At the Crossroads

by B. J Daniels

  She started to hand the baby to Tina, but Gene stopped her.

  “Take the kid,” Gene told Lars, who didn’t hesitate. Alexis hesitated only a moment before she handed over Chloe and headed for the counter. Culhane watched her approach. He could see the emotion in her face. She was shaken, but hiding it well, not from having a gun pointed at her head but from the contact with the baby and even the thought of what Gene could do to the child, if the infant cried again.

  Meanwhile, against Vi’s protests, Lars carried the baby over to the booth where he’d been originally sitting with the woman he’d called Shirley. He sat down, cooing at the baby, rocking her. Across the table from him, Culhane saw Shirley watch him as if he were a stranger she’d never seen before.

  When he turned back to the killers, he saw Eric pick up Tyrell’s cell phone from the floor.

  “Did I tell you to shoot someone while I was gone?” Gene demanded, advancing on Eric as the younger man wiped the blood off the phone on his pant leg.

  “That one,” Eric said, pointing to Tyrell dead on the floor. “He was calling the cops. What was I supposed to do?”

  Gene snatched the phone from his hand and quickly checked before letting out a curse that rattled in the rafters. “He didn’t call anyone! He was filming the two of you eating like pigs!” Gene shoved the phone at Eric, his disgusted glare shifting across the room in Bobby’s direction. “Fortunately, the damned fool didn’t have the sense to call the cops. I thought you collected all the phones?”

  “He said he didn’t have his,” Bobby whined, looking terrified. “I frisked him. He didn’t have it on him, I swear.”

  Gene was shaking his head, looking as if he wanted to shoot both men. Culhane held his breath, thinking Gene wouldn’t stop there if he did. Worse, when Bobby had put the gun to Alexis’s head, Culhane had realized where he’d seen him before. He suddenly needed this man alive. Bobby had known Jana, Culhane’s so-called wife. That’s where he’d seen the man—coming out of her apartment the day she disappeared leaving enough blood on the kitchen floor that the sheriff was convinced Culhane had murdered her.

  “You okay?” Culhane whispered as Alexis sat down again next to him at the counter. That had been a close call. He was still shaken. Bobby had come so close to shooting her.

  “Fine,” she whispered back.

  She didn’t look fine. She looked pale as if sick to her stomach. He could see that she was also disappointed that their plan hadn’t worked. It would have—if not for Tyrell, who now lay dead next to his father. They, unlike father and son, were both still alive. But they’d missed their chance.

  Culhane told himself that maybe the three men would leave now—before the baby started crying again or someone else did something stupid—as if anyone in this café could get that lucky today.

  * * *

  EARL RAY SLID into the booth, set down the bag of medical supplies on the table and took Bessie in his arms. “It’s all right,” he whispered, holding her tight. He said the words, even though nothing was all right. Worse, he couldn’t make it all right, and they both knew it.

  Soon he would have to go back out to the van with the medical supplies. He prayed he would find Gene’s brother Gus still alive. He would do what he could to ease the man’s suffering and hope the men would leave before Gus died. Too much was riding on the men leaving. He knew it wouldn’t be that easy, and that’s what frightened him the most.

  Bessie quit crying in his arms and looked up at him. He thumbed away her tears and smiled into her beautiful face. “I love you.”

  He saw her eyes widen in surprise. He’d never said the words before, but she had to know how he felt, didn’t she? “I love you. I have for so long. I’m sorry I haven’t said it before.”

  “I love you,” she said, her voice breaking. He’d known that. He just hadn’t done anything about it. Hadn’t felt he could. He’d thought it would be an insult to his marriage, to his deceased wife, to the man he believed himself to be. He used to wish that he’d died with Tory. For so long, he’d wondered why he was still here without her. But over time, he’d found he could be useful to those who needed his help. And he’d found love again.

  But he’d felt guilty for loving Bessie. That’s why he’d never said those three consequential words until today. After everything that happened here today, though, he made himself a promise that if they lived through this...

  “Come on,” Gene ordered, jabbing him in the shoulder with the barrel end of his gun.

  Earl Ray let go of Bessie slowly, his gaze holding hers. “I’ll be back.” She nodded, but he could see the terror in her eyes. She knew that this might be the last time they saw each other, and it was why he’d finally told her how he felt. If he went out to the van and Gus was dead, he likely wouldn’t be coming back.

  He slid out of the booth, taking the medical supplies with him. The worst part wasn’t dying. The worst was that he wouldn’t have any chance of protecting Bessie from these men. Since taking the drugs, Gene was even more on a hair trigger. In his life, he’d seen men do horrible things. Gene was the kind who, in his grief and guilt, would be looking for someone to blame for this other than himself. He would kill everyone before leaving here. And he would do it without a shred of regret.

  Earl Ray walked out the front door, Gene right behind and prodding him with the gun. He fought the urge to look back, to see Bessie’s face one more time. It had taken years to heal after losing his wife. Bessie had helped with her cheerful smiles each morning, her baking and her loyalty and patience with him.

  He felt the crack open in his heart and had to steady himself as he neared the van. He’d known he couldn’t tell Bessie everything he felt back in the café, but now he wished he’d tried. He knew it would take years to express everything he felt. At least she knew that he loved her. He’d said the words he doubted she had ever expected to hear after all this time. He only wished he’d said them sooner. Not just said them but acted on them. It would be the second-biggest regret of his life.

  He stopped at the van, letting Gene open the side-panel door, and climbed inside. With relief, he saw the rise and fall of Gus’s chest and quickly went to work bandaging the man and trying to ease his pain.

  Outside the van, Gene paced and ate his way through the candy bars, before getting into the pills again. Earl Ray found himself gauging the man’s mood. Drugs, like alcohol, affected people differently. With Gene, though, he thought the man would be a mean drunk, which meant one thing.

  “I’ve done all I can do for him,” Earl Ray said. “There’s a hospital in the next town. The sooner you get him there—”

  “I already told you—” Gene jerked him backward out of the van. Off balance, he fell to the ground, pain radiating through his back as he fought to suck air into his lungs. Gene slammed the van door and motioned with his gun for Earl Ray to get up. As he fought to catch his breath, he rolled to his side, got up on his hands and knees and was about to rise when Gene kicked him in the side, then in the stomach. Even in pain, Earl Ray shoved to his feet to avoid his boot again.

  He could tell that Gene wanted to kill him. He stared into the dark hole of the gun barrel for a moment before meeting the man’s gaze. The anger, the contempt, the hatred and the fear were like a ball of roiling snakes all biting each other. “Move!” Gene ordered, motioning toward the café.

  This time he didn’t have to pretend to be an old man. He felt it in his body, in his vulnerability, in the fear that had him limping toward the front door. There had been a time that he could have disarmed the man and broken his neck within a matter of seconds.

  He could still do it. But he was smart enough to know that Gene was just waiting for some excuse like that. And Earl Ray wasn’t as fast or as powerful as he used to be. He wished for even one of the many weapons he kept at the house. Even as he thought it, he knew it would have been too risky with so many people alread
y armed inside.

  All he could do was try to keep everyone calm and pray that they got through this.

  * * *

  CULHANE WAS RELIEVED to see Earl Ray come in the door but noticed immediately that the older man was hurting. Something had happened out there. Gene was different as well. There was a distant look in his eyes, one that turned Culhane’s blood to ice. The man was on something, high as a kite, and on the edge of something bad.

  He watched Earl Ray doing his best not to limp as he approached the table with Bessie and Cheri. But Bessie had noticed. Tears filled her eyes even as Earl Ray waved off her concern, saying he was fine. But Culhane could see that he was in pain as he slipped into the booth.

  Gene stood in the doorway, his weapon dangling from his fingertips as he glared at his two men. “Is that my breakfast?” he demanded.

  Their table looked as if wild animals had gotten into the food and spread it everywhere. Both men had eaten themselves into semicomas. He figured their reaction times had been compromised while Gene was jittery and waving his gun around.

  Culhane couldn’t help thinking that if Eric hadn’t seen Tyrell videorecording them eating... What-ifs did no good, he reminded himself. He’d done too much of that kind of thinking when it came to Jana and the past.

  “We left you some food,” Eric said, seeing Gene’s expression. “We were hungry.”

  Gene growled and looked around the room. Culhane held his breath. It was the moment of truth. The men could take the rest of the food, pack up and leave. Or not.

  It was the or not that worried him. He could see that Gene was trying to decide what to do. What would keep any one of them in this café from tipping off the cops after the four had driven away? Even if they took their cell phones, there was the landline on the wall in the kitchen.

  Just then, as if on cue, the landline in the kitchen rang. Culhane’s heart dropped. Of course there would be a landline for take-out orders and now Gene knew it. The phone rang again.

  He saw Gene’s face cloud over before the man stormed into the kitchen and ripped the phone off the wall, jerking the cord free and throwing it across the kitchen. Gene might be high, but he wasn’t stupid. He would realize that whoever had been calling would try again. And, failing that, would come down to the café or at least send someone. Time had run out.

  His face blazing with the heat of his rage, Gene turned from the kitchen doorway and took in everyone as if making up his mind.

  Here we go, Culhane thought, and glanced over at Alexis.

  CHAPTER NINE

  GENE MARCHED BACK INTO the dining section, his body almost vibrating with his agitation. Culhane felt his skin prickle as he saw the man make up his mind. The moment of truth had come.

  “Bring the food,” Gene ordered. “If there is anything left after you two devoured it.”

  “What do we do with all of them?” Eric asked, motioning to the customers as Bobby hurriedly began to close up the to-go containers.

  Gene looked around the room. Culhane could feel Alexis tense next to him. Her right hand had moved under her jacket at her side. He took off his hat and set it on the counter again. He could feel her gaze on him, feel the argument in the lines of her body. She wanted to do something because she knew as well as he did that these three weren’t just going to walk out of here.

  He kept his eyes on Gene, waiting for that moment when he would have to do something even if it was wrong. He could see Gene considering his options. Killing everyone in the café would require a lot of gunfire. It might bring some of the locals to see what was going on even though the earlier three shots hadn’t raised a response. Could have been a car backfiring. Could have been a semi shifting down. It didn’t feel like there were many people left in this town on a Sunday this time of year. But the gunfire it would take to kill them all would pique attention.

  He watched Gene’s increasing loss of control. He couldn’t hold it together much longer. From the look on the man’s face, he wanted to end this in a blaze of gunfire. Culhane could tell that he was itching to kill someone, anyone. But if there were even a little sense left in him that wasn’t distorted by drugs, he also wanted to get out of here. Law enforcement in at least four states was on the lookout for him. A cop car could pull up at any moment.

  Gene had to decide. He’d been here too long. He would know that. He had to move, and Culhane was pretty sure he knew what was coming—and so did Alexis. The question was what they were going to do when it happened.

  Culhane could feel his gun biting into his back, but with Bobby and Eric waving their pistols around and Gene looking like he wanted to kill everyone in the place, he didn’t dare pull it. He couldn’t risk a shoot-out, knowing Alexis would be right in the middle of it.

  “Bobby, bring the food,” Gene said. “Eric, grab the basket of cell phones. Let’s go.” He moved toward the door but hesitated.

  Culhane had already considered what he would do when Gene reached this point. So he wasn’t surprised when the man hauled Tina out of the booth and put a gun to her head. A roar went up, Tina’s mother screaming the loudest.

  “Shut up! Shut the hell up!” Gene yelled, putting Tina in a headlock and dragging her toward the front door. “Any of you call the cops or come after us...we kill her!”

  Lars had put the baby into her carrier next to the wall in the booth as if trying to keep Chloe as far away from Gene as possible. But the moment Gene grabbed Tina, he was on his feet, rushing the man. Bobby, though, saw him coming and pulled his weapon. As Lars started past him, Bobby swung his gun. Lars caught it in the side of his head and went down hard. He didn’t get up.

  Gene barely noticed as he dragged Tina toward the door, Bobby with him, their weapons drawn. Only Eric hadn’t moved to get the basket of phones.

  Culhane saw that Eric’s gaze was locked on Alexis like a heat-seeking missile so he wasn’t surprised when the man headed for her. Eric wanted Alexis, wanted her for more than a hostage. Only Culhane wasn’t going to let that happen.

  He watched the man coming toward them, knowing that Alexis already had her hand wrapped around the grip of her gun. Eric wasn’t taking her anywhere.

  Culhane was considering who to shoot after he killed Eric. He figured Alexis would get at least one of the men by the door. He just hoped he would get a shot off before either of them fired back.

  Gene finally noticed what was going on. “Eric, what the hell are you doing?” he bellowed over the pandemonium.

  “Getting another hostage,” Eric said without looking at him.

  Culhane was about to draw his gun and step between Eric and Alexis, when Gene cursed and said, “We aren’t taking another hostage. Grab the phones in that basket and then get the hell into the van. Now.”

  For a moment, Eric looked as if he wouldn’t comply. But then, as if realizing that Gene might drill a hole in his back if he didn’t, he swore and grabbed up the basket of cells.

  All Gene’s attention had been on Eric. Culhane wondered if Eric knew how close he’d come to dying only a moment ago. “The rest of you?” Gene said. “If anyone leaves this place to call the cops or get help, I’ll kill this woman. Do you understand?” He had to raise his voice over the protests.

  “My baby,” Tina cried as she looked to where Shirley was sitting across the table from the now crying infant in the carrier. Shirley was watching what was happening as if in a daze. She hadn’t reached for the baby, didn’t even seem to realize Lars had left the infant when he’d gone to defend Tina. “No, I can’t leave my baby!”

  “You aren’t taking her,” Vi screamed and threw herself at Gene, who backhanded her. She fell to the floor but continued to grab at Tina’s ankles, throwing Gene off balance. Bobby had gathered up the food boxes and had the door open, looking anxious to get out of there.

  Culhane would have gone for his gun in the confusion, except that Eric had come back over
to the counter after picking up the basket. He held it under one arm, his gun in his other hand. From the look in his eyes, he hadn’t given up on taking Alexis. It was as if they were all frozen in place. Gene still had a gun pointed at Tina’s head. Bobby stood in the doorway, the boxes of food under his left arm, his gun gripped in his right hand and pointed indiscriminately at the room.

  “There is no need to take her with you,” Earl Ray said above the roar of noises as he rose from the booth. Bessie, trying to stop him, slid out as well. “Take me,” he said as he moved toward Gene and the door. “I can be of help to you. You don’t want to separate a mother and child.”

  “Sit down, old man,” Gene said, his voice raised and raspier than before.

  “I can give you my word that I will keep everyone in this café for as long as you like,” Earl Ray was saying as Gene swung his gun in the direction of the older man. “You don’t need to take her.” Gene had his other arm locked around Tina’s throat. Culhane could hear her gasping for air. This had to end and soon or...

  His curse was drowned out by the sound of the gun’s report as Gene shifted Tina off to one side and fired. It happened so fast. Culhane hadn’t seen Bessie move until she stepped between Gene and Earl Ray. Apparently Gene and Earl Ray hadn’t noticed her, either.

  The knife she pulled from her apron pocket caught the light an instant before she buried the blade to the hilt in Gene’s stomach.

  * * *

  FOR A MOMENT, Alexis wasn’t sure who had been shot, and then to her horror, Bessie slumped to the floor. Loud gasps went out as Earl Ray fell to his knees, cradling Bessie in his arms.

  Gene howled as the room erupted in screams and crying. “Shoot them!” he yelled. But Eric hadn’t moved, and Bobby, still holding the food and his gun, stood transfixed in the doorway.

  She noticed that he was staring at Culhane as if seeing a ghost. She watched Bobby start to raise his gun. Her gaze flew to Culhane, afraid he hadn’t noticed. But his gaze was also locked on Bobby. When she looked at Bobby again, she saw that his eyes were wide. A single word left his mouth—“Cop!”—but the sound was lost in the racket.