The Hitwoman and the Mother Load

by JB Lynn

  That’s where I found her, lying in a crumpled heap in front of the rear emergency exit door. Darlene’s gun was beside her.

  “Oh, Piss.” I fell to my knees and touched her gently.

  “Hurt Piss?” DeeDee asked, coming up behind me.

  “Let me see.” I could feel God pulling himself up my bra strap as though it was his own personal belaying line.

  “She’s breathing,” I told them.

  Carefully, gingerly, I turned her over.

  She groaned in pain. “I feel like someone put me through the spin cycle in the washing machine.”

  “It’s okay, Piss. It’s going to be okay,” I promised.

  “I really wish you’d stop calling me that,” she wheezed.

  “Then tell me your real name.”

  “It’s—”

  “Nobody move!”

  I froze in place.

  I heard Jack, at the front of the bus, grunt in pain and then fall over.

  “Two guys,” God whispered. “Suits and sunglasses.”

  “Gun,” the cat moaned.

  My eyes darted toward Darlene’s revolver. Then I looked behind me.

  “You’re coming with us.” The bigger of the two men grabbed Darlene’s arm and yanked her away from her family.

  She struggled against him.

  He shook her so hard I heard her teeth rattle.

  “Cooperate or you’ll watch your family die,” the goon promised.

  I closed my eyes. It wasn’t fair. I’d just found her. I couldn’t lose her again.

  Slowly, taking care not to attract attention, I picked up her gun and made sure the trigger guard was off.

  I closed my eyes, trying to remember the shooting lesson Patrick had given me in a barn.

  I heard his words just as though he was standing behind me again. “You’re going to breathe in, focus along the sight, and as you exhale, you’re going to squeeze the trigger. You’re not going to yank on it or jerk it. You’re just going to squeeze with steady, firm pressure. Got it?”

  Opening my eyes, another lesson came back to me. One I’d been drilled on twice a year for many years.

  A quick glance over my shoulder revealed that the bigger man had dragged Darlene to the front of the bus and was preparing to exit.

  I tightened my grip on the gun. I knew that I’d only get one chance at this. “Stay down,” I whispered under my breath so that the only one with acute enough hearing to understand me further down the bus was the dog. “Make sure everyone stays down.”

  I sucked in a deep breath as I heard Darlene being dragged down the bus’s stairs.

  “Mommy!” one of the girls screamed in terror.

  “Do ‘em,” the big man, who’d exited the bus, yelled to his partner.

  “Now!” God yelled.

  Piss let out an ear-piercing yowl.

  And I spun around.

  Chapter Nineteen

  I’m an inept hitwoman. I’m not particularly good at my job. I tend to overthink things. Plus, I’m a bit of a klutz. Okay, more than a bit.

  But I’m a damn good shot.

  As I spun around, I saw a blur of dark fur as DeeDee leapt on top of the girl in the pink coat, knocking her to the ground.

  I saw the black-suited man pointing the gun at the girls’ father and I pulled the trigger without really aiming. It was all instinct. The bullet caught him right over the nose bridge of his designer sunglasses.

  Then, because timing was everything, I spun back around, grabbed the handle of the emergency exit door and gave it a good tug. It swung open and I jumped to the ground, thankful that the angle of the bus made the distance a lot less than when we’d had bus evacuation drills while I was in school.

  I rounded the bus with the gun out in front of me.

  The big guy had his arm around Darlene’s neck and a gun pressing into her temple.

  “Let her go!” I yelled with a lot more bravado than I felt. It was one thing to get off a shot that was unexpected. It was a whole other ball of wax to kill someone when they held a gun to the head of someone you loved.

  Plus, I wasn’t sure about the range of the gun I held.

  The guy must have done the same calculations as me, because he smirked. “Nice try.”

  “It’s okay, Maggie,” Darlene said in a voice that was unnaturally calm. “It’s okay.”

  Her eyelids fluttered closed, her jaw went slack, and she looked utterly at peace.

  I didn’t hear the shot, and I sure as hell didn’t see it, but I sensed it.

  For a horrible moment the world stopped.

  And then Darlene opened her eyes, shook her shoulders like she was sliding a coat off, and the big man fell to the ground. Dead.

  A sob of relief tore through me, and, as I fell to my knees, I remembered the rifle.

  I might not have been able to take or make the shot to save Darlene, but Dave, the man who loved her, had done it.

  She ran back into the bus to reunite with her family.

  Two ambulances, lights flashing, but sirens silent, pulled up behind the dead goon. A figure jumped out of one and ran toward me.

  Instinctively, I raised the gun to protect myself.

  “It’s me, Maggie,” Zeke said, gently plucking the gun from my fingers. “Everyone is safe.”

  “Piss,” I muttered as he helped me to my feet. “Piss.”

  Zeke looked around. “Well there’s no restrooms in sight, but I could shield you to give you some privacy.”

  “The cat.” I pushed past him to head toward the back of the bus. “Piss is the cat.”

  “Call off the dog,” someone called from inside the bus.

  I stuck my head in through the rear door and saw DeeDee growling at a couple of men in ambulance workers’ uniforms.

  “She’s protecting the girls,” Darlene, who was wrapped in the arms of Dave, explained.

  “DeeDee come!” I commanded. “It’s okay. Come!”

  And I’ll be damned, but she did as I said, loping toward the back of the bus.

  “Don’t trample her you clumsy beast,” God thundered. He stood between Piss and the dog, one front foot raised like he was some kind of deranged school crossing guard.

  DeeDee skidded to a stop. “Hurt Piss?” Even to those who couldn’t understand her, her worried whine about her friend was heartbreaking.

  Slowly, with great effort, the cat slowly got to her feet, wobbling uncertainly. “Takes more than a bumpy ride to keep me down,” she said weakly.

  I carefully picked her up and cradled her against my chest.

  She purred contentedly.

  I extended my free hand to God. He scrambled up my arm and perched on my shoulder.

  The dog hurried over and licked tears I hadn’t even realized I’d cried off my cheeks.

  While the people who’d accompanied Zeke fussed over Jack, who was eerily still at the front of the bus, Darlene and I stared at each other.

  She stood there with daughters and their father, while I stood with my pets.

  There was so much I wanted to ask her, but all I said was, “I’m glad you’re alive.”

  She grinned. “That’s putting it succinctly.”

  “We have to go,” Zeke said quietly but with unmistakable urgency, glancing nervously at the burning helicopter.

  I shook my head.

  “It’s for everyone’s safety,” my sister said softly.

  “But I just found you. I…” A lump rose in my throat, making speech impossible.

  “I know.” Tears glimmered in her eyes.

  “Will I ever see you again?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Soon. I promise.”

  Zeke tugged at my elbow. “We really have to go.”

  I turned to look at him. “Go where?”

  “Somewhere safe.”

  I looked back at Darlene, but she had her back to me, as she shepherded her family out the front of the bus.

  “The animals come with me,” I told Zeke.

  “We k
now.”

  “Who’s we?”

  Instead of answering, he pulled me toward a waiting ambulance. DeeDee trotted closely behind.

  “What about Jack?” I asked.

  “He’s being taken care of,” Zeke assured me.

  “But—”

  “Maggie.” He shook my arm hard enough to jostle the cat who hissed in pain.

  “Look what you did,” I complained.

  “Maggie!” Zeke growled. “Just this once, can you think about taking care of yourself?”

  Something in his tone set off alarm bells inside of me. “How much trouble am I in, Zeke?”

  He shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know or won’t say?”

  He stared into my eyes. “I promise, you won’t be alone in this.”

  That didn’t make me feel any better.

  Chapter Twenty

  Sitting in an empty warehouse, on a hard chair, beneath a single, bare lightbulb, it occurred to me that I should have jumped all over Armani’s road trip prediction, hopped in the car, and taken off.

  It would have been preferable to being interrogated.

  Not that I’d been asked a question yet.

  Zeke had taken DeeDee and Piss, promising to have a vet take a look at them, while someone he worked with, the strong silent type who looked like he never cracked a smile, had brought me here, pointed to the chair and left.

  I only had God for company. Nestled in my bra, he was whispering, “Only give them your name, rank, and serial number.”

  “I don’t have a rank or serial number,” I whispered back.

  “So just give them your name. Nothing else.”

  “I’m pretty sure they already know my name.”

  “Then don’t say a word.”

  A clickety-clacking sound approached from behind. I fought the urge to turn around. Instead, I lifted my chin and vowed to keep my mouth shut.

  The clacking stopped just behind me.

  “We meet again, Ms. Lee.”

  Twisting around, I found the woman who I called Ms. Whitehat watching me.

  I bit back a groan. I’d been blackmailed into doing work for her shadowy organization in the past. Though, to be fair, she had sent her black-clad ninjas to get me out of more than one jam.

  “You’re looking tired,” Whitehat remarked.

  She, as usual, looked flawless in her power suit and heels.

  “Is Jack Stern okay?” I blurted out, breaking my vow of silence.

  Whitehat tilted her head to the side and examined me like I was some sort of science exhibit. “He will be.”

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Nice shooting on the bus,” Whitehat said in a tone similar to one one might use to talk about a beautiful day.

  “I got lucky,” I muttered.

  She shook her head. “You shortchange yourself. Walk with me, Ms. Lee.”

  Together we strolled across the warehouse, her heels clicking against the concrete floor with every step.

  “It must have been quite a shock to see your sister again after so many years.”

  “Uh huh.” That was the understatement of the year.

  “You must not let anyone know she’s alive.”

  I nodded.

  “You understand?”

  “Considering how elaborate her escape route was and that she still came close to having her head blown off, I think I understand. If I tell anyone, I put her in more danger.”

  Whitehat chuckled. “That’s it in a nutshell.”

  “My sister’s safety is no laughing matter.”

  “No. Of course not. My apologies. The reason I asked to see you is—”

  “Did you ask to see me?” I interrupted. “Because that sort of implies that I had some say in the matter.”

  Ms. Whitehat stopped walking and stared at me with a look so cold, I felt icicles forming in the pit of my stomach.

  That just pissed me off, so I lifted my chin and glared at her defiantly.

  Surprise, and maybe some respect, flickered in her gaze. “A poor choice of words on my part,” she murmured and began walking again.

  Grudgingly, I followed.

  She pulled out her cell phone and stared at a message on her screen. She scowled. “I can see that now isn’t the time for this conversation.”

  “What conversation?”

  “The one we’re not going to have,” she said firmly. “Zeke is going to bring you home now. Keep him nearby. If I can help with anything, he knows how to get in touch.” She patted my arm in a way that might have seemed reassuring when performed by someone else, but felt downright weird when she did it.

  “Help with what?” I asked, thoroughly confused.

  “You’ll find out soon enough.” She opened a door that led outside and pushed me into the sunlight.

  Zeke was sitting on the hood of my car.

  I shivered against the cold as Ms. Whitehat closed the door behind me.

  “Susan keeps calling,” Zeke said, holding up my cell phone that Whitehat’s guy had taken from me.

  I frowned. Marching over to him, I snatched it out of his hand. “How’s Piss?”

  “Banged up, but fine. Vet said no permanent damage. She’s napping.” He jerked his thumb at the car. “The dog too.”

  Bringing my phone to my ear, I waited for the voice mail to connect.

  “You look tired,” Zeke said softly, brushing a stray strand of hair away from my face.

  “Maybe that’s because my life is exhausting,” I snapped.

  “Margaret, come home,” Susan’s disembodied voice ordered.

  My stomach clenched at the panic I heard. I squeezed my phone, like it was a lifeline I was holding on to.

  “Katie’s missing. We’re not sure if she ran away, or if…” Susan’s voice broke. “…if someone took her.”

  “Maggie?” Zeke asked, his concern evident.

  “Katie’s missing,” I choked out, swaying unsteadily.

  “I’ll drive.” Zeke led me around the car and deposited me in the passenger seat, before jumping behind the wheel.

  “Maggie!” DeeDee barked excitedly. “Me Zeke gave rawhide. Like Zeke I.”

  “Shut up, you imbecile,” God bellowed. “Katie’s missing.”

  “Where go?” the dog panted.

  “No one knows. That’s why she’s missing,” God replied.

  “We’ll find her,” Zeke said over the bickering animals.

  “Please let her have run away,” I muttered.

  “What?” Zeke asked.

  “I said I hope she ran away.”

  “Why would you hope that?” Zeke asked, then added, “oh, you’re worried that your parents took her.”

  “Something like that.” But what I was really worried about was that Vinny, Delveccio’s disgruntled bodyguard, had her.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Even by my family’s standards, the scene at the B&B was chaotic when we got there. Everyone was gathered in the dining room.

  The only one who was missing was Angel, who, if I’d had to guess, was probably out searching for his cousin.

  Leslie was crying.

  Armani was moving Scrabble tiles around.

  Susan was yelling at someone on the phone.

  Marlene, and her boyfriend, Doc, were mapping out some bizarre search grid that looked a lot like the game of Battleship.

  U.S. Marshal Griswald was conferring with his nephew, Detective Brian Griswald.

  And that was before we added the addition of three animals and the surprise visit from Zeke into the mix.

  I paused in the doorway, thinking again that Armani’s idea of a road trip held a lot of appeal.

  As though she sensed me thinking about her, she looked up. “Run!” she mouthed.

  But it was too late, Aunt Susan had spotted me. “Margaret! At last! Where have you been?” There was no missing the accusation in her tone.