Page 46 of Graveyard Dog

Michael reacted faster than anyone would’ve imagined. He was around the counter before Leo could even aim. Themovement caught Leo’s attention, and he turned, pistol raised and pointed at Michael’s chest.

Without thinking, Izzy stepped in front of the gun, and the world slowed around her. Was it shock? The dump of adrenaline coursing through her system? Or just her wild imagination?

Either way, she would very likely die. Isadora Ellen Welch. Izzabel Eleanor Walsh. Whatever name she went by. If she was too slow, she would die. Leo would pull the trigger. Michael would tackle and subdue him. And someone else, probably Carson, would try to stop the bleeding.

As long as Emma was safe. And Michael would make sure she was. Izzy knew that deep in her soul. Knew she could trust him. Loved him for it.

Leo’s finger was tightening on the trigger when Izzy captured his gaze with hers. He couldn’t hear her, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t understand her. She signed the word before he even knew what was happening. “Still.” Be still. Her opening epitaph.

He stopped instantly. His face went slack as his watery eyes bore into her. The gun was still aimed point-blank at her head, but he stood frozen, unable to squeeze the trigger.

Michael was on him instantly, tackling him to the ground. The gun flew across the floor and stopped right in front of the city cop, who looked up in alarm, hand on his sidearm as he tried to assess the situation.

Leo lay on his back, his arm raised stiffly in the air, tears running down his temples due to his inability to blink. But it was his inability tobreathethat had Izzy questioning her morals. Her ethics. Her sense of right and wrong. She could let it play out and be done with him. He would never be a threat to Emma again. He would never use Izzy again.

Agent Carson knelt in front of him, and she knew. She looked back at Izzy. “Is he—is he dying?”

Izzy said nothing. She honestly had no idea if he would die or if his bodily functions would take over before that happened. She’d never pushed her ability this far before. Should she let it play out? See what happened?

“Izzy,” Michael said to her, his tone soft as he stood beside her, towering over her like an oak. “You don’t want this. You don’t want his death on your conscience. I promise you.”

He would black out soon. It would be out of her hands. And it wasn’t like they could convict her for killing him with her super special secret power.

“Damn it,” Agent Carson said, starting CPR as her partner called an ambulance. The real employees came out of a back room then, some of them half-dressed, all of them in shock.

“Izzy,” Michael said again. “Celie will know.”

His words jolted Izzy out of her trance. He was right. Celie would know, therefore Emma would know. But more importantly,shewould know. Despite her latest nickname, she was not a killer.

She knelt on the other side of Leo and put a hand on Agent Carson’s shoulder to stop her. The agent leaned back, already out of breath, and gave her some space.

Izzy reengaged with him, her gaze settling on his, capturing it. She didn’t have much time. He would black out soon. “You will forget me from this day forward,” she signed. Her movements surprised Michael and Agent Carson, but she would explain later.

Though Leo was catatonic, he seemed to balk at her words. He focused on her as though he knew deep down what she was doing.

“I will not even be a distant memory to you. You will go back to the prison hospital and never try to escape again. You will never hurt anyone again. And as soon as you’re finished building one million birdhouses, you will start again, building one millionbirdhouses, over and over, until the day you die.” She leaned closer, signing and speaking the words, “Bomb, where?”

He shook his head and grunted, his face turning a sickly shade of scarlet with the effort. “No. Bomb.”

She nodded. “That will be all.”

He slammed his lids shut and filled his lungs with air, only to cough it all out and start over again. He repeated this for the next several minutes until an ambulance arrived. Agent Carson handcuffed him to the gurney and rode in the ambulance with him as her partner took everyone’s statements.

“How sure are we there isn’t a bomb?” Agent Carson asked before leaving.

“Very. He couldn’t possibly lie to me in limbo.”

That seemed to satisfy her. “Your go-bags are pretty well stocked,” she said. “You probably won’t need them anymore, but if you do, you might want to add a few Twinkies. They last forever, they’re light, and they come in handy in a pinch.”

Was that her way of making amends after Izzy had almost let her stepfather die? Of showing her she understood? Either way, Izzy would take it. “Thank you.”

The agent let Michael and Izzy leave, as well as Donovan, who’d been in the back protecting the real employees. Donovan drove them to Izzy’s car, and Michael took over from there.

They met back at the apartment complex, but before they got out of the car, Michael turned to her, his expression the picture of grave disappointment. “Why the fuck would you jump in front of a gun like that?”

Ruh-roh. Someone was peckish. He probably never got his pizza.

“And we should have dealt with this together, Iz.” He looked out the windshield, the barest hint of sorrow flashing across his face. “You should have trusted me.”

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