Page 126 of Wandering in Darkness
I shift my eyes and Lt. Allen looks down at me.
“I was beginning to think I’d hit your head too damn hard,” he says. “Didn’t know if you were going to wake up.”
“Why?” I whisper.
“I don’t have time to deal with you.”
“Why me? Why the fuck did you decide to ruinmylife?”
“Because you’re absolutely phenomenal, Cal. You really are outstanding, and you could have gone so far if you had let yourself.”
“So far? You wanted me to join your bullshit?”
“Of course I did. I wanted every one of you who came with me on my team. But once I saw how unstable you were after shooting the others, I realized you were nothing more than a liability. I should have killed you then, but your talents are one in a million. I knew that if there was ever any chance of pulling you over to my side, I had to take it. It’s too bad it became quite apparent you were never going to live up to your potential. But that’s okay. You’re going to take the fall for all of this. I have a recording of you admitting that you killed Eddie and Devon—you even announced that Tate was dead because of you.”
I look up and see Audrey across from me. She’s sitting in a chair, face twisted with rage. “How the fuck do you think we’ll take the fall for it?” she snarls.
“Audrey… you were involved in everything every step of the way, were you not? Don’t worry, I made sure to keep proof of your involvement, in case you ever decided to stab me in the back. Let’s say that you employed Cal to keep those who didn’t abide by your rules quiet. And when they didn’t, you had him execute them, just as he did Eddie and Devon.
“And then, because I was getting too close to finding out the truth, you tried pushing the blame onto me, taking the money, and running. But instead, the two of you fought over the money. In his anger, he shoots you in the stomach so you won’t immediately die. We need you to live long enough to shoot him in the head, you know?”
“They already have proof of your involvement,” Audrey says. “You really think they’ll just ignore it?”
“They’re not ignoring it, they just don’t want to believe it. No one wants to see a man like me—someone so many rely on—be the bad guy, but people like you two? A coldhearted bitch no one likes and a man who is a depressed alcoholic? Now that makes a bit more sense. It won’t take much for them to believe it.”
“Ready, sir. I’ve uploaded everything to her computer so it looks like she’s the one behind the transports and sales,” another man says, making me wonder if we’re in Audrey’s home. “Everything has been duplicated and written clearly to show that it was originally created by her. As soon as the house is searched, they’ll find it.”
“Good,” Lt. Allen responds as I’m dragged over to Audrey and then held still by the first guy. Allen grabs Audrey’s hand and shoves it against my arm, forcing her nails down my skin, likely so my DNA will be found under her nails to cement the idea that we’d gotten into a fight before I shot her.
My head is finally clearing, so I try to slam my feet down and throw myself back quickly. It shoves the other guy back and he stumbles, but when I twist, I can’t get free.
“Careful. We don’t need unexplainable marks on him. DNA has been placed where we need it. Documents done… alright, it’s your time to shine,” Allen says as he gets behind me and puts a gun in my hand.
He wraps my fingers around it and points it at Audrey. Using all of my strength, I try to pull it back to me, but he refuses to let me do so.
When he starts to struggle to hold on to me, the guy who’d been at the computer cups a hand over my nose and mouth. “This won’t leave a mark,” he says as I realize he’s trying to make me lightheaded so Lt. Allen can control my arm.
I try to pull my arm back, fighting as hard as I can, but with the hand over my mouth and nose, I can’t breathe. Thrashing is getting me nowhere.
I decide that I need to let them take over while I still have some energy in me. I slacken my body, and Allen hurriedly aims my hand, but the moment I feel his finger over the trigger, I yank my arm back hard and fast as the shot goes off.
“Fuck,” Allen snarls while I thrash for air. The head wound was already making me feel off, but now darkness is creeping in.
Suddenly, the hand trying to suffocate me is torn off me and I drop down, gasping for breath. Lt. Allen shifts to look at the man screaming on the ground next to me as I become aware that I feel a wetness splashed across my arm.
My eyes drift up to the window where there’s a beautiful bullet hole in it.
“I thought I told you assholes to deal with Grayson!”
“They said they were!” the remaining man says.
“Then who the fuck is shooting at us?” Lt. Allen snaps, jerking me away from the window. My foot catches on the downed man’s gun and I kick it back an instant before I ram my shoulder into Allen. He stumbles as I scoop up the gun, only to find that he has the gun he’d been trying to get me to shoot Audrey with pointed at my head.
“I’ll just fucking set it up after you’re dead,” he snarls.
“You know I’m faster with a gun.”
“Yes, but there is only one gun pointed at my head and two at yours.”
