Page 83 of Ace
Mommy Dearest never could control her temper. But to finally hear her verbalize her hatred, to know she had tried to kill him, her only child, when he was an infant, was still a hard kick in the gut. But Keller hadalso heard something else in her psychotic rant. Elaine wasn’t just hateful. She also ascribed to the horrific practice of infant sacrifice. The only reason Keller was alive today came back to Shane. His father had interfered in whatever ritual Elaine had conjured to murder her baby. The man Keller had forgotten had not forgotten Keller.
By then, sweat ran down his face and stung his eyes. Weary to his soul, Keller focused on Savannah. Nothing else mattered. Elaine was only there in spirit, and RJ was just an unwitting puppet. When she released her control on his mind, RJ would either drop dead or wake up. Keller didn’t much care which. The man still held a scalpel to Savannah’s throat. He deserved to die. All he had to do was tremble and nick an artery and Savannah...
‘Why Rudy John?’
Her grunt of indifference came through loud and clear.‘Still don’t recognize him, huh? That’s Scratch’s kid. Another bastard. Another disappointment. Like you.’
Keller almost felt sorry for RJ. For a second, they were brothers. They’d both come from the same shithole town, the same dirt poor beginnings. They’d both had the same idea, to get as far from home as possible. Yet look where they were today. Staring each other down. On opposite sides. One still striving to be good. One goddamned evil.
‘Let Savannah go,’Keller told his wicked witch of a mother.‘I’ll go with you quietly. Willingly. Hell, I’ll killmyself for you if it’ll save Savannah. You can watch. You know you want to.’
‘It is tempting,’she cackled,‘but where’s the fun in that?’
Keller knew he’d been wrong then. There was no compromising with evil. She had to die. Risking all, he shot a quick glance at his boss and ordered, “Now!”
Tucker engaged without hesitation. Both hands came up. Both pistols roared with fire. RJ never stood a chance. He crumpled behind Savannah. Two to the head. One center mass. The blade fell to the floor.
Queen Elaine wailed as if she’d been sucked out of the room by an unseen vacuum. Which she had. Her curse was broken. Her slave ripped from her poisonous grasp.
Against all odds, Keller tumbled out of his hospital bed in time to catch Savannah before she sagged into the bloody mess that had been Elaine’s puppet. With her safe in his arms, he crab-walked backward to the foot of the bed, his chest on fire and screaming, but not screaming as loudly as his heart. Savannah was safe. That was all that mattered.
Tucker was on RJ, checking his pulse, emptying his pockets. “One down. One to go,” he said as he produced a cylindrical glass vial filled with golden fluid. “Want to bet this is another dose of poison?”
‘Boss, I distinctly heard you fire four rounds,’Isaiah interjected quietly.‘You hit RJ three times. Where’s the fourth round? Can you see it? Did you miss? Is it in the wall?'
Keller looked up at his boss, daring to hope. “Did you—is it possible you—Boss, did you shoot Elaine?” he asked out loud, in case Tucker was too rattled to hear psychically. ‘Is that even possible?’
Tucker’s brows lifted. The whites flashed bright around his dark pupils. “Well, I wasn’t about to let her kill you,” he growled out loud. “I heard that bitch. She meant for RJ to torture Savannah while you watched. Didn’t matter what you promised, he was going to kill her. When you said‘now,’I must’ve… I might have… I could have…” He holstered a pistol, then scraped a quick hand over his hair. “By God, I hope I didn’t send that round into thin air. Did I? Isaiah!”
‘You think you killed a woman in Louisiana all the way from Florida?’Isaiah asked, the awe in his tone palpable.
“I honestly don’t know, damn it. I’m not the psychic expert here. You are.” Tucker’s shoulders lifted as he cleared his pistol and checked his magazine. “You’re right, I fired four rounds. Tell me where that last one went.”
Eden was unusually quiet, as was Tate. Like Keller, they were probably watching their boss come undone at what he might’ve unwittingly done. Gun safety was paramount in this business. Backstops were a hard and fast rule. A shooter never unholstered his piece unless he meant to kill someone, and by hell, he never unleashed a round unless he knew precisely who his target was, and what was behind that target. But man, if Tucker did what Keller hoped he’d done… If he’d actually, psychically ended Queen Elaine in Louisiana when he’d fired at RJ…
Keller didn’t know what psychically transferring a smoking hot bullet through the universe all the way to Turkey Creek was called, but he wanted in on that psychic talent. That was a gift worth a thousand F10 migraines.
‘Holy fuck,”Isaiah murmured.‘Ah, Boss. Sorry, but, umm, sorry to have to tell you, Keller, but yeah. I reached out to Queen Elaine Boniface, and she’s, umm—’
‘She’s dead, Keller,’Eden cut in pragmatically.‘I checked on her sorry ass, too. First ever psychic headshot in history. Longest sniper kill ever. Not that it’ll ever be recorded but yeah. Congratulations, Boss. You ended Queen Elaine Boniface, thank you very much.’
‘Six hundred forty-two miles, straight as the crows flies,’Tate added dryly.‘Not bad shooting. Not bad at all.’
‘You made that bullet travel through space and time with the energy of your mind,’Isaiah declared like it was something to be proud of. ‘You’re a no-kidding telekinesist. I’ve never met one before. You can move physical objects with your mind.’
“Oh, bullshit,” Tucker cussed as he was prone to do when confronted with the unbelievable and bizarre. “You don’t really believe that crap, do you?”
‘Yes, I do. It’s true,’Isaiah replied,‘and I can prove it.’
‘And I know where the missing round is,’Eden added.‘I’m sorry that your mom’s dead, Keller. No, not really. She earned that bullet in her brain. That’s where the round is, guys. She won’t be bothering us anymore.’
‘She was never my mom. Not really.’Keller wasn’t sorry. He didn’t feel bad, not for one millionth of a nanosecond. If anything, he felt lighter. Queen Elaine’s brutal, conniving reign had ended and he was free. She’d only ever been evil and cruel. By her own mouth, she’d admitted murdering her husband, and she would’ve killed Savannah. She’d murdered Carol Marie and who knew how many others. Good riddance.
Overcome with an odd rush of giddiness, Keller tipped his head back and laughed. Out loud. The most extraordinary miracle had just taken place. Sure, no one would ever believe that a bullet could travel from Jacksonville, Florida, to Turkey Creek, Louisiana. Just as surely, Tucker would never deny or confirm such an outlandish charge. But these fellow agents, these friends, this crazy Deuces Wild team was Keller’s most fervent dream come true. They were his family.
Tucker was the first to join in with a big manly belly laugh. Then Tate chuckled. Finally, Eden busted out in giggles. Even Isaiah laughed along. By then, Savannah was awake and smiling. “It’s over,” she murmured, her fingers splayed on his chest, tapping out her Secret Agent I love yous.
He covered her hand with his. “I love you, too,” he declared for all the world to hear.
