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Her eyes were fixed on him.
Her mouth came open, and he tensed. If she made a sound, it was over. There was no way he could make it to Evan. A cough from her would mean death.
“Go ahead, check the bills. It’s all there,” Richard said.
Da
She looked back at him, then over at Evan. It could only have been a second or two their eyes had been locked, but it felt like a lifetime. Like a staring contest as a little kid. A beam angels could have walked across.
Finally, Debbie moved. She raised the cigarette to her lips. Took a drag that made her features glow orange.
And very deliberately turned to stare out the plastic sheeting.
Da
He looked back at Evan and Richard. His old partner had pulled out a wad of bills and was holding them up in the gray light. No more than fifteen feet away.
Da
Da
Evan held the money under his nose and breathed it in. “Ahh, Dick. I could kiss you.”
“Where’s my son?” Richard spoke with surprising force.
“Yeah.” Evan popped his head to either side. “About that. Change of plans.”
Fear sang in Da
Then Evan raised his right arm, the same balletic grace and speed as before, the snub-nose pointing straight at Richard’s head.
“Dad!” A ragged cry of fear sounded behind them all.
Still six or eight feet away, Da
“Da
46
“Get in here, kitten.” Evan swiveled the gun to Karen. She hesitated, her face a mask of hatred and fear, and then she walked over to stand beside Richard and Tommy.
From the ground, Da
“Deborah, that was a really excellent job of keeping watch.” Evan glared over his shoulder at her. “You doze off, or were you just hoping he’d take you away from all this?”
“I was looking outside.” Her voice sounded stronger than Da
Evan grunted. “Come on, Da
Da
“Do me a favor, would you, buddy?” Evan gestured to the duffel bag with the barrel of the gun. “Bring that bad boy over here.”
There was no reason for Evan to keep them alive once he had the money. But it wasn’t like he couldn’t just shoot them and pick it up himself. Better to spin it out a little longer, give the guy time to gloat, while Da
His senses hummed with hyper-real perception. He could make out the leathery texture of his shoes, could smell the piney sawdust of the lumber, and above it, the sweet drugstore perfume Debbie wore. The weight of the duffel bag pulled him to one side as he walked toward Evan, hoping for a tiny lapse of attention. At this point, any chance was worth taking.
“Slowly now.” Evan kept the black eye of the pistol fixed on Da
He did, wondering if he could make the few feet between them, knowing he couldn’t.
“Good boy.” Evan gestured toward the others, and Da
Evan stepped forward, bent down, and hoisted the thirty-pound bag like it was tissue. The gun never moved.
“Right.” He smiled, only half his face visible in the gloom. “I know this is the part where I’m supposed to say something cold, but words were always more your side of the action, Da
His thumb rocked up to cock the pistol.
Da
And then he saw another hand.
Debbie threw herself at Evan, scrabbling at his right arm, shoving it upward, the two of them locked like statues in the liquid play of shadows, a frozen image burned in Da
Da
Evan’s left hand shot up to Debbie’s throat.
And from the stairwell, someone yelled, “Freeze!”
Whirling, Da