by Tabatha Kiss
This is my bullet. The one that’s been chasing me down my entire life.
Luka’s arm twitches toward Marilyn at the last moment and he pulls the trigger.
It clicks again.
Marilyn’s eyes twitch in shock. It should have gone off this time.
Dante shoves the table forward, knocking Marilyn backward off her chair. I follow his lead, diving down to push the table into the agents behind her. They pull their triggers out of reflex, popping holes into the table as we rush toward them.
Dante lets out a cry of pain. A bullet strikes his right thigh but he keeps moving, throwing as much of his weight into the agent on the right as possible.
I lift my chair as I move, raising it up and crushing it against Gio as hard as I can. The chair splinters to pieces and he falls against the other agent, knocked out by the sudden, hard blow to the head.
I kick the agent in the gut and yank his rifle out of his hands before he can manage another shot. He tries to lunge at me but I dodge out of the way and fire a shot into the back of his head, putting him down.
I drop to one knee and scan the room, locking onto Casey as he disappears into the upstairs office.
“Fox—!”
Dani.
I aim in the direction of her voice and my heart drops.
Marilyn stands behind her at the far end of the bar with a knife pressed against her throat.
The room goes quiet. Dante sits on the floor with Lucy pressing a torn-off piece of her dress against his leg wound. Luka and Lilah have already taken out the other two agents and moved the Sofia, Caleb, and Boxcar away from the bar.
It’s just us and her.
But Marilyn keeps her focus on me.
I look into Dani’s fearful eyes and Marilyn laughs.
“Does this feel familiar to you, Fox?” she asks.
Sixty-Three
Fox
“It’s over, Marilyn,” I say. “Let her go.”
Marilyn stares at me, the majority of her face obscured behind Dani’s head. “Do you think you’ll try it again?” she asks. “Will you risk her life to take mine?”
I look at them over the rifle’s sights. They’re standing neck-and-neck with each other in front of the wall. I only took that shot against Mercer because Dani’s shoulder aligned with his heart. I could take him out before he shot first but I can’t guarantee I’ll be quicker than Marilyn’s wrist.
“No,” I answer.
“Do it, Fox,” Dani says.
Marilyn digs her knife in deeper and Dani winces as blood seeps from the side of her neck.
I shift forward. “Don’t…”
“How many more times must she bleed for you, Fox?” Marilyn asks.
I look Dani in the eye. She gazes back at me with just as much love as she always has.
Marilyn’s eyes flick to my left. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Lilah,” she says.
I glance over at Lilah as she halts mid-stride, her knife ready at her hip.
“Not unless you want to see how far I can make her blood spurt from her artery…”
“Lilah…” I urge.
She eases back a step but keeps a hold of her knife.
Marilyn looks at me again. “You didn’t answer my question, Fox,” she says. “How many more scars do you think will be enough… before she dies because of you?”
I clench my jaw.
“Because that’s how this story will end,” she continues. “I’m not going out unless I take one of you with me. Who shall it be? Would you take her place now, Fox? Do you wish to die today so that she could live?”
“I do,” I answer.
“How about you, Dani?” Marilyn turns the knife, slicing another line into the side of Dani’s neck. “Do you wish to die today so that he could live?”
Dani takes a deep breath and smiles at me.
“I do.”
Her body tenses, a split-second away from action.
I lunge forward. “Dani, no—!”
Dani jolts backward, elbowing Marilyn in the gut. Marilyn keeps her knife hand hooked around Dani’s neck, yanking her back as they both fall against the hard wall.
I rush faster, dropping the rifle as I reach out for Dani.
They hit the floor and Dani lets out a painful scream.
“Dani!”
She rolls forward and I see the top of her white dress stained red.
No.
Marilyn sits up and raises the knife above her head, ready to stab Dani in the back.
“Fox, down!”
I drop out of the way and Lilah throws her knife at Marilyn, striking her in the shoulder.
Marilyn shrieks and drops her own knife as Dani crawls away from her.
I scoop Dani off the floor, my mind buzzing with worst case scenarios. Blood touches my hands, streaming down from her neck, but I can’t tell how bad it is yet.
Please don’t make me go through this again.
I set her down on the nearest card table.
“Fox,” she whispers.
“Don’t talk, Dani,” I say, shifting her onto her side to get a better look in the light.
Caleb joins me with several cloths from the bar and a bottle of vodka. I grab a cloth and hold it against the wound, soaking up as much blood as I can so I can see what I’m dealing with.
The knife dug in deep, carving a line from her collarbone to the edge of her shoulder, but…
I exhale with relief. “You’ll be okay,” I say. I guide her onto her back, collapsing down to rest my head against hers. “You’ll be okay…”
Dani lets out another quiet sob as she touches my face.
I kiss her cheek, tasting the wet tears on her face before I stand up. Dani sits up with me, moving slowly as I keep firm pressure against the wound.
“Why did you do that?” I ask her.
“I thought…” She pauses, breathing a laugh. “What would Fox do?”
My lips twitch. “Never do that again.”
“Trust me. I won’t.”
I embrace her again, never wanting to let go…
But there’s still one more thing to do.
Dani slides off the table and we follow the sound of Marilyn heaving on the floor, her back pressed against the wall. The knife sticks out of her shoulder, untouched.
Lilah stands over her with a pistol pointed at her. Dante hobbles over with Lucy nestled beneath his arm, keeping him from putting too much weight on his wounded leg.
Dani takes a quick step closer to Marilyn. “Give me your hand,” she says, her voice hard.
When Marilyn doesn’t obey, Dani bends down and forcibly grabs Marilyn’s left hand. She yanks the engagement ring off Marilyn’s finger and steps back behind my shoulder again.
“That’s mine,” Dani says.
I extend my hand toward Lilah and she gives me the gun.
I release the magazine from the pistol’s grip. Marilyn watches with curiosity as I slide each bullet out, leaving only one remaining in my palm.
“When I was first deployed, my sergeant said something that always stuck with me,” I say, pinching the bullet. “He said that somewhere out there, there’s a bullet being made just for you. The sooner you accept that, the easier this job will be. That’s what life is for people like us, Marilyn.”
“And who is that one for?” she asks, looking at my fingers.
I slide the single bullet back into the clip. “It’s yours,” I answer.
Her eyes roll. “Going to put me down like a sick, old dog, are you?”
I toss the clip into her lap. “Not us.”
She doesn’t reach for it. Instead, she lets it sit there and she laughs. “If you think I’m taking the easy way out, you’re all dumber than I suspected.”
I lower to one knee to look her in the eye. “In ten minutes, the authorities will be called. FBI. CIA. They’ll come running when they hear your name.”
Marilyn smiles, unworried. “Is that so?”
“You think you’re invinc
ible.”
“I know it for a fact.”
“Snake Eyes wasn’t the only thing I exposed,” I say. “I exposed every client you’ve ever had. Powerful people, big and bigger. Every last one of them is looking for a scapegoat to take the blame. If not you, then who else?”
“They wouldn’t dare,” she says.
I bite my cheek. “Are you sure?”
She doesn’t answer as her eyes fall to the clip in her lap.
I stand up. “We’re done killing for you,” I say. “We’re not going to let you take any more of our humanity… but we’ll allow you a final act of mercy.”
I drop the gun to the floor beside her and leave it there.
“Goodbye, Marilyn,” I say.
We all turn away from her. Lilah shifts beneath Dante’s other arm and she and Lucy help him toward the entrance. Caleb and Boxcar follow close behind them. I take Dani’s hand, happy to see her engagement ring back in its rightful place. Luka hoists Gio’s unconscious body up and onto his shoulder while Sofia lingers beside them.
We walk away. We leave without turning back.
We make it to the end of the parking lot before we hear the bullet.
I pull the stitch taut and Dani flinches on the motel bed beside me. “Did that hurt?” I ask.
She smiles, her forehead glistening with sweat. “Yeah, but it’s okay.”
“Halfway done,” I say, measuring her wound by eye. “Just hang in there. All right?”
She nods, taking a deep, soothing breath. I let her exhale fully before pricking her again with the needle.
“Ouch!”
I halt my stitch and glance across the motel room at Dante. He sits on the second bed in nothing but a t-shirt and boxer shorts with a tiny bottle of mini-fridge booze in his giant palm. Lucy sits beside him, cringing constantly as she watches Lilah attempt to dig the bullet out of his leg with a tiny pair of tweezers from Elijah’s medkit.
Lilah grunts with frustration. “Oh, my God. Will you please stop being such a baby?” She gestures toward us. “Even Dani’s barely flinching.”
She plunges the tweezers deeper into Dante’s thigh and he grits his teeth.
“Okay!” He snatches her wrist. “Can I get someone else on bullet extraction here?”
Caleb stands up from the chair by the window. “I’ll do it,” she says, extending her hand.
“Fine.” Lilah rolls her eyes and gives Caleb the tweezers. “Take care of my baby brother. He’s very fragile.” She plops into the chair across from Boxcar and his laptop, ignoring Dante’s glare. “How’s the noggin, Box?” she asks.
Boxcar adjusts the icepack on his head. “It’ll be fine once all the cartoon birds stop buzzing around.”
Lilah chortles and picks up the revolver off the table between them.
I turn back to Dani’s wound, paying close attention to her breathing to monitor her pain. She sits still with closed eyes, her brows giving the occasional twitch but, overall, she takes it well.
“What would Fox do, huh?” I ask, my voice only for her.
Her eyes open and she smiles. “Yeah, just something I started asking myself recently.”
I lean in and kiss the edge of her mouth.
“Hey, Caleb?” Lilah asks.
Caleb keeps her eyes on Dante’s leg. “Yeah?”
“What’s the deal with this gun?”
“What do you mean?”
Lilah spins the empty cylinder and snaps it closed. “Boxcar told your dad it was your good luck charm,” she says.
“Yeah, it was.”
Lucy snorts. “Not was. Is. If it hadn’t had jammed…” She closes her mouth and shudders without finishing the thought.
“It, uh…” Caleb pauses for a second. “It didn’t jam, actually.” She leans back and reaches into her pocket.
Lilah tilts forward, opening her palm as Caleb drops something into it. I look over, spotting the small, triangular piece in the middle of Lilah’s hand.
“A firing pin?” Lilah raises a brow. “You disabled it beforehand?”
I stop stitching.
“No,” Caleb answers. “Not me.” She continues her work on Dante’s leg. “My father did.”
I look at Boxcar as he lowers his icepack.
Dani turns her head, careful not to stretch her new stitches. “What happened to your dad?” she asks.
“He took off through the tunnels,” I answer.
“Cal,” Boxcar says slowly, “do you want me to try and find him, or…?”
“No,” she says, her head down. “Just let him go.”
Boxcar glances at me before he rests his icepack against his head again.
“Got it!” Caleb announces as she pulls the bullet out.
Dante exhales hard. “Thank you,” he says.
Lilah smirks. “Does the big boy want a lolli?”
He squints at her.
I tie off Dani’s final stitch. “You’re done, too,” I say as I reach for her bandaged hand. “How’s this feel?”
“Itchy mostly,” she says. “Doesn’t hurt as long as I don’t move it.”
“Good.”
Dani relaxes and looks down, trying to get a good angle on her stitches. “That’s definitely gonna leave a scar…” she murmurs.
“Didn’t you hear?” Lilah quips. “Scars are cool.”
I smile as I stand up. “Not nearly as cool as finally getting some sleep.”
Dani takes my hand and I help her off the bed. “Yes, please.”
“Not so fast…” Dante says as he points a finger at me. “I believe I promised to kill you.”
“Oh, right,” I say.
Dani blinks. “Wait, what?”
Lucy nods. “He did. That’s a thing.”
I touch Dani’s side as she starts to look worried. “But…” I gesture at his leg, “it wouldn’t be much of a fair fight in your condition.”
Dante nods slowly. “That’s a good point.”
“I’m willing to reschedule.”
He thinks for a moment, his smiling sliding upward. “How about if we ever find ourselves in the same area of the world again, you owe me a drink?”
I walk over and extend my hand. “Sounds good,” I say.
Dante shakes it, squeezing my fingers extra hard in a display of comical dominance.
I step back and I look at Lilah. “And you? Are you going to shoot me in the back as I walk out of here?”
Lilah glances up, slowly considering it. Finally, she shrugs. “Nah, we’re cool. Just don’t talk to me ever again.”
I nod. “Fair enough.”
Lucy stands up and hugs Dani. “You’re really fucking cool, Roxie Roberts.”
Dani chuckles. “You, too.”
They break apart and Lucy grabs a motel room notepad off the bedside table.
“Would it be weird if I asked you to sign this for me?”
Dani takes the notepad. “Got a pen?”
Lucy squeaks as she snatches the nearest pen by the phone.
Boxcar closes his laptop and pulls out the flashdrive from the side. “Here, Lilah.”
Lilah reaches out and takes it from him. “Thanks, Sparky,” she says.
“Say hi for me,” he says.
“I will.” She nods. “Congratulations, by the way.”
Boxcar looks at Caleb and smiles. “Thanks.”
Dani gives her autograph to Lucy and the girl grins as she hugs the pen and notepad.
“We’re stealing these,” she says to Dante.
He furrows his brow. “I think I’ve been a bad influence on you, Lucy Vaughn.”
I take Dani’s hand and we walk to the door. Boxcar and Caleb follow us outside and we all voice our goodbyes to Lucy and the Harts one more time.
We walk down the building, quickly reaching mine and Dani’s room. I search my pockets for the room key and Boxcar nudges my arm.
“Hey…”
“Yeah?” I ask.
“About what I said in Paris.”
I tu
rn to face him. “Box, you don’t have to—”
“It was harsh,” he says. “A little too harsh, maybe.”
“No, it was well-deserved,” I say. “I’m glad said it.”
“Still, I’m sorry. With everything you’ve been through, who am I to judge?” He flexes his jaw. “Are we cool?”
I smile. “Of course.”
Caleb squints at Boxcar. “Wait, what did you say?” she asks.
Boxcar hesitates. “I might have… told Fox that I didn’t want him around you anymore.”
Her jaw drops. “You what?”
“Or our baby.”
Caleb’s face screws up. “Why?”
He stutters. “It was a thing that happened after I saw some shit and I freaked out but it’s okay now. We’re fine. Well, not fine fine, but we’re growing. There’s growth involved. We’re gonna work it out. Right, Fox?”
I nod. “Right.”
Caleb gawks at him. “What?”
“Anyway…” Dani taps the door behind us with her foot. “I was kidnapped by a very handsy mobster and his creepy mom, so I would like to get some sleep now.”
I blink. “Wait, how handsy?”
Boxcar tugs on Caleb’s arm, guiding her away from the door. “Goodnight, you guys.”
“Yeah,” Caleb says, looking back. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Dani waves. “Bye.”
They continue toward their room.
“So, honey,” he says, “since you’re already kind of mad at me, you think now would be an okay time to bring up that I don’t want to live in Los Angeles?”
Caleb’s head tilts. “You don’t?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
I slide in our keycard but Dani and I linger in the doorway to eavesdrop.
“Because I really hate sand, Cal,” Boxcar says.
“Oh, come on. That’s not a real reason.”
“It’s pretty high up there.”
“Then, where do you want to live?”
“Boston.”
“Boston?!”
Dani and I crack up as we step into our room. I lock the door behind us, sliding the chain into place to make sure it’s nice and secure.
I turn around and Dani stands there, gazing up at me with her big eyes.
“Hey,” she says.