AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re not going to shoot me, Jimmy,” he said at last, purposely using Neil’s real name. “You’re no more of a killer now than you were twenty-seven years ago. You screwed it up then and you’ll screw it up now.”
Neil’s lips thinned. “Don’t call my bluff.”
“I’ll take my chances.” With lighting speed, Joseph pressed 9-1-1, yelling out, “Help… a gunman is at my home...”
“Goddamn you!” Neil used the barrel of his gun to knock the phone to the floor, where it rattled just out of reach.
Joseph went after it. As he bent down to retrieve it, he spotted Lina in the distance, making her way through the thick grove of trees and approaching the gazebo.
He tried to call out to warn her, but Neil brought the butt of the gun down on his head, striking him as hard as he could.
Joseph crumpled to the ground, blood oozing from his head.
* * *
Through the tree branches, Lina could make out her father and her uncle Neil in the gazebo. She’d known her parents were home; her father’s car was in the garage. Her mother was in the master bath crying, but Lina had purposely avoided her. It was her father she wanted to have it out with. Her mother would be too emotional to provide the hard-core answers she needed.
She’d searched the whole house, with no sign of her father. So she’d resorted to combing the grounds.
As she neared the gazebo, her heart leapt. Her father was lying on the floor, a pool of blood oozing from his head. And Neil was straightening to his feet, a gun clutched in his hand.
Lina broke into a run. “Dad!” she screamed, oblivious to the fact that she was placing herself in danger. “Oh my God, Dad.”
She raced past Neil, kneeling down to check her father’s pulse, to see if he was alive.
Thank God she felt the steady thud beneath her fingers.
“You did this.” She twisted around to look up at Neil, her eyes glazed with non-comprehension. “Why? Why?” Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her father’s phone. She crawled over to snatch it up. “I’m calling an ambulance.”
“The hell you are.” Neil kicked the phone away, simultaneously grabbing Lina’s arm and yanking her to her feet. He turned her around, locking her back against his chest and pressing the barrel of the gun to her temple.
“He’ll bleed to death,” she said on a sob. “Please…”
“Calm down, Lina.” Neil locked an arm around her waist. “I didn’t shoot him. I just knocked him out. The problem is, he called 9-1-1. Which means the police are on their way. So you’re going to help me get out of here.”
“Or what? You’ll kill me?” Lina’s chest was pounding as she desperately tried to sort this out. Why was Neil doing this? What was his part in this nightmare? “I’ve known you all my life. You’re like family. Why would you do this?”
“No time for a Q and A,” Neil replied, dragging her across the gazebo and down the steps. “We’re getting out of here. I’ve got a plane to catch.”
“Sorry, but we’ll be canceling your reservations.” Patrick’s voice came from behind them, and Neil whipped around, clutching Lina tightly against him as he watched Patrick step out from a thicket of trees. Patrick’s pistol was aimed at Neil, despite the fact that he didn’t have a clean shot. “The only place you’re going is to prison… Jimmy.”
“Jimmy?” Lina lurched against him in shock. “You’re Jimmy Colone?”
Neil stared at Patrick, his silence answering Lina’s question.
Quickly, he turned his gun on Patrick, gesturing at Patrick’s pistol. “I’d drop that if I were you. Or I’ll blow your head off. And you won’t touch me—not with Lina as my human shield.”
Patrick hesitated for effect. Then he nodded. “Fine. Just take it easy.” He bent, dropping his weapon to the grass and straightening to a standing position.
Neil’s eyes narrowed. “Now that was a little too simple.” He waved the pistol at Patrick’s suit jacket. “Open that. Slowly and completely. We’ll get to your pockets next. I want to see if you have any surprise weapons hidden.”
Patrick complied, pulling open the sides of his jacket and spreading them wide.
Neil’s concentration was on Patrick, which was just enough of a distraction for Lina to act.
She lifted her foot and slammed the heel of her Jimmy Choo into the arch of Neil’s foot.
“Shit!” he howled, his grip on her going slack as he doubled over.
