Fallon's Flaw
Page 16
“Or maybe they took off with the guys.”
“Check the video feed,” Ice urged.
At that, she raced back to the monitors and said, “I tried earlier, but I couldn’t see anything. They upgraded the system while I was gone last time.”
“It’s the same system we’ve got,” Ice said, and then she led Linny through it.
When she finally got the monitors up, Linny said, “They stopped the video feed when we came home.”
“In that case, I believe somebody was already inside the compound.”
“Then what? They completely wiped out the monitors?”
“No, they probably left some parts of it operational, for whatever reason. I don’t know.”
“Just to torment the guys, I suppose.”
Linny quickly filled in Ice on the message they had found on Keith’s arm too.
“That makes sense. Somebody’s playing them.”
“But why? That’s not normal.”
“These games are all about superiority, about who’s the best,” she said, fatigue evident in her voice. “So, once the shake-up happened with Bullard’s flight,” she said, “there’s been a fight in the rest of the world as to who’ll take his place.”
“And what if he’s not dead?” she said fiercely. “He’s like another uncle to me.”
“I know he is,” Ice said. “He’s important to me too, and his half-brother is devastated. But that doesn’t change the fact that, until we know more, we have to assume that, if Bullard’s alive, he’s either in a very bad state or we would have heard from him.”
No refuting that logic. “So what do I do right now?” she asked, staring around. “God, this place is giving me the creeps.”
“That’s only because you’re alone, and it feels like you’re under attack,” she said. “I’ll assume that you are. Which is why I want you to find a place to go hole up and to stay hidden.”
“I told you,” she said. “I’m not doing that.” Just then, as she walked through to the kitchen, she thought she heard a heavy sound. “I heard something,” she whispered.
“Hide,” Ice said immediately.
Not too many places to hide, but she was beside the pantry, so she slipped inside and crawled underneath the very large shelves on the bottom. Pulling herself in and trying to be as tiny as she could, she waited. With Ice on the phone, just then Linny heard voices. “Somebody’s here,” she whispered.
“Be quiet,” Ice said. “Keep the phone turned toward the voices, so I can hear.” With that, they listened to the sounds of a man outside.
“She’s got to be here somewhere,” he said. “What do you mean?”
She realized he was talking to somebody on the phone.
“Well, she was sleeping outside, when I left her. I don’t know where she is now. She’s got to be here. … Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve got them locked up. … No, not a problem. And, yes, I’ve got her too.”
At that, she gasped. She heard Ice quietly say, “Calm down. This is too important.”
Linny just nodded.
“No, no, I know. I’ve picked her up. She wasn’t very cooperative at all. … Sure, it was part of the deal that she helped us out, but I don’t think she thought that she would end up the same as all her friends. What a bunch of weirdos.”
At that, Linny stared at the pantry door in shock, her mind flipping through all the players in this game. The only woman in the bunch was the neighbor lady. Uh-oh.
“No, I know. It’s a hell of a place here at the compound,” he said. “When we take it over, it’ll be great, but we haven’t taken out all the players yet. We need to get the entire team. If you leave one, they’ll come back and kill us. … No, no, I know. I’ll find her. Don’t worry. I’ll find her. … Yeah, the guys are in the vehicle. I just came back to double-check her. … I’ll toss her in with the rest of them. … No, I’m fine. … Okay, fine. I’ll just kill her then. That’s probably the easiest anyway. She’s proving to be too much of a pain in the ass. Who’d have thought all those guys were after her for her photographs? … Yeah, like I said, they’re all just a few bricks short of a load. … Yeah, right. I’ll be out of here in a few minutes. I’ve just got to run her down.”
And, with that, he hung up the phone.
Linny buried her face in her knees, as she tried to figure out what was going on. But she had an ugly thought in the back of her head. She heard Ice.
“Don’t make a sound. That guy’s coming for you.”
“Maybe I should let him take me,” she said. “At least that way we’ll find the others.”
“No,” she snapped. “Didn’t you hear him? He’ll take you out to make it easier.”
“I heard him,” she said, as she took a slow deep breath. “I’m in the pantry.”
“Weapons?”
She looked around and said, “A set of steak knives are here.”
“Open them up and get yourself some,” she said. “Not ideal but it’s something.”
“Also a cleaver,” she said.
“Much better,” Ice said. “The thing is, if he takes it away from you, he could chop you up with it.”
“If I’m dead, I probably won’t care,” she said, her voice getting slightly hysterical.
“Which won’t help at all,” she said, “because, when Fallon gets back there, imagine how he’ll feel.”
That comment steadied her. “Right,” she said. “He’ll be pissed.”
“Exactly. How could he not be?” Ice said. “The thing is, this is just the way life works. What we have to do now is ensure we get you out of there safe and sound.”
Listening to Ice’s calm voice, patient and pragmatic as always, grounded her. Linny smiled and said, “I can’t believe you do this all the time.”
“Well, I don’t get attacked all the time,” she said. “But it’s happened more than enough times that we’re a little bit too accustomed to it.”
“Fine,” she whispered. As she looked around, she said, “There’s also a cast-iron fry pan.”
“Good,” Ice said encouragingly. “Cleaver and cast iron. The cast iron will be heavy, but, if you get one solid whack in with that, you’ll knock him out or, at the very least, stun him.”
“Well, I’ll go for knocking him out first. If he hurt anybody here, with the second blow I’ll smash his brains in.” Just then she heard a gunshot. “Oh, my God,” Linny whispered. “Was that gunfire?”
“Yep,” Ice said.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“You stay hidden,” Ice ordered. “It’s too early for the guys I sent to be there.”
“Great,” she said. “So now what?” Again she heard footsteps coming back in. She sank back down into her corner, whispering, “He’s here again.”
“Cast-iron fry pan, cleaver,” Ice said.
The pantry door opened, and the guy called out, “Where are you? It’s almost like you think I might hurt you or something.” Raucous laughter filled the pantry.
She just stopped and held her breath.
He walked into the pantry, turned around, and said, “God damn, she’s got to be here somewhere. I don’t have time for these damn bitches.”
His phone rang again. He pulled it out and said, “No, I can’t find her, goddammit. … Yes, I already killed the other one. It seemed easier than having to listen to her whining about wanting to go to her boyfriend. I told her that I would take her there. What she didn’t know was that I would have to take her to the morgue because that’s where he is too. … Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I know. … Okay, fine, but I can’t leave her alive, so I’ve got to find her.”
At that, Linny sank down farther; something beside her shifted, making a noise.
He froze, pocketed his phone, suddenly spun around, dropped down, and saw her. He grinned. “Now there you are. That wasn’t that hard, was it?” he said. “All you had to do was let me know earlier, and you would have saved me a ton of aggravation.”
At that, he grabbed her arm
, his grip latched onto her wrist, almost crushing her bones. Screaming, even as she came out, she swung with all her might and raised the cast-iron frying pan as high as she could and clipped him on the side of the head.
It wasn’t enough of a blow to knock him out, but he stumbled backward, releasing her hand and screaming at her. “Bitch!”
The cleaver had already landed on the floor. She kept the cast iron skillet with her, and maybe should have turned around and given him a second whack, but he was already after her. She ran, then slipped into another closet, waiting until he dashed past. Then she turned and came back the opposite way, going for the glass doors outside to the pool area, and bolted for the greenery outside. He came out behind her, having heard her somewhere along the line, firing randomly. They had acres here, and, if she could just get a lead on him, she could take off into the boondocks. But she didn’t want to take a chance of getting shot.
When he stopped firing, he called out, “Do you think you’ll really get away from me? You damn bitch, you almost crushed my head. I want payback.”
Good, asshole. She wanted to yell it out but didn’t dare because she didn’t want to piss him off any further or reveal her position. When he did get ahold of her, if he did, things would get beyond ugly. Still, as she hunkered down and tried to hide under the tree, he kept swearing and cussing as he stormed through the forest around her. It wasn’t that dense, and Bullard sometimes used it for part of his training. She had been around here a lot, but this guy was swinging closer and closer, and she knew it wouldn’t be long before he found her. She tightened her grip around the handle of the frying pan, wondering how she could beat up this bastard.
She had had a certain amount of hand-to-hand combat training, but he had at least seventy pounds on her and quite a few inches in height. His reach was longer, and he was one mean son of a bitch. Plus, he was armed. Regardless he had only one thing on his mind right now, and that was taking her down. Well, she only had one thing on her mind too. If her men were in some damn vehicle, she would search for them or would die trying.
Just as he came around her hiding space, she swung her cast iron skillet with all her might, smacked him hard on the kneecap. He went down screaming, his hand pulling the trigger of the handgun as he fired consistently in her area. She dodged and circled the man on his one good knee, swung the cast iron pan and slammed it against his head again and again and again. When she could finally draw a breath, she stopped and stumbled backward.
She realized then that she had crushed his skull. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” she whispered.
He was still alive. She kicked his hand and got away from him, staring, not even sure the doctor in her wanted to save his life. The terrified woman in her wanted to slam him again with the cast iron skillet. She froze.
Ice called out to her through the phone, “Are you okay?”
“Oh, my God,” she said. “I didn’t kill him, but I’ve crushed his skull.”
“Good,” Ice said. “Part of me says you should hit him one more time, but if you think he won’t get up and come after you, see if you can secure him to make sure he can’t come up after you later. Then you need to find our guys.”
“I don’t even know what to do with this guy,” she said.
“Send me a picture,” Ice said.
Linny quickly sent Ice a picture of him.
“Don’t worry about him,” she said gently. “Get back into the house, and look for the Fallon and Quinn.”
“I think he said the garage, didn’t he?”
“He said the car actually, but we have to know if the car is in the yard or in the driveway. Where is it?”
She bolted out to the front yard and said, “A vehicle’s parked outside.”
“Outside the gate?”
“Yes.” She walked up to the car quietly. “Nobody in the front seat.”
“It did sound like he was alone,” Ice said. “Cautiously open the door of the driver’s seat, then pull the trunk lever and see if that will open up.”
She sat down and tried to find the lever that would open the trunk. And as soon as she did, and it opened, she raced around to the trunk.
“Ice, it’s empty,” she cried out in distress.
“That’s fine,” she said. “Are the keys there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Look for them,” Ice said, her voice as calm as ever. “We need to know we can get you out of there.”
“I’m not leaving without the guys.”
“You’ll leave without the men,” she said, “if that’s what we have to do.”
Linny realized that the keys were in the ignition. “The keys are here, but another vehicle is arriving. Somebody’s coming.”
“Can you get in and drive away fast?”
“No, I’m already under the car.”
“Stay there then,” she said. “It’s probably somebody coming to help him.”
“Jesus,” she said. “Where are your people?”
“About ten minutes out,” she said.
“Who’s coming?”
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It’s another one of Fallon’s team.”
“Good,” she said, burying her hands underneath. Just then two vehicles came to a ripping stop, and dust clogged her throat.
One man got out of each car.
“Go find that asshole,” said one of them. “I’ll stay here with the men.”
At that, Linny perked up.
She heard Ice in her ear. “Stay quiet.”
Linny watched as one of the men took off toward the main house. She waited until he’d gone inside, and then the second man came around near her and said on his phone, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” he said. “This guy that you brought on board is an idiot. … I get that,” he said. “But you haven’t taken over Bullard’s company or Kingdom Securities yet, and, so far, the men you got working for you seem like absolute idiots. … I don’t know where this guy was, but he couldn’t find and handle one single woman, and, well, that’s just stupid. … Yeah, I know we’ll have to pop him, when he gets back out here. Failure’s not an option. … No, I sent Jimmy in,” he said. “I’m not going in. I’m keeping an eye on these guys. … I know, I know. They’re in the trunk, that’s all.”
One of the vehicles had pulled farther up. She peered underneath just in time to see the back of the trunk snap and pop open. But it was grabbed and held down again. From inside.
She smiled.
The guy on the phone turned, watching the house as he talked, walking a little bit farther away. “He should be out in a few minutes. … No, I’m not going in. I’m not leaving these guys. I’ll sit here and wait.”
As she watched, he leaned over the hood of the car that he had driven in and said, “It can’t be too long.”
She watched in horror, her throat completely closing off as she watched Fallon slide out of the trunk. Just as the one guy straightened to turn around, his chin went directly into Fallon’s right hook. The stranger stopped, made a gurgling sound, and Fallon quickly snatched the phone from his hand and gave him almost a comical push, and the guy fell to his knees.
“Now,” Fallon said into the phone, “I’m coming after you, asshole.” With that, he hung up the phone and pocketed it.
She went to slide back out, when Ice urgently said, “Wait. There’s still a guy in the house.”
Just as she said this, shots rang out. Quinn, now out of the trunk too, and Fallon immediately dropped to the ground for safety; at least she hoped that was why. She stayed under the car, her face buried flat in her arms. She looked to see Fallon staring at her in surprise. She gave him a big grin and a tiny finger wave. He gave her a smile that absolutely melted her heart. Relief came over his face as he realized she was safe.
The second guy came racing up to the vehicles.
“Who the fuck did this?” He reached his buddy and gave him a hard shake, just as Quinn got up and slammed him over the he
ad. Fallon joined Quinn, and together they tackled the big guy. His gun went off, before it was kicked away. Quinn stepped back, gave him a hard right, and he went down. This time, he stayed down.
Fallon called to her, “Linny, it’s okay to come out now.”
She slid out from underneath the car, held up her phone, and said, “Ice is on the line.”
“Good,” he said, as he nudged the phone from her hand. “Ice, we’re here. We’ve got both of them. I’ll send you pictures.”
“Glad to hear that,” she said. “Help is on the way.”
“Good,” he said. “Because, all of a sudden, I’m not feeling too good.”
He stared at Linny in surprise and slowly sank to his knees. Then, right in front of her, he pitched headfirst to the ground.
*
When Fallon woke up, he felt himself being jostled, as he was picked up and carried. “Goddammit,” he muttered. “Let me go,” and he started to struggle.
Somebody grabbed his chin. Then Linny said, “Don’t struggle, Fallon. You’ve been shot, and I need to take out the bullet. We’re heading into the surgery.”
“Linny, are you okay?” he asked. He felt the waves of grisly pain, fighting against the panic in his heart at her voice.
“I’m fine,” she whispered. “I’m fine, but you aren’t.”
“That’s okay,” he said. “As long as you are.”
“No, damn it, it’s not,” she snapped. “Now, will you just be quiet?”
“Bossy,” he said. “I like that.”
He felt a kiss, gentle as a breeze, on his forehead. “I’m glad you do,” she said, “because I’m not changing now.”
“Neither am I. Remember?”
“No,” she said. “I remember just fine. Now would you please be quiet?”
With that, he was put down on a bed of some kind. But hard.
He shifted and cried out.
“See? I told you,” she said. “You’ve been shot. I’m taking care of it. Now hush so I can get you under anesthesia.”
But Fallon wouldn’t go under. The pain kept waking him up. Finally he heard voices above him, and then somebody gripped the nerve center on his neck. He looked up to see Quinn, saying, “Sorry, buddy.” Then Fallon was out cold.