Page 152 of X's and O's
I flinched at the tone in his voice. It was dark, chilling. A world away from the constant babbling he’d been doing earlier. But I immediately went into protective mode, just like I did every time someone threatened Toby or anyone else I cared about. “He can’t, okay? He’s trying, but if he says he can’t, he can’t.”
Dickson strode forward. “He can and he fucking will. I’m the one with the knife. So I’m the one calling the shots. And I’m not spending another fucking minute in here. So get on the fucking table!”
He came at Toby with the weapon.
Toby screamed, throwing himself toward me.
I lunged for him, hauling him up onto the table as quickly as I could, then glared down at Dickson. “You didn’t need to do that! You just needed to give him a minute!”
“I’ve been in here for fucking days, princess. I’m hungry. I’m thirsty, and I’m not getting left behind while you and your friend run off and leave me here.” Dickson shoved the knife in his back pocket, which didn’t seem like the world’s safest idea, but with the absence of anywhere else to put it, I couldn’t blame him. I wouldn’t have wanted to give it up either. But for now I was just glad he wasn’t going to be stabbing anyone with it.
Dickson peered up at the window. He was taller than me, and on his toes, he could almost reach it.
With a boost, he’d be able to get it open, and hopefully, he’d fit through. It was going to be a hell of a drop on the other side, one I hadn’t really considered when I’dbeen suggesting Toby go through it, but now I was kind of glad it was Dickson instead.
Best-case scenario, he was fit and strong enough to maneuver himself out of the window and make the drop feetfirst. Worst-case scenario, he fell headfirst and snapped his neck when his body met the cold hard concrete outside.
At this point, either way, I didn’t care. As long as he was nowhere near Toby or me. “Watch how he does it,” I murmured at Toby. Because if Dickson could get out without falling on his head, then Toby would have to go next. I already knew that once Dickson was out, he wasn’t going to go running to the cops to get them to free us. We would be on our own. But at least we wouldn’t be in a confined space with an ex-con holding a knife.
Toby and I linked our fingers together, and Dickson put his boot on top of our palms.
“One, two, three, go.” With Dickson’s repulsive hand on my shoulder for balance, I straightened my legs, and we boosted him up.
He was heavy, but between the two of us we got him high enough that he could reach the window.
“That’s it! Hold it there while I get it open!”
The knife in his pocket was right above my head. I so desperately wanted to grab it, but that would have meant letting him go.
And ultimately, even armed, I knew I could never kill another person. So what good was the knife to me anyway? No, we were much better off with Dickson out of this building and taking the sharp-bladed weapon with him.
The window slid open with a screech of protest thatsounded like something ripped from the depths of Hell. Toby and I cringed at the painful noise. A fresh burst of cold night air rushed in, and Dickson crowed with excitement.
“Higher! I just need to get a little more leverage…”
“The doors are locked, the windows high. No way out, so don’t you try.”
Had the warning gotten louder, or was that my imagination?
The message changed, and suddenly it was just those two lines, over and over, each one getting louder as Dickson got first his head through the window. And then his neck.
Doubt rushed in. “Wait,” I called to him. “I don’t think we should do this. The message has changed.”
He ignored me, desperate for freedom now he had a taste for it. “Higher!” he shouted. “I can’t get my shoulders out.
“The doors are locked, the windows high. No way out, so don’t you try.”
This wasn’t right. Something about this was very, very wrong. I could suddenly feel it, like I could feel the panic rising in my blood. I dropped my hands. “No!”
Something fell from the rafters, the slide of metal against metal piercing through the space. It scraped down the wall, a bright glint of sharpened steel.
That sliced right through Dickson’s neck, only stopping when it hit the concrete floor.
Dickson’s headless body fell like a stone, landing on the table at my and Toby’s feet.
A bloodcurdling scream ripped from my body, a hysterical fear I couldn’t make sense of swamping my system until I didn’t hear Toby’s screams that joined mine. I no longer smelled the tang that filled the air.
Because all I could focus on was the blood that gushed from the clean slice across a man’s neck that had ended his life in the most brutal way I could have ever imagined.
