Page 59 of The Perfect Revenge
Henry's right leg buckled, and he collapsed forward to the ground.Even with the whirring helicopter blades, Jessie thought she could hear him screaming.
“Toss the gun away,” she ordered over the speaker, her voice shockingly calm.“Then lie flat on the ground with your fingers interlaced behind your head.If you fail to comply immediately, I will be forced to fire on you again.”
The reality was that she wouldn't mind discharging another round.The bastard on the ground had manipulated her sister and then brought her out here to kill her.Hannah had been through so much, and now this?A headshot would be defensible under the circumstances.
They hovered there, waiting to see what Henry would do.When ten seconds passed and he hadn’t done anything as instructed, Jessie leaned out again and aimed, concentrating on her target.Without warning, she fired again, hitting Henry in the backside.The screaming continued.
“Comply now,” she instructed.
This time, Henry tossed the gun off to the side.Then he flattened his chest against the ground and put his hands behind his head.
"You are going to be taken into custody.Do not move.Any violations of these instructions will result in additional action.If you understand, extend your hand and give a thumbs up."
Henry did what he was told.Jessie turned to the pilot.
“He’s not going anywhere anytime soon,” Jessie told him.“We’ll come back for him.But first, I need to you to go over to where the girl with the phone light is.”
“We can get her after we secure Henry,” the pilot protested.
She offered the man a brief, withering glare before slowly replying.
“Get on top of that ridge where she’s lying.I’m going to drop down to her. This is non-negotiable.”
The pilot didn’t object this time.He flew over to the ridge and hovered about fifteen feet above it.
"I can't go any lower, or we risk the blades hitting something."
“That’s fine,” Jessie said, unstrapping herself.
“That’s too big a jump,” the pilot protested.
“From the landing skids, it’s less than ten feet,” she assured him, though she wasn’t sure that was true.
Before he could argue anymore, she swung over the side of the helicopter, resting her feet on one of the skids.Then she bent down, wrapped her arms around the skid, and lowered herself so that she was fully extended, dangling over the rock shelf.Looking down, she guessed that Hannah was about eight to twelve feet below her.
“You’re crazy!”Hannah shouted up at her.“What the hell are you doing?”
Without answering or pausing to think about it too much, Jessie let go of the skid.She landed hard but managed to tuck into a roll that stopped her momentum just inches from the edge of the rock ledge.
She allowed herself a few seconds to make sure that she wasn’t injured, then looked up at the pilot and stuck out her own upraised thumb.He waved and banked off back in the direction of the landing zone by the trail.
Once the copter moved away, she could hear herself think again.She turned to her little sister, who had pushed herself upright but seemed to be favoring her left foot.She was about to ask if Hannah was okay.
But before she could get a word out, her sister leapt toward her.Hannah wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in tight, squeezing her as if her life depended on it.
After a moment of frozen shock, Jessie hugged her back
CHAPTER FORTY
At first, Ash Pierce was confused.
When she was on the bus headed out of L.A., she didn't initially understand how the authorities were able to tie the murder of Manny, the limo driver, to her so quickly.She'd wiped away any prints.She'd avoided security cameras.She'd worn a disguise.And yet the bus out of town had only reached Rancho Cucamonga when the APB went out specifically mentioning her.
But then it hit her—Kat Gentry must have been involved.Ash knew that the private detective was obsessed with her and had likely been searching for her for months.She also knew that Gentry had already moved apartments and relocated her office, both signs that she suspected Ash intended to return to L.A.to pay her a visit.Gentry had managed to keep both of those addresses secret, indicating that she was taking extra precautions to protect herself.So the idea that the private detective would be paying attention to local murders and note the hallmarks of an Ash Pierce kill wasn’t shocking.
That meant that if she hadn’t already, Gentry would soon figure out that Ash had been staking out Jessie Hunt’s house.But as she stared at her laptop in a room at the cheap motel in San Bernardino, where she’d gotten off the bus, she found that she was more excited than concerned.
It was nice to have someone worthy to battle wits with.So many of her targets for sanctioned government assassinations and later for private hits had no idea that they were in her crosshairs.But Gentry knew it and was trying to turn the tables.It was admirable, if futile.
