AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The body Ronin and I found. That was you? You killed her?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“It was an accident,” I assure him, my mind racing ahead, trying to remember if Brent was present when Charlie revealed the woman was an undercover FBI agent. Because if Brent knew he killed a cop, that’s it, there’s no going back for him. But if he hasn’t figured that much out yet…
“She caught me,” he adds in a rush now. “I was trying to tamper with the solar panels’ wiring, and then, there she was. She demanded to know what I was doing, how involved I was in the criminal enterprise… I don’t know. I panicked and shoved her. She fell back and hit her head on a rock.”
“See, an accident.”
“Then she started to sit up, so I grabbed another rock and bashed in her skull.”
“Not so much an accident.”
“She was a crew member on one of the supply boats. I thought for sure they’d report her missing, and a bunch of cops would descend to investigate. That would be it, game over. But… nothing happened. So we continued on.”
I pretend to nod sympathetically. The boat captain had reported Sherry George missing. Except once the FBI realized their undercover agent had disappeared, they sent in another agent, Charlie, to try to locate her, versus compromising their investigation or scaring off MacManus’s dealings with a full-scale missing persons search.
“But why the sabotage, Brent? If all of this was about getting Keahi here and murdering MacManus so you and Leilani can live happily after ever, why the whole sabotage bit?”
“To get people off the atoll! If the power went down, or we lost drinking water, conditions would be too harsh for most to want to stay. They’d leave before… Well, you know. But fucking Charlie kept fixing everything! Dammit, I was trying to limit the damage. I was!”
“Because you’re not really a killer.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore. Here we are, and we both know what’s gonna happen next. Now, where are Lea and Mac?”
He steadies his arm, takes fresh aim.
I open my mouth, trying to think of one more stall tactic.
Vaughn materializes from the bushes, shotgun at the ready.
“I’d step away if I were you.”
But Brent just looks at him and laughs.
“YOU’VE BEEN GONE so long, I thought I should come check on you,” Vaughn informs me, moving closer. I nod in gratitude, though given I still have a pistol pointed at my head, it’s limited.
“Step away,” he commands Brent again.
Brent shakes his head. “Not gonna happen. You can’t risk taking me out. Then you really are stuck here with a woman nicknamed the Beautiful Butcher.”
“I have faith in Captain Marilee’s ability to recover.”
“You also can’t risk hurting her.” Brent nods his chin toward me. “I already know your shotgun is loaded with bird shot. The spray will hit both of us.”
“As long as she’s alive.”
I’m not really enjoying this conversation.
“You shoot her, I take you out next,” Vaughn continues. “Or maybe I just risk it. You’re planning on killing her, right? Better chance of recovery from a scattering pellet than a bullet to the brain.”
Brent scowls. I shift nervously from side to side. In an action movie, I’d suddenly knock away his arm, or rush him, or drop to the ground. But with the barrel of a gun mere inches from my face, none of those ideas sound appealing to me. As it is, I’m worried another cloud of smoke will cause him to accidentally pull the trigger during a fit of coughing.
“I think we have a standoff,” I offer tentatively. “As the person in the middle, can I make a suggestion?”
Both armed men turn to me. Great.
“I know where Mac and Lea are,” I supply. “Which cabin.” I cast a pointed look at Vaughn.
