Page 61 of Peril in Piney Woods

“She’s lying.” The weapon in his other hand swung in her direction. “She’s freaking lying. You know who is loyal to you.”

Fury contorted the features of his face. “One second, sir.” He pressed the phone to his shoulder. “Get over here, you damned bitch.”

That was her cue. Meg kept her gaze on his as she walked to the other end of the counter and moved behind it. He glared right back at her as she approached him. Gun in his right hand. Phone in his left. She fixed that image in her mind.

He grabbed her around the upper chest with his left arm and jerked her against him. Then he pressed the barrel of his weapon into her temple. She settled her gaze on Griff and urged him with her eyes to stay calm. He looked frantic, terrified. She gave him a wink as if to say, I’ve got this, and his features instantly relaxed.

“Take the goddamned phone and tell him you lied,” Ridley roared.

Meg looked up at her former partner, her former colleague, her former lover. The muzzle pressed into her cheekbone. “Who is it?” she asked innocently.

“You know who it is,” he snarled. “He suddenly believes I killed his son.”

Oh, how she was loving this. The fear and outrage on his face. It was almost worth dying for. But not quite.

“Tell him,” he sneered, the muzzle burrowing deeper into her face, “that you lied.”

She took the phone from him, pressed it to her ear, her gaze back on Griff. “Hello.”

Griff dropped.

The woman stepped forward to peer over the counter. The man at the jukebox moved forward.

Salvadori Lorenzo’s voice echoed in her ear. “If you doctored that video somehow,” he warned.

Meg braced herself. “I lied...”

The muzzle dug deeper into her temple.

“...it was Ridley—”

She shoved upward on the hand holding the gun.

The weapon fired, barely missing the top of her head.

The phone hit the floor.

Ridley ranted at her, attempting to get a hold on her once more.

The woman drew back from the counter and whirled toward Meg.

In the background, above the screams, she heard Griff shouting for everyone to get down on the floor.

Meg twisted, pulling Ridley with her even as he pulled off another round, this one going over her shoulder, damned close to her ear. Meg twisted again, shoved him backward, but his grip on her was too strong to fall free.

The woman’s weapon discharged. The bullet plowed into the side of Ridley’s skull. Meg charged the woman, using his suddenly limp body as a barrier between them. She shoved him harder, knocking the woman down. Her weapon discharged again, hitting the wall behind Meg.

Meg dove for the handgun Ridley had dropped. She grabbed it and turned just in time to pull the trigger, sending a bullet between the eyes of the jukebox man who’d jumped over the counter to help his friends.

The sound of the woman scrambling to get out from under Ridley’s body had Meg rolling to her left. She pulled off another, hitting the woman in the center of her forehead.

Meg launched to her feet, glancing around. Where was the other guy? Some people were still screaming but all were on face down on the floor. Except...

Where was Griff?

“Drop it.”

The warning came from the end of the counter nearest the kitchen door.

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