by Mike Ryan
“Stacy, I’m fully resigned and prepared for this moment before I even came down here.”
“I didn’t want it to go down like this.”
“That’s because you’re a good person. That’s why I put my trust in you to begin with,” Lamb said. “I knew you were the only one I’d be able to count on.”
Brooke just sat there, not saying a word at first, understanding what the two of them were saying. She knew Lamb was insinuating that he was giving himself up for them. After listening to them for a little while, she finally spoke up.
“Eric, you’re not coming with us?” Brooke asked.
“Not this time, sweetie.”
“But you promised. You promised me that you’d be OK. That you’d go to the hospital and get yourself fixed up.”
“I promised that I’d keep you safe above all else,” Lamb said. “That’s what I’m doing.”
“But I don’t want you to die,” Brooke said, her eyes filling with tears.
“Hey, don’t cry for me.”
Lamb was touched that she felt as strongly as she did for him, considering they hadn’t known each other for very long. He couldn’t even remember the last time someone shed tears for him, if it’d even been done before. He couldn’t even recall a moment when his parents cried for him, even as a child. Lamb gently put his hand on Brooke’s face and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“The short time that I’ve known you, making sure you’ve been safe, has probably been the best moment of my life,” Lamb said. “And I don’t wish anything happened differently.”
“I don’t want you to go,” Brooke replied.
“I have to. I want you to know you’ll never have to worry about money or college or anything. It’s already been taken care of.”
Brooke shrugged, not really caring about that at the moment.
“What are you talking about?” Dunn asked.
“Before coming down here, I asked someone to put some money into a college fund for her in case she needs it,” Lamb said.
“You really were planning for this all along, weren’t you?”
“Let’s just say I had a feeling it’d go down like this.”
Dunn still wasn’t ready to just let him slip away. Not without making a last-ditch effort to hopefully save his life. “What if I just park in that garage somewhere, and we both take them on?”
“Can’t risk it.”
“With both of us taking them on, we can put an end to it.”
“And what if we both wind up going down?” Lamb asked, not willing to chance it. “What’s she gonna do then?”
“I don’t feel right about leaving you.”
“Just think of me as some hired assassin that you’d like to lock up eventually,” Lamb said with a laugh. “Not too far off from the truth, right?”
“Now’s not the time for jokes.”
“Eh, as good as time as any as far as I can tell.”
“Why don’t I just drive to the nearest police station then?”
“I told you...I don’t wanna end up like that.”
“You’d rather end up in a cemetery?”
“You make your choices and I’ll make mine.”
The parking garage was coming up on their right-hand side, and part of Dunn wanted to miss it entirely and pretend that she couldn’t make the turn in time. That would force them to come up with a different plan. Something that didn’t involve Lamb sacrificing his life. She turned her head to look at the facility that was fast approaching, then looked around at other nearby buildings. As she was looking around, Lamb glanced over at her, and could tell that she had something else on her mind. It looked to him like she was surveying other opportunities that might be around.
“Don’t even think about it,” Lamb said.
“What?”
“About missing that garage.”
“I wasn’t.”
“There’s nothing else that’s as good an option as this,” Lamb said. “We can’t keep flying down the road here all day. Something will happen eventually. Let’s get this thing over with.”
Dunn sighed, reluctantly agreeing with his proposal. “Fine.”
With the turn coming up, Dunn put the brakes on and made a quick turn. The car behind them was right on their tail until that point. Turning as quickly as they did surprised them, and they overshot the turn. Having a little distance between them, just as Lamb wanted, Dunn then sped up to get into the garage as quickly as possible. As they went over a couple of speed bumps, the pursuing car turned around to continue following them. They pulled into the garage and received their ticket, allowing them into the building.
“Where do you want out at?” Dunn asked.
“Just pull around to the second level,” Lamb replied.
“You’re sure about this?”
“Yep.”
Dunn sped through the first level, not taking any care as to whether there were any other cars backing out. Luckily, there weren’t any, or any people walking across either. Once they got to the second level, Dunn put on the brakes, stopping the car abruptly.
“You’re sure you don’t want help?” Dunn asked, one last time.
“No. You need to get out of here and not look back. The longer you wait, the more time you give them to get a backup team here and block you off.”
Brooke’s tears were flowing down her face as the realization set in that she wouldn’t see her protector again after this.
“You stay out of trouble,” Lamb told her.
Brooke just nodded, not knowing what else to say. Lamb then put his hand on Dunn’s shoulder, who turned around and gave him a sad smile, knowing this would be the end.
“Thanks for the help,” he said.
“Don’t mention it.”
“Sorry for all the headaches I’ve given you.”
“Forget it,” Dunn said. “Maybe I’ll hear from you again someday.”
Lamb gave her a smile and a pat on the shoulder as he exited the car. He seemed to be moving around a little better now. The pain didn’t seem to be as severe or as limiting. Maybe it was just having a little time to rest in the back seat, or maybe it was the realization that it would likely all be over soon, so he wasn’t focusing on the injuries so much. As soon as he got out of the car and closed the door, after a brief second pause, Dunn put her foot on the gas and peeled out of the lot. Lamb watched as the car turned the corner to exit until it was no longer in sight.
Lamb then walked down the ramp to the first level to get a good view of the pursuing car. He saw them enter just as the gate lifted to let them in. Lamb removed both of his guns, holding one in each hand. He took a few steps back to hide around the corner so he could surprise the car as it turned. Within a few seconds, the front end of the car came into view as it slowly turned the corner. Lamb nestled himself between the wall and a car to keep himself out of view until the car fully passed him. Once it did, he emerged from behind the car and started shooting. He took out both back tires, and heard the air coming out of the holes that were now implanted in them. The car stopped, with all four doors opening at the same time.
“Hello, boys,” Lamb said.
He opened up, firing both guns at the same time, just as the four men began firing at him. It was a chaotic scene, bullets glancing off cars, windows shattering, the booming echo of gunfire being heard, bodies dropping. Lamb felt a couple more bullets pierce through his body, but he somehow managed to stay upright until the job was finished. His willpower was keeping him going more than anything. Two of the opposing men dropped to the ground, the two who had gotten out of the back seat. Exchanging bullets for another minute, Lamb also dropped to the ground, hitting the concrete at the same time as the man from the passenger seat. Lamb lay on his back and fired another round at the fallen man, hitting him in the upper torso, just to make sure he was dead.
Lamb stayed as still as could, knowing there was still one more man left, the driver. He was going to play dead and let the man come to him, but he could
see the man’s feet shuffling around as he looked underneath the car. Lamb then rolled over and took careful aim at the man’s legs and pulled the trigger. He hit his target and the man dropped to his knees in pain as the bullet ripped through his shin. Just as the man looked under the car to return fire, Lamb sprung to his feet and went to the side of the back bumper. The man caught Lamb out of the corner of his eye and the two of them fired at the same time, both falling over from the bullets that hit each other.
Lamb was on the ground, barely moving, but still alive. For the moment, at least. Breathing heavily, he licked his lips as he gasped for air. He held his stomach for a moment, then removed his hand and saw that it was covered in blood. He’d been shot twice in the stomach and once in the chest in this encounter. His eyes were growing heavy and he tried to get to his feet one last time. He knew there was no recovering from these wounds. He got to his knees and put his arm down to support him standing up again, but he didn’t have the strength and fell back to the ground. Lamb took a quick look at the other bodies, just to make sure they weren’t moving. He tried again to stand up, getting to his knees, this time forcing his body to stand up. He’d never felt such intense pain before as he got to his feet.
Lamb wobbled for a moment as he stood, still gripping a gun in his left hand. He walked over to each of the bodies lying on the ground to make sure they were dead, putting one more round in each of them.
“That should do it,” he said, barely getting the words out.
A smile came over his face as he looked down at his final work. It was a proud moment for him, knowing he finally did something good with his life. His breathing got heavier, and standing put too much of a strain on his legs, dropping him to one knee. After another minute, he struggled to keep his eyes open. Lamb then looked at his gun and just laughed, knowing he wouldn’t need it anymore, and tossed it away. He had a feeling he was in his final minutes and tried to put some good thoughts into his mind. He didn’t want to go out thinking about some of the terrible things he’d done, or had been done to him. He then thought of Brooke, picturing what she’d look like in a few years, knowing she would have a chance at a good life because of him. Lamb then slumped to the ground, closing his eyes for the final time.
After few minutes of silence, several onlookers came onto the scene to assess the damage. All five men were dead. The famous assassin died doing what was foreign to him. Saving someone else. And no matter what he’d done previously, he’d always have a special place in the hearts of two people. The girl he saved, and the FBI agent who so badly wanted to lock him up before he tried to redeem himself.
FBI Headquarters-- Dunn and Brooke had been at the agent’s office for about an hour going over some of the details of Brooke’s horror filled day while it was still fresh in her mind. Dunn tried to get the girl to eat something, but she refused everything offered to her except a soda. Brooke was pretty dejected about everything that had happened and wasn’t in the mood for much of anything. After a few more minutes, Dunn’s contact in the organized crime unit, Agent Fred Gannon, came over to her desk.
“Talk to you a minute?”
“Sure,” Dunn replied, excusing herself, as the two walked over to a water cooler in the corner of the room.
“Just wanted to let you know where everything seems to be standing right now.”
“OK?”
“Looks like the girl’s out of danger now.”
“How do you know?” Dunn asked.
“We just talked to Swanson’s boss. We know he ordered the hit on the family.”
“And he just admitted to it?”
“No, of course not. I just kind of laid things out for him. Told him how things were.”
“And how is it?” Dunn asked, not really understanding.
“Well, you know the girl has family, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Lawrence Swanson was an only child, but Mrs. Swanson, she had two brothers and two sisters, none of whom have had any trouble with the law,” Gannon said.
“Yeah, I know, I checked their records. They all seem like normal people.”
“So, you know that one of them will likely be named Brooke’s legal guardian by the court.”
“Yeah.”
“But if there’s still a hit out on her, she’d still be a sitting duck. She wouldn’t have anyone like Lamb saving her.”
“I know,” Dunn said.
“That means not only would she still be a target, so would her new family.”
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Well, we told them that we’d be keeping an eye out on Brooke for a long time, and if anything happened to her, we’d know where it came from,” Gannon said.
“And?”
“I was told it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“And we believe that?” Dunn asked.
“Well, apparently there were two separate outside crews that were used. One at the house that did Swanson in, and the second one on the outside that was looking for Lamb.”
“I get the feeling you’re about to drop something on me.”
“Seems as though Lamb killed all of them, outside of the two our guys got. There’s no one left.”
“Which means there’s no one left to tie to the original hit,” Dunn said.
“You got it. There’s nobody left to talk. From what I can gather, the girl was a part of the original hit, just to make it a nice, clean job. But once things fell apart, and Lamb got involved, he was the main target. I don’t think they view the girl as any kind of a threat or anything.”
“So, after Swanson, they were after Lamb all along?”
“He knew about the original hit and I guess they wanted to make sure he didn’t talk,” Gannon said.
Dunn shook her head. “All that work he was trying to do to get her to me, thinking he was saving her, and they weren’t even after her at all.”
“Well, I guess he still died a hero, ‘cause if he didn’t show up at that house, that girl there would be as good as dead right now.”
“And you’re sure she’s not still in danger?” Dunn asked.
“I don’t think so. We’ll still keep our eyes and ears open, but I don’t think there’s much to worry about. If it were the wife who survived, I think that’d be a different story. Or even if the girl was older. But at her age, I don’t think they view her as a threat.”
Dunn thanked Gannon for the information then went back to her desk to talk to Brooke some more. She explained what was going to happen to her, and that it seemed like she was out of danger.
“So, you get along with your aunts and uncles? You like them?” Dunn asked.
Brooke shrugged. “Yeah. They’re OK, I guess.”
They sat there for a few more minutes in silence before Dunn tried again to perk up the girl’s mood a little. No matter what she said, though, nothing seemed to help.
“Anything you wanna talk about?” Dunn asked, hoping Brooke would open up to her.
“I’m just sad about my parents and Eric.”
“I know.”
“I know my dad did some bad things, but my mom didn’t. And Eric...he died to save me,” Brooke said, a painful look on her face as she struggled to understand why everything happened.
“Eric died a hero.”
“But why? He never even knew me before. Why did he give up his life for me?”
Dunn tried to give her a warm, sympathetic smile. “I guess he thought you were worth it.”
“I’ll never forget him,” Brooke said, sniffling.
Dunn nodded, feeling a small sadness herself over Lamb’s death. “I know. Neither will I.”
About the Author
Mike Ryan is the popular author of several bestselling books, including, The Silencer, The Cain Conspiracy, Rogue Ghost, and A Dangerous Man. He is always at work on a new book. Sign up for his newsletter on his website to be notified of all new releases.
Follow Mike on the following sites:
www.mikeryanbooks.com
/>
Also by Mike Ryan
The Cain Conspiracy
The Cain Deception
The Cain Directive
The Cain Redemption
The Silencer
Fully Loaded
Hard Target
Blowback
Point Blank
A Dangerous Man
Rogue Ghost
Ghost Pursuit
Ghost Fall
Ghost Revival