyone involved.”
I swallowed my outraged confusion because this wasn’t my evil scheme. If she wanted to wreck a truck for no reason, who was I to judge? “Okay. Thanks for letting me know. What am I supposed to do?”
“If the bull isn’t dead, you’ll put it down before it gores someone, or to end its suffering. If one of the drivers gets out too fast, you can put a bullet in his leg.”
“Sure.” It was totally normal to shoot people in the legs after the bull gets loose. She was insane. Maybe this was all an elaborate con or delusional fantasy, except there was a real animal of some kind in that trailer.
“You don’t mind spending the evening with a bull, I hope,” she said, batting her lashes at me.
“No. Sounds fabulous.”
“You turned off your inner critic. I appreciate that.”
“No problem.”
She snorted, and the conversation ended. I dozed off a few times, but woke up when she pulled off the road, bumping off the shoulder and fifty more feet or so where a ramp had been dug down into the dirt with enough room for the truck and trailer. Jezebel backed expertly in and then unhooked the trailer.
“Is this hay for the bull?” I asked, nodding at the pile on the side.
She nodded, and a thud and snort came from the trailer. “Bo will get his last meal, and then he’ll say goodbye to this world. I never thought I’d be a cow executioner. Stretch your legs if you’re so inclined.” She grabbed a pitchfork and started throwing straw to the bull while I wandered back up the ramp and shivered in the cold air. The altitude was higher here, the sun going down, leaving the air chilly.
If only Dirk were standing behind me and I could lean against him while he wrapped his strong arms around me to keep me warm. He’d tell me why he liked violence and I’d tell him why I really liked stabbing. I shook my head. No, I’d flatter him and seduce him, and he’d infuriate me and seduce me a hundred times more.
I was the villain. I was here in this crazy place with these crazy people to bury him. That’s who I was. I couldn’t choose anything else. I was cold, vicious, cruel and malicious. I had to take care of my enemy before they took care of me. Dirk was my enemy, and I was nothing but the woman who would rip out his heart.
On this trip, I could use whatever Jezebel did against her. It was time I got the upper hand with her. I nodded and walked over to see Bo eat his last meal. It was terrifying.
The process of getting Bo into the middle of the road was more exhausting than I expected. Jezebel wasn’t kidding about the monster being seriously dangerous. She staked him down with two ropes as she maneuvered him towards the road with hay. The trouble was that the bull didn’t want hay; it wanted human flesh. I stood by with a rifle, ready to shoot it in the eye. If I could. If it got loose.
Eventually, it was strung in the middle of the road on four lines that Jezebel kept checking along with her watch and the sky.
“It’s time,” she said, and I heard her voice in my ear and across the road.
“We’re situated,” Trixie’s no-nonsense voice said along with Minx’s giggle.
“No giggling, chica,” Felicia snapped. “We’re on a job.”
“I’m getting into character.”
“Save it for the stooge.” Felicia sounded as serious and hard as Trixie. Maybe the racer had rubbed off on her.
“Is he on target?” Minx asked, sounding nervous.
“He’s running a few minutes off the targeted arrival,” Felicia said. “Still, Minx, work those legs.”
“Yes, sir.” I could hear her breathing and then nothing.
“How are you liking Girl’s Night, Pinkie?” Trixie asked in her husky voice. “We rotate monthly. Jezebels are always the most elaborate.”
“I can’t complain.”
