Page 54 of West Bound
The door bursts open, and I see the man I’ve baited out here. I know his face too well from previous experience. Corey’s bleeding from his left leg and slightly hobbled, but very, very fucking pissed off as we aim our guns at one another. Mountaineering’s not his thing, I guess.
“Didn’t enjoy the hike?” I smirk at the sweat dripping down his brow. His shaggy blond hair is mussed, and his ruddy cheeks, along with the scowl that frames them, make him look even more unkempt.
“I’ve got this cabin surrounded. Give me my wife,” he demands, spittle flying loose from his lips.
“Afraid you’ve got the wrong cabin.” I give him a pitying once over.
“Give her to me now, Stockton, or I’ll blow your fucking skull off the back of your head.” He takes another step forward, blood leaking down from his leg onto the floorboards.
“What you’ve got isn’t a high enough caliber for that. You’re just gonna do enough to piss me off.”
“Piss your pants, more like. Thought I wouldn’t find you, huh? All alone in the wilderness. Your family name won’t protect you now.”
I roll my eyes and shake my head, amused by his attempts to intimidate me.
“I have a whole army coming up this mountain, and last I checked, you have one helicopter full of men who are scattered in pieces out in the woods. I suppose math never was your strong suit. So believe me when I say the odds aren’t in your favor. It's your last chance to run.” I pause, knowing full well he won’t budge. “But if you plan on staying, I’m going to have to ask you to put that gun down. I can’t have you breaking any of my sister-in-law’s porcelain.”
He fires his gun and shatters my coffee cup on the table. Impulsive when he’s pissed. One less bullet to go. His reaction time is slower than mine. All good information to have.
“Now see, that’s not very polite when you come into someone’s home.”
“Give me my fucking wife.”
“I'm surprised you have a wife with that attitude. She let you break shit in her house like that?”
“I do what I want in my fucking house.” He sneers. “I know you have her. Wherever she is, give her to me, or I will fucking kill you.”
“What does she look like?” I’m trying to buy time, give my guys precious minutes to get up here and clear the woods so we can take him alive. I don’t want to kill him outright. I need information from him, and this is my best chance yet to get it from someone who’s close to the governor. But I don’t want to die trying and give Zephyrine up to him in the process.
“Stop being a smart-ass, Stockton. Believe me when I say you’re a fucking dead man!” His patience is waning.
“I don't suppose you’ll ever find her then.” I glance out the window. If he had backup still alive, I would have seen or heard them by now. It’s just us up here. That at least gives me some solace.
“What the fuck are you looking at? My guys will be in here any minute. Then I’ll have them start cutting you into pieces until you tell me where she is. I suggest you start talking now if you want to die easy.” Corey crosses the space between us and waves his gun dangerously close to me.
“Easy there,” I warn him, my finger warming to my trigger. I’m fairly certain I could get a shot off before him, but if I don’t shoot to kill, he’ll definitely kill me. “I think we need to slow down with the threats.”
He answers me by firing off a round that goes whizzing by my head and shatters something else behind me. I take a deep breath. I might have to make a choice I don’t want to make. At least I think I will, until I see the floorboards start to rise in the corner of my vision. Zephyrine’s crawling out from under them, her eyes fixed on her husband and fury written all over her face. My stomach bottoms out. If she’s out here, I have a whole new set of math I have to do, and quickly.
I can’t even yell at her to stop or subtly try to warn her off. She creeps across the floor, and I have to chant silently in my head for them not to squeak under her bare feet. Any motion I make will have him following my line of sight and reveal her.So instead, I keep my eyes trained on him, staring back into his dark-blue, beady abyss. If they ever need a poster child for dead eyes, he’s a prime candidate. I imagine that’s what happens after years and years of the vapid pursuit of wealth and power. Eventually, the corruption leaks out into the body. The governor has a matching vacant stare.
“I won’t ask again.” He gives me an ultimatum just as Zephyrine lines up behind him and raises the gun in her hands. I hope she knows how to fire it.
“Drop the gun, you fucking prick,” Zephyrine demands as she places the gun to the back of his skull, and his eyes meet mine as he tries to process what’s happening. The look on his face is priceless.
“I’d listen to her. That caliber at that range.” I draw a breath through my teeth. “Will definitely shatter your skull.”
“You fucking bitch.” Her husband curses her, recognizing her voice.
Zephyrine’s eyes narrow, and I see her finger massage the trigger. I need him whole, and I beg her to look at me, but she’s too angry, too ready to end this man for everything he’s ever done and said to her. But her eyes close for a moment and then reopen with newfound clarity.
“Drop the gun,” she repeats calmly, the nun coming through before the ruthless man’s daughter returns. “Or I will happily use you to test the theory.”
Fuck, I like this woman.
He does as she asks, realizing that she’ll kill him if he continues. She kicks the gun to me, and I take it, kicking it far behind me and then moving to put Corey face down on the ground. I pin him with my body weight as he curses my existence and hers. Before I can speak to give her instructions, she’s on the move. Zephyrine works like she’s done this a million times,grabbing the handcuffs still sitting on the nightstand in her room and helping me cuff him.
We both hear the sound of feet on gravel, racing toward the cabin, and our attention moves to the door while I keep Corey on the ground with my knee between his shoulder blades. She walks backward slowly, lining up next to me as we each keep our gun on the door. The footsteps slow, moving cautiously, as they reach the porch and then turn into the cabin. All of us startling when they come into view.
