“Time to put this on,” he said heavily, reaching for the condom.
“Not yet,” whispered Natasha. “You said to be good. Make it last. Do what you're doing a little more.” She massaged his back with increasing intensity then grasped his head, urging him upwards. He licked and kissed his way back up her stomach while arching her back with one hand and pulling her bra aside as his lips searched for her nipples. He felt her fingernails rake his upper back and neck as she pulled his face deep into the side of her breast while wrapping her legs around his.
“Back off with the scratching, bitch! That⦔ Thumper didn't finish the sentence. He suddenly realized that he was lying in a warm sticky pool. He pushed himself upright as a torrent of blood flowed from the carotid artery in his neck like a severed garden hose. He grasped at the thin cut running lengthways up his throat and stared in horror at Natasha. She sat looking up at him, a bloodied scalpel in her hand.
“Consider yourself fucked,” she said. “Fucked hard.”
Spots of blackness swept over him as his brain starved for blood. He staggered back a step, then lost
consciousness and fell backwards onto the floor. His heart continued to beat momentarily before it, too, accepted death.
Natasha dragged his body aside and opened the bathroom door.
Marcie saw Natasha's body awash in blood and opened her mouth to scream. Natasha clamped her hand over her mouth.
“I'm okay. This isn't my blood. The guy's dead. I killed him. We've got to be quiet,” Natasha said, taking her hand away.
“What happened?” whispered Marcie. “What's going on? How did you kill him?”
“I had a scalpel in my jacket pocket,” said Natasha, while putting her clothes back on. “Put it there one night when I went to the clinic to help Jack. Save the talk for later. We've got to get out of here.”
“That man. The one who told them to put us on this boat. I recognize his voice. He's the one ⦠the one who⦔
“The one who molested you in the cabin?”
Marcie nodded, then said, “Why would they take us?
“I'm not sure, but they didn't hide their faces, so that's not a good sign. I'm guessing it must be a trap for Jack and maybe Danny. Come on!”
Natasha crept forward and peered out the exit. She saw two bikers standing at the back of the house. They were both carrying rifles and talking to someone through a window.
“Two of them are in the backyard with rifles. They've got their backs to us, but I can't tell if someone in the house is looking this way or not. Are you a swimmer?”
“No,” said Marcie.
“See if we can find any keys to this thing.”
Both Natasha and Marcie searched for keys. There weren't any.
“I've got to chance it,” said Natasha. “They could come back any second. You wait at the top of the stairs while I slip across to the boathouse on the other side. Maybe I'll find something.”
Natasha peeked out the exit and saw the bikers disappear, one around each side of the house. She scrambled off the cabin cruiser and scooted across the dock to a small boathouse. She cautiously opened the door and saw a high-powered speedboat parked inside. She climbed in and frantically searched for keys.
She abruptly froze when the door to the boathouse opened, then realized it was Marcie.
“You should have waited!”
“I was afraid. Did you find any keys?”
“No.”
“Maybe we should make a run for it down the dock!”
“It's too long in the open. We'd never make it. I think â”
Natasha was interrupted by the sound of gunfire.
Sid moved the paint and stepladder to one side, then opened his front door again and gestured for Jack and Danny to come up the steps and follow him inside. They stopped when a German shepherd came out onto the porch and started barking.
“QC! Quit barking!” Sid commanded, then said to Jack and Danny, “It's okay, he won't bite. Come on in.”
“You named your dog Cutesy?” asked Jack, glancing at Danny.
“Cutesy?” Sid chuckled. “No. It's QC! Short for Queen's Counsel. Cute, don't you think?”
Jack exchanged another glance with Danny. They looked at the plastic sheeting in front of them and both went for their guns.
“Do it now!” screamed Sid toward his foyer. “They know!”
Jack pumped two shots through the door. The dog lunged at him, knocking him down as a rifle shot sent a
bullet zinging past him into the side of the garage. In front of him, he caught a glimpse of Rolly clutching his throat and staggering back as the door swung open. He was only partly conscious that Danny was taking aim at whoever had the rifle. His attention was focused on Booger, who appeared in the foyer carrying a MAC-10 submachine gun.
Danny saw T-Bone standing at the end of the house as he took aim to fire another shot at Jack. Danny fired three shots. Only one counted, but it was enough. T-Bone fell to the ground as the bullet tore through the centre of his chest.
A barrage of shots rang out from the foyer, along with another shot from near the garage behind them. Danny crouched beside the steps and turned to see who was by the garage.
Jack lay on his back on the path and tried to protect his face from the dog's savage attacks with one hand while firing more rounds at Booger, who let loose with a short burst of fire before leaping back out of sight. More bullets whizzed over Jack's head from behind him, and the dog yelped and fell to the ground when a rifle bullet severed its spine.
“Take cover!” Danny yelled. “Wizard's behind you!”
Jack's only place for cover was in the house, and he bolted through the door while firing rapidly. He caught a glimpse of Sid running up a spiral staircase but directed his shots toward Booger, who stood in the living room and fired another spray of bullets toward Jack.
Jack dived into a shallow pond inlaid in the floor near the bottom of the staircase. He squeezed off another shot at Booger, who darted back behind the wall. Jack barely had enough room to keep his face out of the water without exposing his head above the edge of the pond. Looking up, he could see only the lower half of
the spiral staircase. Rolly's head and one arm lay in the pond. Blood from his throat spilled into the water. His other hand lay limp at his side.
Jack raised his head slightly to look toward the living room, but a rifle bullet delivered from outside by Wizard ricocheted off the ceramic tile floor and zinged past. Wizard was rewarded for his effort by two shots from Danny, who was still crouched behind the steps. Wizard quickly retreated back behind the garage.
For a few seconds, everything was quiet except for the sound of a koi gasping for life as it flopped around on the floor.
Sid then screamed from above. “Get in there! Finish them off!”
Booger yelled back, “We're at a bit of a Mexican stand-off here. I've got him pinned down. Go to a window and tell Wizard and the others to finish the pig at the door first, then we can do this one from both sides.”
Danny peeked over the edge of the top step while punching the numbers into his cellphone. When he connected, he screamed the address first, then said, “It's O'Reilly and Taggart! We're at Sid Bishop's house!” A rifle bullet slammed into the cement in front of his face. Fragments of lead and cement shot into his face and eyes. His cellphone flew from his hand as he fell back. Pain shot through his head and blood gushed out of his forehead and into his eyes.
Jack heard Danny's body slam into the side of the house. He yelled out from the pond, “Danny! Are you all right? Danny!” There was no reply. He grabbed Rolly's body and slid him into a position to partially block Wizard's view, while trying to keep watch on the corner of the living room wall. He yelled for Danny again. No response. His mind felt numb.
Wizard shouted, “Booger! What's happening in there?”
“Rolly took a hit! He's bought it, but I've got the pig pinned down in the fucking fish pond. What's taking you and T-Bone so long?”
“T-Bone is down, but I shot this fucking pig in the face as he was usin' his cell. I think he's dead.”
Sid hollered, “Did he get through? Do you know if he got through?”
“I heard him give your address,” Wizard yelled, “but don't think he said much else before I nailed him.”
Sid screamed an angry, jumbled list of obscenities while kicking a wall.
“We still got time to think of somethin',” Wizard shouted. “Booger! You sure you got that pig in there pinned down?”
Jack saw that Booger had taken a mirror off the wall and propped it out from the corner of the living room to see him. The two men stared at each other's reflection. It was easier for both of them knowing where the other one was and what they were doing.
Booger yelled back to Wizard, “No problem! This pig ain't goin' nowhere for now!”
“Okay!” Wizard responded. “Sid! I'm goin' down to the boat and get Thumper. We'll kill the bitches and use oil and gas from your boat to throw in the pond and flush out Taggart. Torch the pigs and nobody will figure out what really happened.”
“You're going to burn my fucking house?”
“It was your idea to do it here! So now what? You got a better idea?”
There was a short pause, then Sid said, “Do it!”
CC and Charlie Wells left a team of investigators to finish searching Taggart's apartment. They were only partway back to the office when they heard the broadcast from Communications that O'Reilly had called for help from the Bishop home but was cut off by the sound of gunfire.
CC grabbed the radio and said, “Was Taggart with him?”
“Ten-four!”
“We want Taggart for at least two murders! If O'Reilly is dead, Taggart likely killed him. Make sure everyone knows! I'm on my way!”
Jack tried his own waterlogged cellphone. No surprise that it didn't work.
Danny's deadâ¦. What did Wizard mean, kill the bitches?
A few moments later he heard Sid speaking to him from near the top of the staircase.
“Taggart! You hear me? Taggart!”
Jack didn't respond, so Sid continued, “We've got your doctor lady friend and that little bitch you had stashed at your sister's! I want you to know that they're dying at this very moment!”
The numbness in Jack's brain was replaced with terror.
“How do you feel, Taggart? You'll be joining them in a couple of minutes. Better think of something to say to them!”
Before Jack could reply, the sound of gunfire came from behind the house.
“Did you hear that, Taggart?” said Sid, letting out a high-pitched laugh. “Did you hear that?”
Jack's mind burned with rage. He glanced up the stairs, then back at Booger, watching him through the mirror.
Natasha peeked out the boathouse door and saw Wizard running down the dock toward her. She quickly closed the door and turned to Marcie and said, “We have to go in the water.”
“I can't swim!”
“It's our only â”
“Thumper!” yelled Wizard from beside the boathouse. “Thumper!” Wizard climbed into the cabin cruiser and screamed, “Jesus Christ! You fucking bitches!”
Wizard saw bloody footprints leading to the boathouse. With his rifle ready, he kicked open the door and stepped inside. It took him only a moment to spot the blood and wet hand marks on the walkway. He knew that Natasha and Marcie were hiding under the dock.
Marcie clung to Natasha's neck. Only their heads were above water as Natasha slowly moved along under the dock. Wizard's feet sounded above their heads, and Natasha caught a glimpse of his face as he stared down through the cracks in the boards searching for them.
Wizard pumped two shots into the dock by his feet, then stepped out of the boathouse and moved slowly along the dock, firing several more shots through the boards as he went. Bullets swooshed through the water around Natasha and Marcie, but none found their mark.
“I know you bitches can hear me,” said Wizard. “Want you to know that I just shot O'Reilly in the face. I'm not lettin' your boyfriend off so easy, though. Got him tied down. I'm gonna soak his fuckin' face in gas and oil and have myself a little pig barbecue!”
Wizard stopped and listened. Natasha was crying but didn't make a noise. She heard the noise of a pail followed by a glugging sound. Drops of oil and gas dripped into the water near her face. Marcie's wide eyes stared back at her.
“You girls sit tight, I'll be back for you in a minute!” said Wizard, picking up the pail and walking away.
Wizard hurried across a patio at the rear of the house, slopping gas and oil as he went. He grabbed a lighter from beside a barbecue and cursed when he heard the distant sound of sirens. He took another step but came to an abrupt stop when the bushes parted in front of him.
Danny's face was a mass of blood. One eye was shut and he used his hand to try to keep the blood out of his other eye. His gun was pointed directly at Wizard's head.
“Thought you were dead,” said Wizard.
“Put the gun down,” said Danny. He spoke quietly, but there was no mistaking the deadly tone of his voice.
Wizard tossed the rifle onto the ground away from his body.
“Put the pail and lighter down and lie on your belly with your hands stretched out over your head. Turn your face away from me!”
Wizard slowly did as instructed.
“You fucked up,” said Danny. “You haven't been playing by the rules.”
“What fucking rules?”
“Rules that say you don't involve my wife and daughter.”
“Maybe you better think about them when you decide what you're gonna say in court!”
“Maybe I better explain the rules to you.”
“I know my rights. Fuck off, pig.”
“You lost your rights when you tried to kill my family. You need to be educated.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”