by Paula Cox
“This doesn’t look good,” Amos said. “But I think we have to do what he says.”
“We definitely have to do what he says,” Ellis grumbled. “He’s unpredictable and unstable.”
Liana looked over at Cliff, beseeching him with her eyes not to go out there. But Cliff shook his head, glancing away.
“They’re right, Liana.” He sighed and took her hand in his own. “Colin is crazy enough to pull through on his threats. I don’t want to risk it.”
All at once, the car alarms turned off.
“I’m waiting!” Colin called. “Out. Now. All of you!”
Liana cringed. “We should call the cops first, though.” She pulled out her cell phone and turned it on. “Hopefully they’ll get here before he does any lasting damage.”
A second later, Liana frowned.
“What is it?” Cliff asked.
“My phone…” She furrowed her brow and glanced up at him. “There’s no service.”
Cliff and the others pulled out their phones as well.
Amos swore. “He’s blocking the signal.”
“I’ll give you until the count of five!” Colin screamed. “One…”
“We’ve got to get out there.” Cliff took off his coat and wrapped it around Liana’s shoulders. “It’s got some Kevlar woven into the fabric. It won’t stop a bullet, but it will slow one down.”
“Two…”
Liana took a deep breath. They all turned toward the backstage door.
“Three…”
“We’re coming!” Cliff yelled. He pushed through the door first. Liana and the others spilled out behind him. Liana took up a spot right beside him, even though he tried to angle his body to move it in front of hers.
Colin looked as insane as ever. He was wearing a button-down checked shirt under a blue windbreaker and a pair of crisp khakis. It was freezing outside. Liana was left to wonder if being crazy helped regulate one’s body temperature more.
The suitcase in Colin’s left hand looked pretty ordinary. Its brown leather exterior and polished silver clasps reminded Liana of the kind of suitcases people traveled with in old movies. Unassuming. Old. She had to forcibly remind herself that there was probably a bomb inside of it.
“So nice of you to finally join me,” Colin simpered. “I was worried I’d have to leave a message.”
“What do you want?” Amos asked. It surprised Liana that he was the first one to speak up. She supposed he was probably almost as eager to be rid of Colin as she and Cliff were.
Colin showed surprise at Amos’ speaking up too. He dragged his gaze from Cliff and directed it toward the smaller man, studying him. Then, calm as day, Colin reached into his pocket, pulled out a gun, and shot.
Amos went down. Liana and Cliff rushed to his side, catching him just before he collided with the pavement. The bullet had hit him in the thigh, and the wound gushed blood.
Liana began to panic. In over twenty years, she’d never seen a single person die. Until Michael. And now it looked like Amos wasn’t long for the grave either. Her hands shook as she applied pressure to the wound. It was the only thing she could think to do.
“Cliff! Stand up!” Colin roared.
Cliff, crouched on the opposite side of Amos, glanced uncertainly at Liana. She nodded at him, tears already spilling from her eyes.
“Be safe,” she whispered. “Please.”
Cliff nodded and rose, walking back to where he’d been standing before.
“It didn’t hit an artery,” Amos said through clenched teeth. “Thank God.”
“If it didn’t hit an artery, why the hell is there so much blood?” Liana whispered.
“Have you never seen the inside of a human being, woman?” Amos chuckled darkly. “We’re full of it.”
Ellis and Julian watched from the other side of Cliff, but Liana knew they were too worried about what Colin would do to come over. She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t been shot already. Colin seemed like he was one sneeze away from slaughtering them all.
“Now that we’ve established that I have both a gun and a bomb,” Colin said cheerfully. “Perhaps we can get started.”
“I still don’t understand what you want,” Cliff said bitterly.
“What I always want.” Colin’s eyes flashed with menace. “You, Cliff. All to myself.” He sighed, waving the gun at the others. “But I can’t have that until all of them are dead. Especially her.”
Liana’s heart froze in her chest. She’d never had a gun pointed at her before. Firing off a few rounds at the shooting range was incomparable to being on the business end of a handgun. And after seeing how well he could shoot, Liana wanted him to point it somewhere else as soon as possible.
“As a man of God, I must warn you that the path you are on will lead only to pain and retribution for your sins,” Amos said.
Liana blinked down at him in confusion. “Man of God?” she whispered.
But Amos didn’t seem to care if Colin overheard. Perhaps it was his intent. “Yes. I served the church as an ordained minister, at one time.”
“Who the fuck cares?” Colin laughed demeaningly. “Do I look like I give a shit what God thinks?”
But then it hit Liana. Amos did want Colin to know about his ordination. More importantly, he wanted Cliff to know. He was trying to send them a message. Amos could do the ceremony. They wouldn’t have to go to city hall to get married.
Which was good, because it didn’t look like they’d be going anywhere.
Liana just hoped Cliff got the message.
“Colin,” Cliff said, drawing the psycho’s attention back to him. “You don’t have to do this.” He sighed. “I’ll cut everyone else off. I promise.”
Colin swung the arm holding the gun back in Cliff’s direction. Liana wondered if it would be worth it to try to shoot Colin. But there was a reason nobody had yet. If Julian, who was probably more experienced with a gun than most hunters, hadn’t fired off a shot yet, Liana didn’t want to push her luck. Colin was dangerous. Whatever was in that briefcase was dangerous. Liana trusted whatever Cliff had up his sleeve more than she trusted her skills with a firearm.
“I can’t be sure that you’re not lying,” Colin said to Cliff. “Taking them all out would just be a little insurance policy. You understand, I’m sure.”
Cliff took a small step toward Colin. Colin stepped back, shaking his gun for emphasis. “Don’t try anything!” he barked.
Cliff stopped and held his hands up in the air. “I always thought it was a mistake that your parents moved you,” he said. “I missed you. I never made another friend quite like you.”
Nausea crept up Liana’s throat. She knew Cliff was lying, but it didn’t make her feel any better about it. Would Cliff actually leave her for Colin just to save them? Would that even work? Or was he just trying to disarm the other man? Liana wasn’t sure.
“You’re just saying that,” Colin sneered. “You don’t mean it. And anyway, she’ll only come looking for you.” He pointed the gun over at Liana again. She gritted her teeth but forced herself to make eye contact with Colin. Amos groaned a little beneath her, making her realize that she’d put a little too much pressure on his wound. She eased off and took a breath. Colin watched her, a knowing smile passing over his lips.
“You’re right,” Liana said. “If I thought Cliff was going with you against his will, there wouldn’t be a place on Earth you could hide from me.”
“I’m sensing a ‘but’ here,” Colin said dryly.
“But… he’s been hurting without you. I’ve seen the guilt and confliction he’s been going through, and I don’t want that for him.” She lowered her eyes, unable to keep looking into Colin’s wild pupils. “I want him to be happy. And being your friend makes him happy. I understand that now.”
“She’s telling the truth,” Julian piped in. The gun swung in his direction. “Cliff used to talk to me about you when we first got to know each other.”
Cliff took another step toward
Colin. “Come on, Colin,” he said. “Let’s go. Let’s leave them and get out of here.” He forced a smile. “You and me.”
Colin set the gun back in Cliff’s direction, eyes nearly bulging out of his head. “You think I’m that easy to fool? You’ve resisted me this whole time.” He snorted. “I haven’t gotten this far in life without being able to smell a lie.”
Cliff chuckled. “Remember when we used to play King?”
Colin’s fierce expression wavered. “Yeah. In my backyard.”
“You would always let me be the king,” Cliff said. “I loved that. I loved how you were happiest when I was happy. I never had someone in my life after you who was so selfless and caring.”
Again, Liana felt like she was about to lose her lunch. Cliff was still lying, right? Surely he couldn’t actually be considering going with this psycho?
Amos had set to work on fashioning himself some bandages out of strips from his shirt. He held up the first strip over her hands. “Let go,” he instructed. “I can bind up the wound now. The bleeding has slowed.”
How could he be so calm when he’d just been shot? How was Cliff being so calm? How was everybody being so goddamn calm? Liana wanted to scream.
“I thought you like playing King because you liked ordering me around,” Colin replied.
Cliff laughed. “Of course not. I never wanted to play with anyone else.”
Liana couldn’t tell which was more disgusting—the sight of Amos binding up his wounded leg, or the flirtation going on between Cliff and Colin.
“Come on, Colin.” Cliff took another step forward. “Let’s go home.”
Chapter 34
Colin’s eyes swept over Cliff with uncertainty; Cliff could feel it rolling off the other man like a fine mist. He didn’t need Colin’s guard to go down completely, though. He just needed a tiny crack. And hopefully, he’d get it soon.
“I want you to know that when I put this gun down, the timer in the bomb will start,” Colin warned. “It’s motion activated.”
Damnit. That threw a wrench into Cliff’s plans. But he would still do what he could to make sure Liana and the others got out safe.
“I understand,” Cliff said. “You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Colin lowered the gun, slowly but surely. Just as he holstered it at his side, the briefcase began to beep. It was a quiet, almost peaceful beep, but to Cliff, it may as well have been an air raid siren.
“So what do we do from here, Colin?” Cliff asked. “Where are we going?”
Colin smirked. “Nowhere just yet. We’ve still got five minutes to tie up a few loose ends.”
Cliff had to resist the instinct to look over at Liana to make sure she was still okay. The expression on Colin’s face was positively devious. He didn’t like it.
“Loose ends?” Cliff took another small step toward Colin. His arms ached from being in the air for so long, but he feared any small movement could set Colin off. He had reached an all-new level of instability. Cliff could tell just by looking in his eyes. He seemed to vibrate on the spot with nervous energy.
“Stop moving!” Colin demanded.
Cliff immediately stilled.
Colin took a deep breath. “Even if you have realized that we belong together, you must know I’m not just going to let all these idiots walk.”
“I thought that was exactly what you were going to do,” Cliff said. “Because I’m coming with you, and they don’t matter anymore.”
“You need to learn that you can’t fuck with me,” Colin said, voice dangerously low. “I’m so tired of being jerked around by people like your idiot friend Michael and your pathetic ex-girlfriend. Today you’re going to prove to me that what you say is true.”
Cliff barely made it through the tirade without exposing himself by clenching his fist or his jaw. Keeping a neutral expression had never been such hard work before. Colin didn’t even deserve to say Michael’s name. Nor did he deserve the right to break up Cliff’s relationship for him.
“I’m willing to prove it to you,” Cliff said. “Let’s talk about a way I can do that on our way out of here.”
“But that would be too easy,” Colin said. “Especially since the way to prove your loyalty to me is dependent on those currently in attendance.”
Cliff knew exactly what Colin was implying, but he wasn’t ready to acknowledge it. He needed more time. He needed to get Colin away from here, away from his friends.
“I’ll give you whatever you want, Colin.” Cliff tried to smile as warmly as possible. “But I think we should leave and disarm that bomb before doing anything else. Time is running out.”
“Time is running out, isn’t it?” Colin mused. “Looks like you’re going to have to make some tough decisions pretty quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
Colin pulled the gun out of its holster again. He looked from it over to Cliff and then shrugged. “I was going to make you shoot one of them yourself, but I don’t fully trust you yet.” He laughed as if it was the funniest joke in the world. “I apologize for removing the possibility for a more personal kill. I’m sure you’ll forgive me with time.”
“You want me to kill them?” Cliff asked. He masked the horror in his voice well. The anger, not quite as well.
The scraping of feet on the pavement echoed through the alley. Colin straightened, eyes narrowing. “Don’t any of you even think about moving!” he bellowed.
Cliff glanced back at the others. Ellis, it appeared, had tried to shuffle away. He was rooted to the ground now. Julian hadn’t moved an inch. He looked a little bored, actually. Cliff wondered if a part of the old man missed the excitement of the life he left behind. Cliff wouldn’t. Nothing was more exciting to him than spending the rest of his life with Liana.
If he made it out of this, anyway.
“Don’t be so dramatic, Cliff,” Colin said. “I don’t need you to kill all of them. Just one. I think that’s fair.”
“Why do any of them have to die?” Cliff met Colin’s gaze in a challenging stare. “Why not let them live to prove to me that you’re as in this as I am?”
Colin’s brows knitted together in the center of his forehead. After a moment, he let out a hearty laugh.
“You’re good!” he cackled. “You’re really good. For a second, you had me forgetting that I’m the one with the gun, and you’re the one who doesn’t get to make decisions.” He winked. “Though I might let you pick the music on the way out of here if you’re a good boy.”
“Just tell me why, Colin.” The next word took a great deal of force to expel from Cliff’s mouth. “Please.”
Colin grinned maliciously. His lip curled, making the expression into more of a snarl than anything else.
“Because you need to learn that you can’t push me around!” Colin declared. “You’ve jumped on my last goddamn nerve, Cliff. You forced my hand with this. If you’d taken me seriously from the start and come to this realization, then it might have been a different story.”
“I don’t think it’s fair for one of them to die for my mistake.”
Colin cocked the gun. “Life isn’t fair, Cliff! If it were, my parents would have never moved me away from you in the first place. You wouldn’t have shoved me away like garbage. And we wouldn’t be in this disgusting alleyway trying to make things right between us!”
Cliff almost felt bad for Colin. He was clearly missing something in his life. But it wasn’t Cliff. It was something much more fundamental that Cliff was merely a physical representation of.
But Cliff only almost felt bad for him. The true nature of his emotions was a fierce and near-blinding hatred. He wanted to rip Colin to pieces with his bare hands. And he would, if necessary. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to do it in front of Liana.
But Cliff would try everything he could to not reach that point. Thankfully for everyone involved, Cliff had a plan.
“Okay,” he said to Colin. “I’ll choose.”
A wicked smi
le grew on Colin’s face, twisting his features into sadistic glee. “Good.”
Chapter 35
Cliff’s eyes landed on Liana. Her breath caught in her throat.
No. He wouldn’t choose her, would he?
Liana still hadn’t figured out whether somebody was actually about to die or not. Did Cliff think it was his only way to save the rest of them? It seemed logical. If Colin didn’t disarm the bomb soon, they would all die. But he wouldn’t disarm the bomb until Cliff had chosen somebody for him to shoot. But would he really shoot her?