by Alyssa Day
My father was trying to shout and fighting against the ropes, but O'Sullivan and I both ignored him. The monster clearly wasn't worried about him, and I didn't dare take my eyes off the biggest evil in the room.
He held out his hand, and I dropped the key into it, careful not to touch him. I didn't like to touch snakes, either, and I definitely didn't want to see how he was going to die unless I had no choice.
"And the other thing?"
"I'll tell you where it is after you let my father go," I said, pretending to be calm and cool, like I conducted negotiations at gunpoint all the time.
O'Sullivan took out his gun and pointed it at my dad's head. "Change of plans. Give me the thumb drive, or I'll shoot your daddy in the head right now."
"You promised you'd let him go!"
O'Sullivan rolled his eyes, and the goons behind me laughed.
"I'm a criminal. I lie. Get over it. Now hand over the damn thumb drive. This is your last chance."
I really didn't have any choice. It's not like I really was a witch and could shoot spells at them. I was a one-trick pony, and I was about to play my only trick.
I pulled the drive out of my pocket and held it out. This time, I made O'Sullivan come to me.
When his hand reached out, I grabbed it.
And I held on when he tried to knock me down.
Only when he backhanded me across the face did I finally let go of his hand and sink to my knees on the wooden floor. And then I looked up at him, and I smiled.
"I know how you're going to die, Mr. O'Sullivan. Are you interested in that knowledge?"
I wasn't lying, either. I'd seen his death, and I let the knowledge of what I'd seen fill my eyes.
He backed away from me, wild-eyed and gasping. "No. No, you bitch, I don't want to know … Yes! Yes, tell me, damn you." He aimed his gun at my dad again, but I shook my head.
"Not this time. You'll kill us anyway. So this time we play it my way," I said, feeling oddly sure I was echoing dialogue from an old movie.
"You let him go, and then I'll tell you what I saw. You can take precautions. Take it or leave it."
He turned his gun to me. "Then I'll shoot you, instead."
My brain wanted me to start shrieking, but I forced myself to remain strong. Didn't allow myself to cry or throw up from sheer terror.
"Go ahead," I said, forcing myself up off the floor instead of curling up in a ball. "And then you'll never know what's coming until the day you actually die."
I could almost see the crazed calculations going on in his weaselly mind. He wanted to know, but he was terrified to know. It was the same reaction any normal person had to my ability, magnified by maybe a thousand due to his criminal lifestyle.
Finally, he caved. "Let him go," he barked at his thugs, who looked shocked but still did what they were told.
"Dad," I said urgently. "Look at me. Run to my house. Get in my house and lock the door. There's pie in the kitchen."
He screamed behind his gag, but the goons manhandled him out of the house and shoved him down. I cried out, but O'Sullivan grabbed my arm before I could run out to him.
"He's fine. Now tell me what you saw."
"First, I believe this is yours." I dropped the thumb drive into his hand, but at this point he almost didn't care about his precious information. He was too busy losing his mind about what I knew about his death.
But then reality intruded, and his piggy eyes narrowed even further. "Did you make a copy?"
"How was I supposed to copy an encrypted thumb drive? I'm a pawnshop owner, not a hacker," I said scornfully.
He knew the strength of his encryption, so he just smiled and shoved the drive into his pocket.
"Now. Tell me."
Instead, I looked up. "Are there bats up there? I'm terrified of bats."
O'Sullivan, fed up with my delays, knocked me down again, this time by way of his fist in my stomach. I fell to the floor again, gasping for air. This time, the tears rushed to my eyes before I could fight them back.
It hurt.
I wanted this day to be over.
Jack, where are you?
O'Sullivan pointed his gun directly at my head. "Tell me, right now, or I'll shoot you in your pretty face. If you think—"
But I never got a chance to know what he was going to say, because a dark shape dropped from the rafters, knocked O'Sullivan to the floor, and then ran back out of the house. Then a mighty roar shook the very foundations of the house, and suddenly Jack was there, next to me, and two of the thugs were down on the porch with claw marks across their bellies.
Another thug flew forward and onto his face on the floor, and Dave Wolf stepped up behind him, wielding the bat that he'd just slammed into the man's back.
And then I grabbed a two-by-four and I smashed it into the face of the thug running in from the back of the house.
"Five down, none to go?" Dave asked.
Before I could draw breath to answer that I thought there were six, my dad ran back into the house and grabbed me in a hug before I could stop him.
In one of the best developments of the entire week, I saw nothing at all about how he was going to die.
Then a shot exploded into the space, and we all ducked away from the sound. The sixth man had shown up, and he was armed.
"Step away from the boss," he snarled. "Or I'll shoot you all, starting with the girl."
Then, he simply disappeared. One minute, he was standing there pointing his gun at me, and the next minute, he literally flew into the air, screaming. We heard a sharp crack, and then his body fell to the ground. The way he landed, it was clear that his neck was broken.
Jack looked at me, but I shook my head. "Not one of mine."
A moment later, an extremely handsome man with long, dark, wavy hair and darkly tanned skin stalked into the house, holding his hands up, but it clearly wasn't in surrender. This guy was wrapped in arrogance and sheer, primal male hotness, reminding me of someone else I knew.
"Welcome to my home, Tess. I thought I should join the party, so to speak."
I grinned. "Carlos! Carlos Gonzalez. It's great to see you again. And wow, talk about good timing." I walked toward him, with some idea of hugging him or shaking his hand, but my tiger had other ideas.
Jack moved his furry self until he was standing between me and Carlos, and then he shimmered back to human. "Tess. Step away from the vampire."
"Vampire?" My mouth fell open. "Really? But Susan—"
Carlos's dark eyes turned stormy. "Yes. We will discuss this at another time."
"Well. Thank you for your help, sorry about your house—meeting here was not my idea—and welcome to the neighborhood. I'll bake you a pie!"
A real smile warmed my new neighbor's face, and suddenly I felt foolish. "Do you even eat pie?"
"Pecan?"
"Of course."
He inclined his head. "Then yes, I would greatly appreciate a pie."
Jack growled a little, and I punched his arm. "Thank my neighbor for his help."
Jack glared at me. "If you'd told me what happened, you wouldn't have needed his help."
"If I'd told you, my father would be dead."
My dad, who was silently taking this all in, stepped forward and took my hand. "I'm sorry about hugging you, Tess. Did you—"
I smiled at him. "Nope. Not a thing."
Dad blew out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad. I don’t want to know, and I didn’t want you to have to go through that."
O'Sullivan, still on the ground, sat up and scowled at me. "But you said you knew about me."
"I do," I said evenly.
"I can't believe you'd give him the drive, Tess," my dad said with a hint of regret. "I mean, it's all good now, but if he'd gotten away with that—"
I laughed. "Oh. No. You didn't meet my friend who dropped out of the rafters."
I looked out into the dark and called out. "Hey, Austin! Come on in. We've got them all."
Austin, our friend, the tall, da
rk, and gorgeous hunk of former Army Ranger and current brilliant computer hacker, strode into the room. Jack started to laugh.
"She asked you if you could de-encrypt a flash drive, didn't she?"
"Yep. Made me ride in the trunk of my car, too, so these losers didn't see me."
"And could you? De-encrypt it?" my dad asked anxiously.
"Does a bear—" Austin looked at me. "Poop in the woods? Child's play. I've transmitted the information to my account on the dark web and also uploaded it to Alejandro at P-Ops."
I blinked. "You have Alejandro's password information?"
Austin gave me a sorrowful look. "Oh, Tess."
"Ah."
"This is all fascinating, but I have someplace to be," said the vampire, er, Carlos. "But first, I'd like to know who exactly has such a delicious scent."
It was such a vampire thing to say that a shiver ran down my spine, especially when he did a slow turn around the room, actually sniffing the air. Then he froze in place, his black gaze fixed on Dave, who stood alone next to one wall, still holding his bat.
Carlos smiled a slow, dangerous smile and stalked over to Dave, step by deliberate step. "Are you my neighbor, too?"
Dave, looking both nervous and fascinated, held out a hand. "Everybody in Dead End is your neighbor. I'm Dave Wolf. Glad to meet you."
Carlos shook his hand and then pulled Dave closer until they were face to face, practically touching. "Not yet. But you will be," he said in a deep, husky tone. Then he turned and raced out of the back door and disappeared into the night.
"Wow," Dave said, his voice a little shaky. "That was … wow."
I looked at Jack and started laughing. "I know exactly what you mean."
My dad suddenly leaned over, grabbed O'Sullivan's hand and pulled him up off the floor, and then punched him in the face so hard he knocked him back down.
"That's for threatening my daughter, you son of a bitch."
I had to admit, I wasn't sad he did it.
Then everything happened at once. Susan and her deputies arrived at the same time that Alejandro and a P-Ops team showed up. All the law enforcement types took everybody into custody, and I was more than ready to go home, take a shower, and cuddle my cat.
I glanced at Jack. Maybe cuddle both of my cats.
When one of the P-Ops agents dragged O'Sullivan out of the room, he dragged his feet and looked back at me. "Tell me, damn you. You know, so tell me."
Jack squeezed my hand. "It's up to you."
"I know." I took a deep breath and decided. Then I walked over to the man who'd brought so much pain and trouble to my family, and I told him the absolute truth.
"You will die when you're very old."
His entire face lit up, and he shouted out his triumph. "Ha! I win! No matter what you do to me, I'm going to live to be a rich and successful old man."
I leaned forward and touched his arm, because now it didn't matter. I only ever saw a vision once. "I wasn't finished."
He stopped, mid-shout, and stared down at me with trepidation in his muddy eyes. "What?"
"You're going to die when you're very old … in prison."
Jack grinned. "Have a good, long, life, O'Sullivan."
My dad started to laugh.
O'Sullivan screamed all the way to the police car.
17
Alejandro was on his way to deal with another case, but he stopped long enough to tell us that he'd love to bring his wife and come down to Florida for a vacation sometime soon. We promised to show him around all the fun places and thanked him for coming out, yet again.
"The partnership offer still stands, my friend," he told Jack, shaking his hand.
Jack shook his head. "This one was all Tess. You should ask her to be your partner."
Alejandro smiled and took my hand and kissed it. "I should be so lucky."
"Kiss my girl again, and you'll lose a hand," Jack said mildly.
"In your dreams, Shepherd," Alejandro returned.
I didn't know whether to be pleased or insulted at the 'my girl,' so I just let it go. I was too darn tired. "Come over for a drink or a piece of pie?"
Alejandro looked tempted but had to decline. "I have a plane to catch. Soon, though. We'll drink tequila and eat pie and tell lies about our past."
"You silver-tongued federal agent, you. Is that how you won Rose?" I grinned at him.
"Not exactly. She magicked my pants off in the park and then ran away and left me there."
"That’s a story—"
"You don't need to hear," Jack said, taking my hand. "Let's get your dad back to your place."
I looked around to find Dad talking to Dave. Both of them looked shell-shocked.
"Okay, everyone. Pie at my house."
Jack and I led the way on the short walk to my house, with my dad, Dave, and Austin following.
We ate pie and shared our stories, and then my dad went to shower and sleep in the guest room, Austin left to pick his brother up at the train station, Dave went home, and Jack and I sat on the couch with Lou sprawled out between us.
"That was one heck of a first date."
I narrowed my eyes. "That was not our first date."
"No? Are you sure? Maybe this dating thing is a bad idea after all, Tess. I don't want you to be in danger because of me."
I stood, marched into my room, grabbed The Dress, and marched back out.
Then I held the tiny, silky, shimmery, piece of red fabric up against my body and raised an eyebrow.
Jack gulped so loudly he startled Lou. "Never mind. Forget I said anything. I'll just—I'll see you tomorrow."
"You bet your butt you will," I told him. When he leaned over and tried to kiss me, I pointed to the door. "Go home. The danger is over."
"I've heard that before." Jack stretched. "I'll just sleep out here on the couch with Lou."
I shrugged. I had no problem with that.
When I woke up in the morning, he was gone.
On Sunday mornings, my shop is officially closed, but I had one piece of business I was anxious to take care of. At eleven a.m., the clowns—wearing street clothes and no makeup—met me at the door.
"Junior says he'll take fifteen hundred dollars, because that covers what it cost him," I told Blue, who led the way into the shop. "And you were all amazing last night. Thank you so much for doing that!"
"Where did you take off to?"
I told them a little bit about what had happened, and they were satisfyingly impressed, and then we got down to business.
"Are you still sure you want him?"
"Absolutely," said Orange. "He belongs with us in the circus. He's too regal to sit here. No offense, Tess."
"None taken. I was thinking the same thing."
The Doltar said nothing but I truly believed he stood just a little bit straighter in his cabinet.
They gave me fifteen hundred dollars in cash from their signing bonus with the new circus, and I handed them the paperwork from Junior. I wasn't even taking a commission since I'd never officially taken Doltar into inventory.
"Well, goodbye, Doltar," I told him, when they were ready to go. "I confess, I'm going to miss you."
Lights and bells started flashing and ringing, and Doltar turned his head to look at me with his terrifying plastic eyeballs. A card slid out of the slot nearest me, but I was afraid to take it.
I'd been burned by the Doltar before.
He kept looking at me, though, and he didn't take the card back.
"Go ahead," Green urged me. "Tell us what it says."
So, I took the card and read it out loud:
BEWARE MURDER IN HURRICANE SEASON
Oh, boy.
At seven o'clock, sharp, I kissed Lou on the head and stepped out onto the front porch when I heard Jack's footsteps.
It took nearly a full minute before he could catch his breath enough to speak, which was intensely, deliciously, satisfying, and even then he looked at me like I was a slice of pecan pie, and he was a starv
ing man.
"You wore the red dress," he said, his eyes lit up like Christmas morning.
"I wore the red dress."
When he took my hand and an almost-electric shock raced up my skin, it finally occurred to me:
I might be in big trouble.
Respectfully Submitted,
Tiger’s Eye Investigations
Are you dying to know what happens when the storm of the century—Hurricane Elvis—hits Dead End, just when Jack has to take on a dangerous new case? And what happened on that date? Preorder EYE OF THE STORM HERE.
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Alyssa
Excerpt from DEAD EYE
Excerpt from DEAD EYE, the first in the Tiger's Eye mysteries, now available FREE HERE!
A tiger, an alligator, and a redneck walked into my pawnshop.
