Page 82 of Damned
Chapter Thirty-Five
Bree’s mouth went dry. She didn’t think the gun Harvey was holding was a shotgun. But it could be. The rifle only had one barrel. Weren’t all shotguns double-barreled? Lord, she didn’t know. So she did what any idiot would do when facing immediate death. She turned and ran back down the hall. Back into Kruze’s office. Whirling on her toes, she slammed the door shut behind her and locked it, thankful Lantz hadn’t shot her in the back. He could have.
Trapped, with time running out, she shoved Kruze’s office chair out of her way, dropped to her hands and knees, and scurried into the crawl space under his desk. Just in time. A wicked blast roared into the room. Sounded like a train. Flying splinters and clouds of sawdust blew over her head and hit the wall behind her. Oh, Lord, Lantz was there.
Fear climbed up Bree’s spine, paralyzing her. Her ears were buzzing. She spit splinters out of her mouth and choked on the dust. It was everywhere. This was the end. She’d never see Robin or Kruze again. Was he even still alive? With every thunderous beat of her heart, Bree begged God to take her and let him live, and that he’d remember what she’d told him to tell Robin if she didn’t make it.
“I know you’re in here!” Harvey’s voice boomed.
Where else would she be? Bree scrunched her shaking knees up to her chin, holding her breath, knowing that gun of his could easily reduce the front of Kruze’s desk to wood chips and shavings, just like it did the door. Then Lantz would do the same to her. This was where she’d die, inside Kruze’s house, but not in his arms. Forever lost to her daughter and the man she loved. Make that adored. Lord! If she’d only said yes when he’d asked her to marry him. Everything would’ve been different. She could’ve at least given him that.
Harvey banged his gun on the desktop and ordered, “Get your ass out from under there, Banks. Stop playing hard to get, you bitch. You’ve got some place else to be.”
Bree cringed. She could feel the evil pouring off him. Like slimy mud. Like death. He was standing so close. She hated him for everything he’d done to her. Every lie, every cover-up, for tracking her, for sabotaging Kruze’s plane. For what he’d done to Robin and her parents! They’d suffered every single one of those horrible sixty-three days, worried out of their minds, not knowing where she was, if she were even alive. But mostly for poor Mehmet! He’d died. For what? So greedy pigs like Harvey Lantz could get richer? For cowards like Damon Vick, who would’ve murdered her child—a helpless little girl!
Bree shook her head, needing to calm down before she did something stupid. She had to think smart. What would Kruze do? He wouldn’t die a coward’s death, hiding under his desk, that was for certain. No, he’d at least be on his feet when the end came. He’d die fighting, giving back as much as he could, as long as he could. Well, then…
She sucked in one last nervous breath of freedom. This was it. With her heart pounding a noisy Morse Code to the universe, Bree put a sweaty palm to the floor, intent on facing the bastard who would’ve had no trouble killing her sweet, little Robin. Bree would’ve gotten right to her feet, if her head hadn’t bumped something hard beneath the desk alongside the pencil drawer.
Putting both hands on whatever it was, she found what she’d thoroughly searched his house for. A pistol. Hanging right there. Under his desk. She ran her fingers along its cold, steel barrel and textured grip. A flat, square magnet held it in place. How clever. How fortuitous. How gawddamned righteous. Did she dare? Hell, yes.
Puffing to get her hair out of her face, she traced that deadly weapon’s grip with her fingertips, then jerked it off the magnet. It wasn’t even in a cup or a rack. Once she had it in her hands, she cradled the pistol against her chest, as if it were Kruze, not just a gun.
Her heart pounded for an entirely different reason now. She was going to live, even if she had to kill Harvey Lantz to do it. It was him or her, and she had more reasons to live. She had an honorable man to make love with and a little girl to love. Damn Harvey Lantz for forcing this godawful decision on her. But he’d asked for this. And he was going to get it.
She’d never shot a weapon before, and this cold, black pistol was a frighteningly powerful, dangerous thing to behold. Yet Kruze handled his weapons with skill and ease, almost as if they were simple extensions of his fingers and hands. Of his heart. Which strengthened Bree’s resolve even more. That was all this weapon was, an extension of Kruze’s heart, and she was right then holding his heart in her hands. It was almost as if he’d put the pistol where and when she’d need it. Well, guess what Mr. Harvey Lantz? She was going to live!
Could she shoot him? Bree honestly didn’t know. There was only one way to find out.
“Raise your hands, you fuckin’ bitch!” Lantz bellowed as soon as he saw she peered over the desk. “Let me see both of them! Now, gawddamnit! Show ’em to me!” He was spitting mad. The barrel end of his rifle bobbed up and down like a fishing pole with a fish on the end of it. Good. He was nervous, too. Knowing that strengthened Bree’s resolve even more.
She slapped her empty palm to the desk, then lifted to her feet. Keeping the pistol in her other hand and out of sight, she told Lantz, “You bastard, you sent Vick to kill Robin and me.”
“I did not!” he spat. “That was all Damon’s idea.”
“Liar!” She was up on both feet now, the pistol still undisclosed at her side. “I was there. I heard you tell him no one can come out of this alive but Banks. You ordered him to kill everyone with me. You said,‘I don’t care if it’s her damned kid!’I heard you!”
“Shut the fuck up.” Lantz aimed at her head. “Hands. Now. Where I can see them. Or so help me, I’ll kill you right here, right now.”
“As opposed to taking me somewhere else to kill me?” she screamed. “If you’re so ready to see me die, then do it. Now. Right here!” Bree didn’t think Lantz had the balls to do his own dirty work. “Kill me while the cameras are running, Lantz. Or didn’t you know that? Kruze Sinclair isn’t as dumb as you. This place is full of video and listening devices. You’re being taped, Mr. Harvey Lantz. And right now, you’re live and broadcasting!”
Lantz thought he was the most dangerous animal in this room? Guess again. Bree was that mother bear protecting her cub. Willing to die. Just as willing to kill.
