He lets me go, and I hit the dirt with a hard thump, my injured ribs screaming in protest. Against my will, a gasp of pain escapes, but I clamp my teeth on it as I work up to a sitting position.
“Leave us,” Jerry orders. “I need a few minutes alone with my wife.”
“Naw, naw, naw,” my father says. “I told you—you can have her once I’ve got that piece of shit who helped her. I know he’s gotta be around here somewhere.”
Jerry shoots an evil glare at my father. “She’smine, Bud. Not yours. I’ll do with her what I will.”
My father sidles up nose-to-nose with Jerry. “You’re here because I let you, Gerald. You live on my land. You provided a few crates of guns I didn’t even fuckin’ need, Jerry. You ain’t shit. So don’t think you can start orderin’ me or my men around.”
Ah, a power squabble. I try not to smile as I listen to them argue.
I glance past them, into the darkness beyond the still-shining lights of the SUVs. And I see something that sends hope and joy and relief surging through me like a tsunami: a faint smear of red light, here and gone, slinking between the trees.
Silas.
I can feel him.
I hear a faint, muffled, distantclick. Mike’s head explodes in a red mist, and he topples to the ground. A split second later, Tony drops to one knee, cursing and screaming, clutching his shoulder.
Gunfire erupts as my father, Jerry, and the other two realize what’s going on and start returning fire—or trying to. It’s obvious even to me that they have no clue where the shots are coming from because they’re all shooting in different directions, shouting conflicting orders at each other and scrambling for cover that doesn’t exist.
I’m about to toss the cord off my wrists and make a run for it when a hand knocks the hat from my head and seizes my hair in an iron grip; I’m dragged backward through the dirt, my hair ripping at my scalp.
Jerry.
He hauls me toward the back of the barn, into the shadows, and then jerks me to my feet, wrapping a thick, fat, hard forearm around my throat and squeezing until I’m gasping for air.
A coldOpresses against my temple.
“I’LL KILL HER!” Jerry shouts.
Fear sears through me. He will. I know it—I can feel the sincerity in his words.
I go still. The gunfire ceases.
“Come on out!” Jerry calls. “Hands where I can see them. One wrong move and I’ll put a bullet through her fuckin’ skull.”
I see Silas materialize from the shadows in the trees beyond the SUVs. His gun hangs at his waist, his hands at shoulder level.
“You alone?” Jerry calls.
“Yeah, I’m alone.” Silas enters the barn, stopping a few feet away from my father and the others. “Let her go,” he snaps. “This is your only chance.”
Jerry laughs and presses the gun harder against my head. “You blind? Iwillkill her. Now drop the gun.”
Silas’s eyes cut to mine, and I can sense something in him. A silent plea, perhaps. A message? A warning? He swallows hard, and his tongue runs over his lips. A nervous tell.
“You wanna kill her?” Silas says, an alien coldness to his voice. “Go ahead. She don’t mean shit to me. She’s just some bitch I was playing around with.”
His words cut through me like a knife, but I fight the pain away. He’s bluffing. Playing for time. He gave me the one look, and now his eyes won’t meet mine. His hands are slowly, gradually inching lower.
“If you don’t care about her,” Jerry asks, “Then why come after her?”
Silas snorts sarcastically. “I’m not here for her—you idiots sent your men after me. I don’t take kindly that. I’m here to make a point.”
Jerry turns the gun on Silas. “And what point would that be?”
Now.
