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“Then what the hell is the point of this? You’re not going to get the drop on him. It’s too late anyway. You have to know that. You’re making it worse for yourself.”
And me. You asshole.
Maybe he should swallow the charm. That was one way of preserving it, just in case Kennedy didn’t arrive in time. Or didn’t survive. Chances were good it would be found in the autopsy. It would certainly trigger a few questions. A lot of questions.
A grisly thought, but…kind of hard not to consider it when someone was firing round after round at you. Except Gervase hadn’t fired for a few seconds.
Motion on the right. Jason brought his weapon up.
“I’ll deal with Kennedy.” Gervase stepped into the empty window frame. His weapon was leveled at Jason. He could hardly fail to notice Jason’s weapon was also trained on him.
Great. Straight out of Hong Kong Cinema.
Gervase stared coldly down at Jason. Jason stared back.
Were they really going to shoot each other?
There did not appear to be another option. If Jason was going down, he was taking Gervase with him. He was not leaving Gervase to deal with Kennedy. That much he knew for sure.
Three.
This was so stupid. So pointless. So unbelievably…
Two.
Don’t think. Don’t talk. Squeeze the trigger.
“You’ve never shot anyone before, have you?” Gervase sounded suddenly weary.
“I have,” Kennedy’s voice said clearly from behind Gervase.
Kennedy fired.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You could have told me to drop it,” Gervase muttered as he was lifted onto the stretcher that would carry him to the waiting helicopter.
“I could have blown your head off too,” Kennedy said. “I didn’t.”
“You should have.”
“I probably should have,” Kennedy agreed. Always there with the warm and fuzzy.
Or maybe he was doing Gervase the courtesy of being honest with him. Since he had not obliged him by helping him commit suicide.
While they had waited for the state trooper and the med chopper, Gervase had talked. He said it was to keep his mind off the pain of his gunshot wound. Jason believed he had been longing to get the story off his chest since the homicide had happened.
Except it wasn’t homicide. Manslaughter at most. And if Gervase had just owned up to it at the start—
“I should have taken early retirement,” Gervase said as Kennedy shoved his own jacket against the wound in Gervase’s shoulder.
“You should have taken something,” Kennedy said.
Gervase winced as Kennedy applied pressure to the wound. “I didn’t have the patience to deal with the bullshit anymore.”
“What happened that night?” Jason asked.
“It was an accident. I went out there to tell the Madigan kid to turn the goddamned music down or else. She told me to fuck off. Right to my face. Like I was her peer, like I was her servant. She told me her parents paid my salary. Paid the salary of all my officers. Spoiled, mouthy little bitch. I slapped her. Which I shouldn’t have. I know that. I knew it as it was happening. Big mistake. And then it got worse. She fell and hit her head on a rock.”
