Carolina Rain (9 page)

He touched his forehead to the reinforced glass, which felt cold
and
soothing at the same time.

At first he’d bought into the whole “
the world comes first”
concept, which
Josh Corner
,
and the rest of them were in the betterment-of-mankind profession together. It had even felt right to him for a while. But the harder he’d worked, the more credit the others
had
received
. He felt like a fifth wheel, totally unnoticed until that wheel went flat
,
and then the shit storm that followed was always aimed at him. He’d always been able to shrug it off
,
even found other professionals like him, who understood his scientific talents and appreciated his skills.
He missed one or two of th
ose people
, in his own way. The pang of emotion that raced across his heart was impossible to ignore. Even after he’d
embraced
the complete
truth
that
Argyle
was
dealing
, it had been difficult to reconcile that his friends were no better than the rest
of the morons he’d grown to despise
. They were
simply
another step
that led to
what he
’
d wanted. He’d come to understand that
.
Now, t
he only thing that mattered was getting out of this
hell-
hole and finishing
what he’d started. He knew what that would take, the price it demanded, and he’d pay it like he always
had
:
in full.

Reaching over to the tiny, wooded nightstand beside his bed, he scooped up his inhaler and took a hit. His asthma always kicked in when he turned emotional. More precisely, angry.

They’d given him the
night
stand when they realized that he wasn’t suicidal
. T
hey’d been right in doing so. Suicide was the last thing on his mind. Men like him knew how to survive, to do what it took to get what they wanted, what they deserved.

The images of the two men he hated the most danced across his mind
. He
took another quick hit on the inhaler. They would both pay,
at the right time. They would discover just what truth was:
his
truth. And if things went well, sooner
rather
than later.

As much as he wanted to stare into their eyes when they checked out, that might not be possible. Especially if things went the way he hoped they would. With any luck, he’d get news of their gruesome, untimely deaths. After all, there was more than one way to accomplish a dream. One just had to be persistent. Money
—
of
which he had plenty
—
the right people, and proper
opportunity
went a long way on the road to payback land.

Lying back on the flat mattress, he released his interpretation of a smile. Revenge is a meal best served cold,
went
the old saying.

“To hell with that,” he whispered.

Vengeance served is sweet by any definition. And soon, very soon,
Max Tucker’s
tormenters would understand
. . .
completely.

CHAPTER-13

It took a second for Manny to realize there was no explosion. The loud click of the hammer dropping on the gun’s firing pin echoed through that end of the empty hallway
. T
hat was it. No smell of spent powder and
,
more importantly, his head was still intact. Manny dropped to his knees, then to his side as Susan screamed, released him, and turned, sprinting down the hall. The pain was excruciating, not only in his chest. He also felt a certain tingling and
discomfort
as the blood rushed to parts of his legs he’d not used much over the last month
-
and
-
a
-
half, as testified by the swirls of black and purple dancing across his eyes. Somehow, he managed to stay conscious. The rapid pounding of his heart helped. He wondered if it might pop out through the eight-hour-old incision.

Turning to find his would-be killer, he saw the incredulous look on the guard’s face. For some reason, there hadn’t been a cartridge in
the first
chamber of
the
Smith and Wesson .38. The term
dodging a bullet
flashed across his mind.

The chubby woman
seemed to
gather her composure and cocked the hammer back again,
pointing
with purpose directly toward him
.
Manny
wasn’t going to
wait to see what she had in mind
.

As she came within his reach, he drew his left leg back and then flexed with all of his diminished strength, striking her square on the right knee. The loud crack, and accompanying screech of pain, surprised them both. Maybe it was adrenaline—or the most potent of all instincts: survival—that helped him deliver the blow or maybe even God’s providence. Whatever the reason, his wannabe killer now writhed on the tiled floor, screaming in agony. Her focus was on her tibia which
now
pr
o
truded
through the side of her bloodstained uniform pants. As she’d
reached for her leg, the gun had skittered a few feet from her hand and
,
as luck would have it, just an arm’s length from him.

Closing his eyes in anticipation of the intense pain that was coming next,
Manny
twisted his body to the left, arm stretched. He heard another yell and
then
realized
it had come from him. His desperate reach had sent his pain to a new
height
. He gave his best effort to shut it out and continued stretching for the gun. Two inches, then one. He began to lose count of the little colored dots which tangoed in front of his eyes as his strength suddenly disappeared. He wasn’t going to make it.

Like hell I’m not
.

Opening his eyes, he gave one last thrust forward and felt the cold steel of the .38 caress his fingers and then climb into his hand. The coolness of the weapon felt
virtuous
and seemed to stimulate the rest of him as his strength rejoined him.

Manny turned over on his back, sweat dripping from his face and running into his eyes, but he clutched the weapon like a new toy at Christmas. It felt serene and smooth to his touch; he liked it. It dawned on him that he’d missed the feel of his own Glock in his hand. He gripped the gun a little tighter. Hell would freeze over before he gave it up.

Footsteps clattered down the hall and his sense of relief was just short of
enormous
. Susan must have gone for help
. R
ight now, there was nothing he wanted more.

Manny frowned. While he adored the sound of the
c
avalry, he realized that the screaming from the security guard had stopped. She was crawling just a few feet away,
a
jagged blade held tightly in her blood
i
ed hand.

“I’m
. . .
I’m still going to kill you, Williams. You don’t deserve
. . .
deserve to live for what you
. . .
did,” she hissed through her clenched jaw.

The look on her face said that she was crazy
and her
intentions were even more insane.
But g
ood God, he had a gun, and by the sound of the voices
echoing from down the hall
, help would be here any second.

“Don’t be stupid. This will only end badly for you. Put down the knife.”

Then he pointed the gun in the direction of her face.

Her smile was unnerving. “That didn’t shoot, remember?”

“Do you want to take a chance it won’t this time?” he said, breathing hard. He suddenly felt lightheaded. His hand began to quiver and the .38 felt like a five-hundred-pound weight. His sight had become blurry
. H
e knew he’d never be able to pull the trigger. The next second, the gun and his arm hit the floor. His attacker crawled even closer. He tried to raise the gun again
,
but it only came halfway up, then hit the floor
a
gain
.

“You’re a dead man.”

The
swoosh
was noticeable as something sped by his ear. Close. Far too close. There was another scream that brought him back to the world of the conscious. He glanced at his assailant and saw a pink throwing star buried deep in her chunky bicep. He smiled a tired smile.
Damn,
t
he girl is good at that.

Sophie
sprinted past him,
cuffed the would-be guard
, and
th
en kneeled down to Manny’s left.
Chloe
showed up
on his right.

“You okay, man?” said Chloe, worry lacing her voice.

“Yeah, what she said,” said Sophie.

“I’m fine.”

“Your chest is bleeding, though,” said Chloe.

Looking down, Manny noticed the small red bloom directly above the incision.

“Okay. Maybe not that fine. But I think I’ll live.”

“You’d better,” said Chloe softly. She put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him, then again, the second one lingering longer. He had almost forgotten how soft her lips were. Not to mention the fire that seemed to accompany them. His fire. Even in his current state of disrepair
, he
felt the joy of his desire soar for her.

“Okay
,
you two. Break it up or take it back to the room,” said Sophie, grinning. “Some of us have work to do.”

“That’s a great idea
except
the doctors said no fooling around until he heals, so
. .
.”

“That’s way too much info,” said Sophie, scrunching her nose.

By then, Josh, Alex, and Dean had arrived with two other agents, three doctors, and four security guards. The agents and guards surrounded the
attacker
,
and
Chloe stood back while the medical team quickly inspected Manny.
Chloe then stepped toward the security people
.
“How in hell did this happen? Are you damn idiots around here? I want to know how you let a psycho like this almost kill my husband
. A
nyone?”

Looking back to his left, Manny saw Chloe stand
ing
face to face with the security supervisor, her face red with anger, hands clenched. The woman who’d just given him the best kiss of his life was now ready to take on the world and maybe take out a couple of guards in the process
.

“I don’t
. . .
don’t know
M
a’am,” stammered the supervisor, fear in her eyes.

“You don’t know, do ya? Maybe an ass-kicking will get ya straightened out,” answered Chloe
,
now almost nose to nose with the bewildered supervisor.

Alex and Dean rushed in and each grabbed one of Chloe’s arms and pulled her
away
from the woman. She resisted at first, gave in
,
then stood up straight, pushing them both away.

“I love ya both but if you touch me like that again, you’ll be needing a bed in this place yourselves, got it? These fools need to be held accountable and I’ll be doing just that.”

“We were just
. .
.”
started Alex.

Chloe cocked her head
giving
,
Alex a
hard-
warning look. His long-time friend stepped back and said nothing.
Manny thought that great wisdom on Alex’s part.

She then walked over to where Manny lay, and stood with arms folded, looking at him
like a protective mother
. Slowly the anger left her
,
and her face softened, Chloe’s gaze never leaving him
. He was pretty sure he didn’t ever want her angry at him like that, but who could blame her? That was the second
instance
in two months he could have been taken out
. I
t felt good to be the subject of that kind of protection, just the same.

Josh touched Chloe on the arm. She
glance at him,
nodded but didn’t move from where she stood. He bent down to Manny, eyebrows raised.
“Damn, Williams.
Look what you did.
We can’t leave you alone for a few hours without you pissing someone off
.”