Page 82 of Ace of Spades
“I regret not having hers, but I hadn’t planned on making her an angel. Everything was confusing that night.”
“Yet you thought to take pictures of her.” Sick bastard. There was a photo of her mother after she’d died tacked to the board that she’d caught a glimpse of, but until she reined in her emotions, she kept her eyes on the strands of hair. “Why not pictures of the others?”
“Oh, they didn’t mean anything to me, not like your mother. I was simply their savior, sending them to a better life. The pieces of hair were all I wanted to remember them by.”
They didn’t mean anything to him. If she had bullets in her gun, she’d shoot him right now.
“Take the gun I know you have under your jacket, set it on the floor nice and easy like, and slide it to me,” he said as if reading her mind.
“I’m trained to never give up my weapon, but I’ll do it if you’ll let her go.” She faced him. “You said you’d let them both go if I came down. Well, here I am.”
He laughed. “You’re too trusting, Taylor, dearest. Say good-bye to sweet Nichole.”
When he put his finger on the trigger of Court’s gun, Taylor held up her hands. “Okay, I’m doing it.”
“Real slow. You try anything and she dies.”
What could she say to get him to use her weapon instead of Court’s? She eased her gun out of its holster, set it on the floor, and pushed it toward him with her foot. Letting the fear inside her that she wouldn’t be able to save Court and Nichole show on her face, she said, “Please don’t use my gun to hurt anyone. I couldn’t bear it.”
As she’d hoped, delight at seeing her afraid danced in his eyes, and his mouth curved into a sly smile. She glanced at the camera mounted on a stand to see it was still recording. Did he realize that her fellow agents would be watching? It appeared that he’d forgotten about the camera. She hoped so.
He pointed Court’s gun at her. “Don’t move unless you’re ready to die.”
While he stretched a leg, put his foot on her weapon, and pulled it to him, she risked looking at Court. He was rubbing his arm back and forth on the chair arm, his muscles straining to loosen the rope. Already, his wrist looked raw from rope burns. What alarmed her, though, was the steady trickle of blood dripping down the back of his neck. He must have hit his head when he fell.
This had to end before someone was killed. As she’d prayed, her reverse psychology worked. Tompkins tucked Court’s gun under his leg, palming hers.
“Will you cry if I kill them with your gun, Taylor?”
“Yes.” But hell if she was going to let that happen. It was now or never. She whipped the knife from her back but had a damn moment of hesitation. She wanted to send the knife right through his black heart, but even though he didn’t know her gun was useless, she did.
If she killed him, it would probably be deemed a justifiable kill, but in her heart, she would always know it was murder. Her hesitation gave him time to pull the trigger of her gun. When nothing happened, he went for Court’s weapon. Taylor threw the knife, hitting him in his arm where she’d intended. Tompkins screamed, Court’s gun clattering to the floor.
At the same time, Court tilted his chair, sending Tompkins, along with himself, to the floor. Chaos ensued as three big men climbed down the ladder.
Nate was the first down, torn between going to his brother or Taylor. Alex pushed past him, heading for Court, so Nate went to Taylor, while Rand moved to the woman trying to scream behind her gag.
“Damn noisy in here,” Nate said, coming to a stop next to Taylor.
She let out an adrenaline-filled laugh. “I love it when a plan comes together.”
“You were amazing, tiger.” He’d watched the monitor with his heart in his throat as she’d had to face a serial killer alone. Alex had practically had to tackle him to keep him from rushing in to save her.
“Dude, trust your woman to handle this,” Alex had said.
He did, God knew he did, but seeing her down there by herself with a deranged man had nearly given him a heart attack.
She smiled at him. “Thanks. I was worried it would all somehow go south on me.”
When she walked away from him, he wanted to grab her back and keep her in the safety of his arms. Instead, he crammed his fingers into the pockets of his jeans. Whatever it was she needed to do, it wasn’t his right to stop her. No matter how much he wanted to. She stared down at Tompkins.
“You want to hear something?” Without waiting for an answer, she said, “I’m sorry you had to watch your mother die. I know how hard that must have been for you, but you had choices. The same as me. I find it sad that you chose to be a pathetic excuse for a man.”
Nate wanted to yell, “You tell him, tiger!”
The man looked back at her with the eyes of a petulant child who had just had his favorite toy taken away. “You tricked me.”
Idiot.Still staying out of what was going on between Taylor and the man who’d killed her mother, Nate watched as she picked up her gun. Pulling out the magazine, she held it out for Tompkins to see. “Empty. Did you really think I’d give you a loaded gun, asshole?”
