Trigger

by S. G. Redling

  Cara laughed. Clever. He wanted a little time to play with his toy without any witnesses. Cara wasn’t a fan of watching bloodshed, but she wondered if he would let her stick around to see the finale. When the hallway quieted down, Booker turned back around and smiled again.

  At Dani.

  “She’s all yours, Dani.”

  Dani let out a sound that was part laugh, part growl, all unpleasant.

  “What the hell?” Cara swung the gun up. “I have a gun!”

  Dani lowered her head. “Then you better kill me with the first bullet.”

  She hit Cara like a wrecking ball, small mass low to the ground, slamming into her stomach before Cara could even think to aim the gun. Her finger jerked the trigger on impact, the shot going wild to the right. They crashed into the buffet table, glass and metal smashing together against Cara’s spine.

  She couldn’t breathe, Dani’s shoulder buried in her solar plexus, her hands like claws against her back. She tried to scramble away but every movement brought more platters and greasy foods sliding onto her head and into her face.

  Hitting the ground didn’t improve her odds. The tablecloth had come down with them, trapping Cara in yards of fabric. Dani was everywhere. Fists and teeth and knees and screams.

  She couldn’t move. She couldn’t think.

  Luck broke her way and she found leverage against a table leg. She pressed her foot against the solid wood and managed to twist her hip out from beneath the rabid thing on top of her. Dani latched on, letting herself be flipped to her back, grabbing Cara by the hair and slamming her nose down into a blinding head butt.

  All she could taste was blood. All she could see were tears and the blurry outline of fabrics and food and dishware and Dani.

  There was no way she was going to die in a pile of food.

  She tried her best to stiff arm Dani with one hand and reached blindly to her side with the other. She found something solid – a platter? A pitcher? It didn’t matter. All that mattered was that she could grip it and swing it down on the animal beneath her. She heard the ceramic shatter and felt Dani’s grip loosen.

  That was all she needed.

  She pushed off as hard as she could, sliding on her knees in a nauseating slick of gravy and grease. She had nearly cleared the table when her calf exploded in a fiery pain. When she tried to jerk her leg away, she felt hands gripping her ankle and felt another bolt of agony.

  She turned to try to kick free just as Dani brought another sharpened lamb chop down like a dagger and buried it Cara’s calf. Her leg looked like a gruesome replica of the revolting meat fan that had been on the table earlier, lamb chops springing up like weeds from her muscle.

  Everything went white as the horror overtook her. She screamed, kicking at the space where Dani had been, feeling grease and blood coating her leg as the lamb bones popped free. Reality began to fracture.

  She thought she might be flying when she felt herself moving.

  She didn’t know if she was still screaming when she felt someone shaking her.

  “Miss Hedrick? Miss Hedrick!” Strong arms held her up, shaking her and dragging her away from the mess on the floor. It was one of her security agents. “Miss Hedrick. I’ve got you. You’re safe. You’re safe now.”

  Nothing made sense. Nothing. What was that noise, that wheezing sonorous noise? Was that her? Was that her breathing?

  She gripped the man holding her, trying desperately to corral her panic, to align her thoughts. Everything was wrong. This couldn’t be happening.

  Bones had punctured her skin.

  Bones. Animal bones.

  The bomb hadn’t gone off. Her bosses were going to know she failed.

  They were going to kill her.

  This couldn’t be happening.

  The agent held her up, holding her steady, yammering on as if anything that came out of his stupid mouth would help her.

  She finally gained control of her mouth.

  “I have to go.”

  “Yes, ma’am. An ambulance is on the way. We’re going to…

  “No.” She shook him off of her, nearly collapsing at the pain in her leg. The room had been trashed. Agents stood in doorways holding people back. Radios squawked. This was all wrong. Her bosses were going to know. This was all wrong.

  And where was Dani Britton?

  “Where is she?” She screamed at nobody in particular. “Where is she?”

  The agent assigned to her tried to grab her again and she slid from his grip. He held up his hands to placate her but must have seen something in her eyes to make him take a step back.

  “She’s in custody, ma’am. Your attacker has been detained. Don’t you worry.”

  Cara sucked in a breath. Okay. That was one thing going right. One thing.

  She spit a glob of bloody mucus and felt the world around her spin.

  Keep it together, Cara. Keep it together. Dani Britton was in custody. This wasn’t done. This could all be rewritten. You still have control of the narrative. You still have control.

  You just have to take it.

  Cara forced herself to nod, to pull together what would have to pass as control.

  “Where is she? Where is she being held?” Her voice sounded almost normal.

  “I’m not sure, ma’am.” The agent relaxed at her pretense of composure. “She was taken into custody by the agent on-site. The family said he was the agent that had come in with you.”

  Fuck.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  It took three tries to get the key into the ignition.

  Cara hadn’t bothered washing the filth off her hands. She had refused to let the medic on-site treat her wounds, particularly the puncture wounds on her leg. She wasn’t ready to let that into her reality yet. Her muscles throbbed, her skin burned, and she could imagine sepsis setting in as blood poured down her leg, but she wasn’t ready to let those facts into her reality yet.

  Keep it together, Cara. Keep it together.

  She didn’t know whose vehicle she was driving. It was a black SUV. The keys were in the visor. Her driver had rushed to stop her when she had climbed in, yelling that he would drive, yelling that she couldn’t leave, but he must have seen the same thing in her eyes the agent in the house had seen.

  A woman driven mad with anger and pain.

  Not just any woman either. She was Cara fucking Hedrick.

  She was In Charge.

  It was time for everyone to remember that.

  She didn’t know where she was going, she just knew she needed to get away from all those Charbaneauxs and have some time and space to think. She needed clean clothes and bandages. (Don’t think about those bones. Don’t think about the holes in your leg.) She needed to come up with how she was going to explain to ISOC how this perfect plan had fallen apart.

  She had to come up with a solution that did not involve them putting a bullet in her brain.

  That solution was going to be Dani Britton. It was all going to land on that trashy Okie’s shoulders. That filthy little animal would be begging for Booker to end her life when Cara was done with her.

  Fuck. Booker. He had Dani. Of all the times for the psychopath to take her at her word. He probably thought it was the perfect opportunity to spirit Dani away, to tie her up and do whatever filthy sick things he had been dreaming of.

  Would it have killed him to have taken care of Dani before she’d attacked her?

  Driving calmed Cara, helped her thoughts settle and line up. The agony in her leg threatened to overwhelm her as she pressed on the accelerator, but her calm began to return.

  Had Booker really said, “She’s all yours, Dani”?

  Did he think he could play Dani against Cara?

  Did those insects really believe they had power over her?

  Anger felt better than panic and Cara let it rise. She would find a motel somewhere nearby. She would make a plan, put together a narrative to hold her bos
ses’ questions at bay until she could come up with a solution. She would get hold of Tom Booker and find out if he had finished with Dani Britton yet. Whether or not she was still alive, that little bitch was taking the fall for all of this. She would find a way.

  She was Cara Fucking Hedrick, after all. She was the fixer.

  She pulled into a motel just off the exit. She had no idea where she was, but it didn’t matter. This wasn’t a time for luxury or being particular. This was a time to go to ground and plan. She looked at her reflection in the rearview mirror.

  Good lord. She looked like an escapee from an insane asylum or the loser of the world’s most brutal food fight.

  She dropped her head back against the seat and took ten deep breaths. She cleaned up what she could with her linen napkin and spit, resentment growing. This was her favorite folding cloth. Now it was ruined. Just one more reason to relish killing everyone who had fucked her today. Her comb and little makeup bag were no match for the damage done to her, but by the time she was finished, Cara looked like a reasonably normal person again.

  Normal enough to get a motel room, at least.

  Three more deep breaths and Cara stepped out of the SUV.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  “She’s brushing her hair.” Booker turned off the car. “She must be getting ready to check in. Probably cleaning herself up to draw less attention.”

  Dani couldn’t bring herself to speak and it had nothing to do with the blood running down the side of her face.

  After the security agents had been called to the house, Booker had taken over. Using his badge and more control than Dani could ever imagine possessing, he had pretended to take Dani into custody. He’d pressed her to the ground with his knee and gripped her wrists tightly behind her back. When she’d continued to fight and howl, he had leaned in close to her ear.

  “Relax. We’re getting out of here.”

  She didn’t remember much about their exit. He had frog-marched her out the door past agents and to the front door. He had barked orders at a young guard and within minutes Choo-Choo had been escorted out to meet them. Radios were squawking. People were yelling. All Dani could see was Choo-Choo, his face pale and blotchy.

  He held the cocktail shaker in his trembling hands.

  Booker had deposited them both into his car and driven past the security gate with just a cursory flash of his credentials.

  They drove a few miles before Booker pulled off at a gas station and told them to stay put. He came out a moment later with a jug of water, a package of towels, duct tape, and a roll of aluminum foil.

  “Give me that.” He took the cocktail shaker from Choo-Choo and began twining duct tape around the lid. After that came aluminum foil, a dozen layers thick, followed by more duct tape. Nothing was getting out of that container.

  Dani washed what she could with the water and towels. When she was done, Booker collected the stained towels and threw them into the dumpster behind the station.

  Only then did Choo-Choo speak.

  “Are you going to tell me what is going on?”

  Dani did. She told him about the explosive in his chest. About the trigger. About Cara. It didn’t take long because she didn’t know much. Choo-Choo listened quietly. When she finished, he held up the entombed cocktail shaker.

  “And if this opens up?”

  “I don’t know. I think it might still go off.”

  He nodded and clutched the shaker to his chest. Booker offered to take it from him, but he refused to let it go.

  “What do you want to do now?” Booker asked. “They’re going to be looking for us.”

  “I want to watch Cara Hedrick die.” She glanced back at Choo-Choo who nodded.

  Booker pulled a phone out of the glove compartment and thumbed it to life. “Then let’s make that happen. Tabitha re-engineered my tracker to track Cara. We can follow her. When she’s alone, I’ll take care of it.”

  They didn’t have to wait long. Within minutes, Cara flew by them in a black SUV, driving too fast for the narrow road. The vehicle swerved for several miles before settling down into a less erratic pace. She pulled into a motel parking lot.

  She brushed her hair.

  Booker left the car running and unbuckled his seat belt. “I’ll go ahead and follow her to her room. Once she’s inside and out of sight, I’ll take care of this. Keep the car running. I won’t be long.” He hesitated before climbing out. “Will you be here when I get back?”

  Dani nodded. “We will.”

  He crossed the parking lot, heading for the shrubs beside the lobby door. Dani slid into the driver’s seat and looked at Choo-Choo in the rearview mirror.

  “Did you know this container would work?” He asked.

  “No.”

  “You thought I was going to explode.”

  “Yes.”

  “So, you dove on me. Why? To save my family?”

  Dani shook her head. “No.”

  “Then why?”

  The truth made it difficult to speak.

  “Because I don’t want to live in this world without you.”

  They didn’t talk after that. Booker had vanished within the bushes when Cara stepped out of her vehicle. Her steps were unsteady as she began to cross the wide parking lot. Dani saw the blood coating her leg.

  It looked good.

  Cara Hedrick was going to check into a motel room and take a shower. She would probably order a pizza or maybe some Chinese food. She would call her bosses and they would make a new plan for new agonies to visit upon the world.

  Cara Hedrick thought she had all the time in the world to make a new plan.

  Dani had a surprise for her.

  Without a thought, she dropped the car into gear just like her father had taught her. He used to call it ‘laying a patch’, throwing all the horsepower of the engine into one quick thrust.

  The car shot forward, tires squealing, but Cara never looked up. In that split second, Dani hated her even more for that. Arrogant bitch never paid attention to the world around. She thought the entire fucking universe revolved around her.

  She was going to learn the hard way just how wrong she was.

  The impact threw Cara over the hood and into the windshield with a satisfying thump. The windshield cracked but held as her body tumbled off the hood and slammed into the pavement in front of the bumper. Dani threw the car into reverse to better see the damage.

  Cara rolled on the pavement, her left arm bent at a terrible angle, her legs splayed and raw. She lifted her head, her eyes unfocused and wide, a silent scream on her lips.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Dani dropped the car in drive and floored it again. The wheels bounced over the heap of her body with a jolt. In the rearview mirror, Dani saw Choo-Choo sitting back, relaxed. Their eyes met. He nodded.

  She dropped it into reverse and stomped the gas.

  The bumping had lessened considerably.

  A tapping noise drew her attention from the mess on the parking lot. Booker tapped the passenger side window.

  “Let me in,” he mouthed. She unlocked the door and waited until he had buckled his seat belt. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed. Dani pulled back out onto the highway.

  “Kaneisha,” Booker said into the phone. “It’s Tom. We need a clean car.”

  EPILOGUE

  One week later

  He would only speak to Teddy.

  The Paper Sisters had reached out to the senator on secure lines. It hadn’t been easy, but the Paper Sisters knew their business. And the people in charge were highly motivated to bring the situation to a close.

  The surgery had been an ordeal for all involved. Booker had come to an agreement with the sisters to cover what must have been an astronomical amount of money. It wasn’t just finding a surgeon. The sisters had excellent medical facilities. It was the uncertainty of the explosive that made finding a surgeon challenging. They had been fo
rced to create a Faraday cage around the operating theater as well as getting hold of a detonation box to dispose of the bomb.

  Once the device had been removed from Choo-Choo’s chest and he was safely recovering, a detonation expert had removed the shielding from the cocktail shaker and taken off the lid. The device had exploded instantly inside the enclosure.

  Dani wouldn’t leave Choo-Choo’s side, even while he slept. Booker kept his distance but remained on-site as well. They hadn’t spoken much.

  Cara’s death never made the news in any way anyone could find. There was no mention of the disturbance at the Charbaneaux house either. Nonze took another photo of the family without Choo-Choo, keeping his streak intact. Kaneisha found a picture of the Charbaneaux Christmas card on Instagram.

  The relay trigger data had been retrieved. Kaneisha called it a chilling bit of fiction that would have landed Choo-Choo and Dani in federal prison had either of them survived the explosion. The data didn’t hold up to scrutiny and Kaneisha was able to track back enough damaging information about Cara to give them a negotiation angle.

  All of the pertinent information had been sent to Elizabeth “Teddy” Meeks by private messenger. She had agreed to see her brother following the Paper Sisters’ security guidelines despite the protest of her parents and her new security detail.

  The meeting was brief and emotional.

  Teddy cried when she saw her brother pale and weak in the hospital bed. She rushed to his side and clutched his hand. “My God, Sin. I don’t know what to say.”

  He held her hand. “Tell me what you’re going to do about it.”

  She looked at Dani. “Would you mind if I talked to my brother alone?”

  Choo-Choo shook his head. “No. She’s not going anywhere. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Dani.” When Teddy started to protest, he cut her off. “Tell us both or leave. There is no other option. What are you going to do about what was done to me? You hired that woman. Surely you have found out who she really worked for. Were you able to find them? Are they going to pay for this?”