Page 72 of Texas Hold Em'
Tex closed his eyes.
The room swam in and out of focus and the floor seemed to roll under my feet like a wave in open water as the defibrillator charged. The static hum rang in my ears.
“Do it,” Tex said.
“Godspeed,” Brody muttered.
I wanted to look away but couldn’t as Brody pressed the paddles to Tex’s chest. They went off. Tex’s entire body jolted.
And then he swore.
“Son of a fucking whore,” Tex hissed.
I clutched at my chest like I’d just been the one shocked. “What the hell is happening? Why didn’t it work? Brody?”
Brody stared at the machine in his hands. “Fuck.”
I grabbed his shirt and turned him to face me. “Fuck? Fuck what? What’s going on? We haveminuteshere Brody. Caroline is going to be banging on the front door any minute.”
“It’s not going to work,” Brody muttered. “How didn’t I think of this? Why… shit. Shit.Shit!The new machines detect regularheartbeats. It’s not going to work on someone who isn’t experiencing irregular heartbeats.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you fucking serious right now? You’re a fuckingdoctorand it didn’t occur to you that the one thing our entire plan was hinged on wouldn’t work?”
Tex propped himself up on his elbows. “You need a bigger shock.”
Brody nodded.
“How much bigger?” I asked.
Brody looked around the room for something he could use. “I just assumed… I don’t know what I was thinking. The old machines…” He shook his head in disbelief. “I don’t know what to do.”
“They’re going to check my pulse,” Tex said. “And we can’t afford for this to go wrong. I need to be dead.”
The men shared a look that made my skin crawl.
“Whatever you’re thinking,” I said, “stop thinking it.”
Tex’s jaw flexed. “The only way we’re going to create a powerful enough shock to actually kill me is with water and a large appliance, and we just don’t have that kind of time. This is bigger than me. You both know that. And we all knew there was a chance things could go wrong. I have to be dead when they walk through that door.”
Brody began shaking his head.
Tex looked at me. “Carrie, go meet Caroline. We’ll handle what needs to be done here.”
“No,” I said.
“I’m sick and tired of this shit,” Tex hissed. “I’m done being questioned. Get the fuck out there and do your part. We’ll do ours. With a little luck, I’ll see you soon.”
“And without luck?” I whispered.
Tex settled back down on the pillow. “Then I’m sorry.”
“That’s it?”
“Carrie,” he said softly this time. “Go.”
Somehow, I managed to walk out of that room. I didn’t know what I was turning my back on. I didn’t know what they were planning to do in there. All I knew was Brody’s job just got a hell of a lot worse, and he probably wouldn’t have time to hide out in his truck. He wasgoing to have to stay somewhere in the apartment, and I wouldn’t know where he was hiding.
I left the apartment and moved down the hall to the front door where, when I was about ten feet away, Caroline stepped inside. She didn’t see me right away as she looked from side to side down the corridor running the opposite direction. She frowned at the rather dingy lights and sniffed at the air like an unimpressed cat.
