Page 57 of Hard to Kill

Then I realize it’s Jimmy.

“You… need… need to come get me.”

“Jimmy, what happened?”

“A lot.”

He tells me where he is before the line goes dead.

FORTY-SIX

THE PASSENGER-SIDE DOOR FROM Jimmy’s Jetta is on the ground next to the car when I get to the dirt road just past the entrance to Napeague Harbor.

When I walk around to the front of the car, Glock in my hand, I see that the windshield is mostly gone and when I look inside, I see the broken glass on the front seat.

The tan-colored leather is bloodstained.

I yell Jimmy’s name and wait.

Nothing.

I walk up the road, dunes on either side of me.

“Jimmy Cunniff, you told me to come, now where the hell are you?”

I often get mad when I’m as scared as I am right now.

“Jimmy?”

I turn around and look at the car. Windshield gone. Door on the side of the road. Bullet holes in the door.

If Jimmy has been shot, it would be the third time since we took on Rob Jacobson as a client, which has to be some kind of record.

Where is he?

I jog back to my car and get the flashlight that I keep in the glove compartment along with my gun, and go back to his car, pointing the flashlight at the ground near the detached door.

The trail of blood begins there.

FORTY-SEVEN

Jimmy

WOLK’S CAR DOESN’T HIT Jimmy’s head-on, he’s going for the door Jimmy was using for cover, obviously hoping Jimmy is still behind it.

When Jimmy realizes that Wolk isn’t bluffing, that he’s not going to stop or even slow down, he dives underneath the Jetta, feeling the impact, hearing the screech of metal-on-metal, and tries to crawl all the way to the other side as the Jetta gets spun around, the front wheels hitting the right side of his chest, and he worries that the car is about to roll over on top of him.

He manages to get out from underneath, the Glock somehow still in his hand.Screw it.He’s going down firing. He comes up and puts the gun on top of the convertible roof and starts firing at Wolk’s car again, not sure whether they’re going to stop or keep going.

This time he hits the back windshield and shatters that, and then Jimmy is running for the dunes in case the crazy bastard turns around and comes back.

He trips and lands on ribs that he’s sure are busted or at least cracked, manages not to scream.

It’s finally quiet then.

He manages to raise himself up, sees the taillights of theCorolla now as Wolk puts the car back on the highway and heads east.

Maybe she didn’t try to finish the job and was counting shots and wasn’t sure how many rounds Jimmy had left.

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