Page 70 of The Devil's Viking

Well, I’m happy to disabuse you of that notion, you prick.

“Hello, Briley,” he said as casually as if they’d just met in line at the grocery store. “You hit me over the head and then you tied me up, you bitch.”

She looked at him again, saw the blood matted in his hair, and she grinned to herself. It had been incredibly satisfying to hit that sick fuck over the head with the two-by-four that he had in his office corner, leftover from a bookshelf that the Guardians had built him.

“Ididdo all that,” she agreed. “Who untied you?”

“Guardian Noah.”

“Suck-up.”

“What did you do with all my other Guardians?” he asked her. “I seem to be missing about four of them, not including the two who appear to be tied up in the guardhouse. I’m down to just five righteous men by my side.”

“The two-by-four made the rounds,” she said. “I especially enjoyed using it to knock out your new Right-Guardian Michael down in the basement.”

“When you stole my woman-servant away from me.”

“When I saved a kidnap victim.”

“When you led Servant Violet astray and onto the path of wickedness.”

“When I did what Violet asked me to do.”

“Oh, let’s not quibble about vocabulary,” he said, waving his hand airily. “We have something far more pressing to discuss, do we not?”

“Probably.” Her finger twitched on the gun trigger. She thought about shooting him in the chest right away, but first, there were a few things to get sorted between them. She needed him to die knowing that she was free. “You start.”

“My pleasure.” He cocked his head at her. “Youdorealize that you and your friend Cheryl are completely done? She’s going to jail for killing that man, and you’re going to join her, after being humiliated and fired in disgrace from the police department.”

“Nope.”

“Nope to which part?”

“To all of it.” She shifted on her feet, gauging the angle to hit him smack in the heart. “Cheryl and I are going to be fine.”

“I strongly disagree. I have four men going to pick her up right now.”

“I figured you would, when this all went down. That’s why I called her this morning and told her to get a plane and head east, but not to tell me where. She’s in the air at the moment, far out of your reach.”

He stared at her, and for the second time that evening, she’d actually managed to surprise him. The first had been when he’d been on his knees on the floor, looking with confusion at the blood on his hand from the blow to his head.

“Butyou’restill here,” he said slowly. “You haven’t tried to run.”

“That’s correct.”

“So – you’re going to stand trial as a dirty cop?”

“That’sincorrect. I’m not a cop anymore.”

“Since when?”

“Since I handed in my gun and badge at noon today. I then called a property agent and put my house on the market immediately. I actually already have an offer, so I doubt it’ll be long before it sells.” She took a deep breath. “I’m free, do you understand? I’m out from under your thumb, I’m out of your reach. You have no power over me – and you never will again.”

The look of stunned disbelief on his face was priceless. “But – but none of that will matter after I tell the cops what I know about you. About how you protected Cheryl, about how you covered and worked for me for years. You think that just quitting or trying to run is going to make any difference?”

“What on earth makes you think that you’re going to tell the policeanythingabout me?”

“Why the hell wouldn’t I?”

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