by Rose, Kristi
“Had you just given me the video, you could have gone merrily on your way.”
“As if I believe that,” I said.
He grabbed me by the arms, spun me around so I was facing away from him, then pinned me to his side by wrapping his arm around my neck in a chokehold. “Scream, and I’ll shoot anyone that comes to your rescue.”
He poked what felt like a gun into my back. From there, he pushed me away from the building, not going up to the main street or down to the river but perpendicular to the Frontiersman. Behind the post office. Behind Jankowski’s realty office and to the parking lot the office shared with the library. There, a large dark SUV waited, engine idling.
“You won’t get away with this. The story is already going to press.” I was really worried he would absolutely get away with it. I chewed my lip and searched for an exit strategy.
“I’m confident I will. If you think some small town unheard of newspaper can destroy me, you’ve seriously underestimated who I am. You don’t think I have a few journalists on my payroll that can’t punch holes in your story?” He shoved me toward the car.
Ricci got out from the driver’s seat and came around the car, opening the passenger door for me.
“I warned you,” he said darkly and followed it with an ominous chuckle.
I tried to twist away, but Cooper closed the space between his arm and my throat, making breathing hard. I swallowed the sounds of my pain in several gulps. When I had control, I said, “So you’d risk everything you built with Carson for money? Your reputation, your friendships, your company.”
“I can always get new friends. Now that Jake is gone, I can sell Carson and Cooper or do whatever I’d like with the company. I’m beyond wealthy, and bad boys get the chicks. I’m not seeing any risks.”
Cooper shoved me into the car, and I automatically scooted across to the other side and tried to escape. The childproof lock was on my door. When I turned to Cooper, he had a 9mm Beretta pointed at me.
If I could get the gun from him, I could use what Leo taught me at the range. But odds weren’t in my favor. Cooper was far more skilled than I was. The stun gun rested against my leg, and since my hands were free, I played it cool and slipped them into my pockets.
Cooper said, “Everything is about money. Money gives a person power. Power gives me great happiness.”
“You have a sad idea of what happiness looks like,” I said with disgust.
Cooper barked a laugh. “Such ignorance. You think good can beat bad, but you don’t realize that good is what people pretend to be. Everyone, and I mean everyone, would do exactly what I’m doing if it meant endless wealth.”
I rolled my eyes. “You keep telling yourself that if it helps you sleep at night.”
“My Posturepedic pillow and blanket of hundred-dollar bills are what help me sleep at night. I’m a stomach sleeper, and the pillow really helps my neck. The money keeps me warm. See? Happiness.”
Man, I hated him.
“So what are you going to do with me? Kill me and have a tree land on my car?” I needed confirmation about Carson’s death.
“Clever, weren’t we?” Cooper’s smile was creepy. “You’re going to take us to those copies of the video and turn them over.”
If Cooper wasn’t worried about my dad’s small town paper, then why did he want the copies of the video?
“Can’t. They’re at the bank, and the bank is closed.” I relaxed in the chair and feigned a level of confidence I didn’t have. What I could muster would fit on the tip of my pinky nail.
“We can manage that small obstacle.” Cooper made like he was dishing out dollars. “Everyone wants some.”
I shrugged to show that he bored me. “Not everyone.”
“Jake was no hero,” Cooper said.
“I’m not saying he was. I’m talking about me. I’m prepared to die than let you have these videos.” Antagonizing him came naturally. What didn’t was working out a solution on how to stun gun him. I couldn’t send the volts through my clothes and his for any effect. He was wearing a thick pullover. Combine that with my dress, and I feared the thickness would decrease the volt impact, something I couldn’t afford.
“You’re very stupid. No wonder Jake picked you for his scam.”
I rolled my eyes.
Ricci said, “We might have a tail, boss.”
When Cooper glanced out the rear window, the gun he had pointed on me wobbled. I glanced behind me. Leo, in his police cruiser, was a car length away. We had just taken the first roundabout out of town. Two more, and we’d make the interstate. It was time to fish or cut bait as my dad would say.
I slipped the stun gun out of my pocket and held it close to my leg, letting the folds of my skirt cover it.
“Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Do the speed limit. Let’s see if he peels off somewhere.” Cooper asked me. “Where’s the police department?”
“Back in town.” I pointed behind me. Cooper was right. Leo being behind us might be sheer coincidence. He might be headed home or to see his mom for all I knew.
Time was even more of the essence. If we made the interstate and Leo turned off, I’d lose all opportunity. We were coming up to the second roundabout. Housing was to the far left, an empty field with a thicket of trees to the right. We would enter the roundabout to the right. Cooper or Ricci. Who should I go for first?
Sucking in a deep breath, I said, “Did he just turn on his lights?” while simultaneously turning on the stun gun then sliding my finger to the tab that would release the volts.
Cooper swiveled in his seat, and Ricci’s eyes went to the rearview mirror. I lunged to my left, out of view of the mirror.
I pressed the gun to Ricci’s neck and depressed the switch. Ricci grunted and twitched like a fish out of water as I sent bolts through him. The SUV lurched forward in a burst of acceleration. The electricity must have sent a spasm through Ricci’s leg, causing him to push harder on the gas. His head slumped against the steering wheel. The SUV jumped the curb, aiming for the copse of trees. The vehicle rocked from side to side like a crazy carnival ride.
It was do or die time.
37
Monday
I tried to hold onto the headrest of Ricci’s seat but the force of jumping the curb threw me toward Cooper. I banged my head on his window before falling to the floor. A burst of stars clouded my vision.
I don’t know how or why, but guessed impact alone caused Cooper to pull the trigger. Glass from the window I’d been sitting by shattered in an explosion of sound. Ringing filled my ears. My eyes were clouded by tears of pain, and the acrid smell of spent gunpowder filled my nostrils.
I lunged for the door and fumbled to reach the door handle, hoping the childproof lock had been applied only to my door. A blur of black came into my periphery. Cooper had swung the gun toward me. My space was small, so he didn’t need to aim to hit me should he pull the trigger. I released the handle just as the side of the pistol and his fist punched the side of my head twice. Blackness was all I could see as a burst of pain exploded in my head. I lunged forward into nothingness, trusting my options out of the car were better than in.
I plunged headfirst from the moving car, Cooper with me, and had just enough wherewithal to tuck into a roll at the last second. My left shoulder scrapped across the earth. Something jagged, likely a rock, ripped my dress and the skin underneath, tearing away layers of both. Propelled by momentum, I tumbled away from the vehicle, dirt, rocks, and brush scraping up my body.
I came to a stop and laid there stunned. My body screamed against any movement. But my mind screamed to run.
“Freeze, police!” came a command from a distance so far away I probably imagined it.
I rolled to one side. Leo was twenty feet away at the curb. I followed his line of sight. The SUV with Ricci had crashed into a tree. I couldn’t see Ricci, but Cooper was lying on his stomach, a handful of feet away from me. He lifted up on one elbow with the barrel of the gun pointed right at
me.
“Gun,” I yelled and rolled away, hoping to get out of range. Cooper would have to come up off the ground to level the gun at me. I tried to stand, but my body raged in protest, and I fell over twice but forced myself up again each time, clenching my teeth.
“One by the car has a gun, too,” Leo yelled at me and moved wide, trying to cover both men. Ricci was out of the car and had a weapon, too.
The situation was not in our favor. I’d lost my stun gun in the fall out of the car. I had nothing but nubby fingernails and a few rocks to use as a weapon. Neither were good options against a gun.
“You shoot me, and she dies,” Cooper said. “You shoot my associate, and she dies. You see where I’m going with this?” The fall from the SUV hadn’t been easy on him either. Blood ran down his face on one side that was covered with serious road rash. The blood was occluding his vision on that side, and I needed to use that to my advantage.
“Don’t move,” Cooper told me as I tried to shuffle to his blind side. “I should have had you killed, too. You’re a pain in the ass.”
“Thank you,” I said and glanced at Leo for guidance. He was in what I called the stand-off position. Both hands on the trigger, feet wide apart, ready for action.
“Sam,” Leo said, “laser tag.”
Laser tag. Laser tag. I’d sucked so bad at firing my fake gun and scoring points. The only way I’d survived was by hiding behind objects.
I made eye contact with Leo, who then glanced toward the woods beyond the wrecked SUV. I did the same.
Here’s the thing. If I ran for cover in the woods, Leo was going to get shot. Cooper would be targeting me, but he’d have to roll over and take aim, which would give Leo a chance to shoot him. And Ricci a chance to shoot Leo. These guys were killers. Cooper had admitted he killed Carson.
Leo’s predicament brought tears to my eyes. “I can’t,” I said to Leo. “What about you?” He might have a bullet-proof vest on, but his head wasn’t protected. I wouldn’t let him take a bullet for me.
“You have to,” he said.
I started to cry.
“Samantha,” he said in that infuriatingly calm voice of his. “My people believe that when an eagle takes flight to soar, it watches the wind, not because the eagle is worried about getting dirt in his eyes or that he might not see, but because he wants to ride to the highest peak. He wants to soar. You understand what I’m saying?”
I nodded, not liking what he was saying one bit.
“What the hell is he talking about?” Ricci said. “Crazy Indians.”
“Hey,” I yelled, furious at our situation. Ricci was dogging on a guy who was telling me he’d take a bullet for me. “He who has two different colored eyes shouldn’t be calling anyone crazy. You know your eyes make you look like a rabid dog? Or maybe that’s just your face.”
“Shoot her,” Ricci told Cooper.
“Shut up,” Cooper said, and for the briefest moment, glanced over his shoulder at Ricci. I took that second, that pause in his vigilance, and ran toward him. When I was inches away, I kicked a massive pile of dirt and pebbles into his face. Then I bolted for the woods, tears streaming down my face.
Shots rang out behind me, and I ducked and weaved my way into the trees. When there were enough trees behind me to block me from the guys, I used a tall maple as cover. I could see everyone from where I was.
Leo was on the ground, lying on his side. I couldn’t see where he’d been shot. Ricci was down too, clutching his lower leg and rolling on the ground. Cooper was running toward me but hadn’t yet made the trees. He was limping.
I suppressed the urge to run to Leo. If I did, then all this would be for nothing. I turned my face upward, praying a solution would fall out of the sky.
And one did. Well, it didn’t fall but hung there. A large branch the diameter of my head hung across the path Cooper would come down. The foliage was thick and would offer good coverage. I scurried up the side of the tree, swinging up from limb to branch until I reached the one I’d seen. I perched on it like a bird, my skirt tucked between my legs, balancing like my life depended on it, which it did. If anyone ever said to me that yoga was useless, I would forever refer to this moment. This one time when I was running from a killer…
My breath was ragged, and I needed to calm it or else he’d hear me. The plan was to jump on his back and knock him down, wrestle the gun from him, and shoot him. Plans like this worked in the movies. I was hoping a one-off in real life would happen. After all, I was due some good fortune.
Cooper stalked through the woods, looking behind every tree. I wasn’t too worried about him tracking me. His expertise was on being an asshole and schmoozing people. Carson had been the expert in tracking from his special forces days.
Cooper moved from under me and took two steps then paused, his head slightly cocked to the side as if he was listening for me.
I didn’t second-guess a thing. There was no time or purpose for it. I lunged from the branch and went flying, skirt whipping around me in the wind, arms out wide like one of those soaring squirrels.
He was mid-turn when I came down hard on him. We landed with an oomph, and the gun in his hand went flying. I lurched off him and pushed to my feet, slightly disoriented from the impact.
Cooper rolled and sat up.
The gun was a few feet to my left. Cooper was looking in its direction. Simultaneously, we went for it.
Two quick steps in that direction, and then I lunged, pushing off the ground to get air. I landed on my belly and skidded forward. I grabbed the gun as I slid over the spot where it landed. I flipped onto my back and sighted Cooper. He froze mid-stride.
“Put the gun down,” he said.
Because I sucked with little pistols, I aimed more to the left. I’d been off at the range with Leo, and I was hoping that when I pulled the trigger, I would hit something. It was that moment that I accepted I could kill Joseph Cooper. Only because if he got the gun from me, he’d not waste one second killing me. He wanted those thumb drives because they had the potential to destroy him. No matter how much he denied it.
Cooper knew the drives were at the bank. He needed me to get the drives, and then I was useless to him. In fact, I was a blight to his reputation.
“Leo,” I yelled. “I have Cooper covered.”
“Your friend is dead,” Cooper said mercilessly.
I clumsily racked the slide.
He gave an odd laugh then lunged at me. I squeezed the trigger and lost count of how many shots I fired.
He crumbled at my feet, blood pouring from a wound in his leg. I couldn’t see the others.
Suddenly, Leo was at my side. “Are you hit?” he asked, his hands patting me down. I sat up on my elbows. Leo took the empty gun from me.
“No, are you?”
“Your two-eyes man shot at me but grazed my shoulder. I shot him in the shins. Got him from underneath the SUV when I dove sideways to avoid getting hit.” He gestured with his gun. “This one got away from me.”
Leo approached Cooper with caution, then rolled him to his back.
The creep groaned and grabbed at his upper thigh. “It hurts,” he said weakly. “What happened?”
Apparently, Cooper had a low pain tolerance.
When Leo jerked him up by gripping under Cooper’s armpit, Cooper screamed and got wobbly in the knees. “You were shot, asshole. That’s what happened. And then you passed out.”
In the distance, sirens wailed.
“Hey,” I asked Leo as I used a tree trunk to help me stand. “Was that true what you said about the eagle and the wind?” I’d always loved a good Native American story.
“Nope,” Leo said with a chuckle. “Made it up. Just wanted you to kick dirt in his face.” His grin was wide, and the corner of his eyes crinkled with merriment.
I caught his eye and laughed.
“Hey,” Leo said, looking at Cooper. “You did a nice job with your shots, Sam. Wounded but not seriously. This guy can face the consequences
of his actions.”
I was doubtful. Cooper would likely buy his way out of trouble. “Yeah, well, I was aiming for his heart.”
38
One week later
Dad’s story ran and was picked up by the Associated Press. Apparently, Senator Fulton had something to do with that. Fulton also made sure the video circulated through the right crowds just in case they didn’t see it on the news.
Dad said Senator Fulton called him during Carson’s celebration of life ceremony and offered his help with breaking the story wide open. The two concocted an additional plan to what was already in motion. Dad had been right; a parent would seek justice, and Fulton was no different. Joe Cooper’s attempt at tricking the senator with a video had only fueled the senator’s need for justice. And never mind that Cooper had attended Ben’s wake.
Last I heard, Fulton was making sure he could rack up as many charges against Cooper and Bolt as possible. We later learned the DEA had been watching Bolt’s resorts, fully aware of their drug trafficking proclivities. When the story broke, they stormed Bolt’s resorts and caught the employees trying to scrub evidence. Leo, who’d been running late to the ceremony, had arrived in time to see them force me into the SUV. A building fire on the other side of Wind River had required all the Wind River cops to clear the area. The fire turned out to be my office building and Ruby’s yoga/dance studio. One more thing to feel guilty about. My guess was Cooper started it to get the cops out of town.
I stretched out on a blanket on the lawn overlooking the river. The sun was bright and beautiful. The temps not so hot it was unbearable. Which was good considering I couldn’t wear clothes that touched my body in certain areas due to the road burns I got when I tumbled from the car. So it was dresses for me. And short-sleeved ones at that.
Lockett, sitting next to me, sighed then said, “I’m sorry I let you down.”
“How do you figure?”
“I should have stuck to you like glue at the ceremony. We knew they were going to come to town. I only looked away for a second.” He slapped his knee in frustration.
