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This was for Tony.
Unaware of the carefully concealed security camera aimed straight at his approach, he reached the back door and took out his lockpick.
With Dani out of harm’s way, Aaron watched Bing moving toward the house, but the moment he heard a footstep on the porch, he darted back into the shadows, still listening.
Bing was trying to pick the lock!
Aaron tensed. Tony Bing had brought a gun to the party. Would his brother do the same? The moment heheard a distinct click, he knew Bing had unlocked the back door. He held his breath, watching as the door swung inward. The deadly silence and the stealth with which the man had entered the house warned of his intent.
Aaron saw Bing slip his hand into his pocket and pull something out, but in the darkness, he couldn’t tell what it was. Then he heard another sound, a slighttick. Either he’d taken a gun off safety, or something had dropped to the floor.
Aaron flipped on the light.
“Don’t move!” Aaron shouted.
The stunned look on Bing’s face was as unmistakable as the gun Aaron had aimed at his chest.
Alex was still holding the uncapped syringe. He’d never had a plan B, and the shock of being caught out this fast had taken him off guard.
Who the fuck is he? Where did he come from? Am I in the wrong house?
“On your knees! Hands behind your back!”
And then self-preservation kicked in. Alex spun and ran.
He was almost at the door when he was hit from behind in a flying tackle. The sheer size and weight of the man drove Alex’s chin to the floor and crumpled his right arm beneath him, and in the fall, he stabbed himself with the needle as he fell on the plunger.
Fire. Pain. Nausea. Everything all at once. The concoction he’d brought to end Dani Owens’s life was now inside of him.
This wasn’t… Oh God. Mistake. Not me. Not me.
“Don’t move!” the man kept shouting, but Alex was no longer in control of his body.
The room was spinning. Alex felt the man grabbing his arms and yanking them behind his back. He felt the handcuffs, but he couldn’t focus for the fire burning through him. He couldn’t swallow. He couldn’t breathe. He had a faint sensation of being rolled over onto his back. In his mind, he was screaming. But in reality, there was no breath left to implement the act.
The moment Aaron rolled him over, he saw the empty hypodermic needle projecting from Alex Bing’s neck like a dart embedded on a pub wall.
That must have been what he’d pulled out of his pocket!
He put a finger on Bing’s neck trying to find a pulse, but it was faint, and Bing had begun convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Then his eyes rolled back in his head, and his heartbeat ended.
Aaron was hearing sirens as he ran down the hall, opened the door, and turned on the light. Dani was on her belly against the far wall, and the look on her face marked the horror within her.
“He’s down. You’re safe,” he said. “I hear sirens. Sit tight. It’ll be a long night.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“He fell on a needle full of whatever he’d brought for you. Stay where you are. You don’t need to see that.”
Dani stood.
“No. I need to see him for myself. I need to know the monster in the closet is dead.”
“Okay. But no farther than the doorway. The kitchen is now a crime scene, and you can’t touch anything. Look, then wait in the living room, okay?”
She nodded, but when he held out his hand, she took it.
Later, she would have no memory of their walk down the hall. Only the sight of Alex Bing lying at the back door with a syringe protruding from his neck. His face was contorted, his tongue swollen and protruding.
