The last thing I hear before I go under is the softwhomp-whomp-whompof Wimberley’s helicopter.
Blake holds me underwater, but I twist and twist until I’m facing him. I push up and get a quick breath. He follows me up and pushes me under again. He’s keeping his head above water.
A fatal mistake.
He’s given me a perfect shot at his neck.
Instead of fighting for oxygen, I claw at his throat and rip away the flesh. The white drains from his eyes, and he lets me go, stunned. I stand, gulping oxygen. His spine is visible and the waterfall of blood cascading down his chest is turning the pool red.
It’s not enough though. I know it’s not enough.
Edison once described the night he had to defend Hedy to the death.Hand placement is everything, he’d said.Right jaw, left shoulder. Lift and separate.
Some may call it cheating because I already removed some of the bulk of Blake’s throat, but Ant always taught me to take my advantages where I can.
I spin him around, grab his right jaw, grip his left shoulder, and rip his fucking head from his fucking body.
Maverick’s fast-roping from the helicopter to the deck, and he sees everything.
His eyes are wide as saucers as he lands.
“Silas?”
I look into Blake’s slack eyes, then back to my cousin. “Not everything knows how to die.”
Mav pulls up his rifle, and I realize, belatedly, that I’m basically holding my own head.
“I’m me!” I yell, tossing the head off to the side.
“I know,” he yells back, gesturing to my hands. “Tattoos.”
Maya is the second one down the ropes. I point to Erik. She races over and examines his wound, then looks around the deck.
Ant yells above the rotor, “Looking for the bullet?”
She nods.
“Through and through,” he says, gesturing at his arm and the bullet hole in the big planter to the side of the pool.
She sends him a thumbs-up, then pats Oakley’s shoulder.
“Good job remembering the straw! Most of you yahoos forget!”
Maya looks up to the helicopter and makes a few hand signals while I decide to keep my mouth shut about Blake’s input.
Oakley gestures to Cupcake, who’s found her way to his lap. Maya gives her a once-over. She gestures the through-and-through sign again, then sends me a smile.
“You’ll still wanna take her to the company vet, but she responded to the injection. Her shoulder is healing well.”
A rescue basket is lowered, and Erik is loaded into it, then hoisted into the air. Maya stays with Thane, wrapping his leg in the polymer. The helicopter takes off.
Ant and Ronan, both nearly healed, walk to the edge of the pool and help me out.
Blake’s headless body spins aimlessly in the currents created by the helicopter, the blood-red water nearly black in the moonlight.
Ronan slumps against me, patting my chest. “We’re gonna need to drain the pool.”
24
