The sonofabitch who killed Skipper!
And who I shot!
I should just- Bryrth then quickly jerked Jim?nez down to the van, practically carrying the small teenager. He unlocked one of the handcuffs and clipped it to the sliding door handle.
As Byrth returned, Payne wordlessly signaled Paco Esteban to go to the van. Esteban shook his head, then very reluctantly did as ordered. When Jes?s Jim?nez started to shout a warning, Esteban surprised both Payne and Byrth by punching the teenager in the face, knocking him out cold.
Well, that just earned him monetary payments and certain other tokens…
Payne and Byrth looked each other in the eye. Byrth nodded for Payne to take the lead.
Even with the front door open, it was dark inside because of the front windows being covered.
They walked in a crouch, staying close to the walls. There was almost no furniture.
Payne heard voices coming from the back of the house.
They entered a room that appeared to be the dining room, and which held only a couple of wooden armchairs. On the far wall was a swinging door, with light from the far room leaking around its edges.
Payne moved fluidly toward it, Byrth on his heels. As they approached the swinging door, the voices became louder and more clear.
Payne could distinguish at least two-both males, both with Hispanic accents.
They listened for another minute. There was no additional voice.
Then one of them yelled, “Jes?s! You okay? Who was at the door?”
Matt looked at Jim. They were both half-lit by the dim light bleeding around the door. Jim signaled for them each to take a side of the door.
Matt moved to the left, Jim to the right.
Matt could see the rusty gold-colored hinge by his head. He tried to peer into the kitchen, but the gap between the door and its frame wasn’t large enough and there was a piece of painted wooden trim on the far side.
Then they heard the first voice again. He barked: “Go look!”
And a second later, the door swung into the dining room, as Omar Quintanilla sauntered through, absently holding a pistol along his right leg.
When the door had opened, light momentarily flashed into the dark dining room, almost blinding Matt and Jim.
Then the door swung shut. Jim, his eyes not quite adjusted from the sudden light, instinctively jumped in Omar’s direction. He hit him square, getting his left arm around Omar’s throat.
They then went to the floor, making a helluva noise.
“Omar!” the male inside the kitchen yelled. “What the hell’d you just do?”
As Jim punched Omar in the face, Omar’s pistol went off. The round went into the ceiling.
Matt had his pistol aimed at the pair, but could not see well enough in the dark to get a good aim.
Then he heard Jim mutter, “You sonofabitch.”
The pistol went off again. This time, the round found Omar, who suddenly stopped fighing. He moaned and clutched at his chest.
Then Payne suddenly heard and saw the swinging door get kicked open-and he saw and felt it hit him, pushing him back against the wall.
He instinctively kicked the door back.
And there he saw the other Hispanic male. He was bringing up the muzzle of a bullpup-style weapon, about to get an aim on Jim Byrth.
Matt Payne followed Jim Byrth’s lead-and jumped at the man, wrapping his left arm over the man’s left shoulder and grabbing the forearm of the weapon. As he pulled it upward, the gun went off, the muzzle spraying a stream of lead up a wall and across the ceiling.
Payne began pummeling the man’s head with his pistol, and threw him to the ground. And then he felt another pair of hands on the man’s body-Jim Byrth was stripping him of the bullpup weapon.
Payne hit him in the head again. And the man went limp.
Payne cuffed him and left him on the floor.
Matt and Jim stood. Jim had the P90 submachine gun slung on his right shoulder.
“Nice work, Marshal.”
“You okay?”
“Yup. No more holes in me than I came with.”
“Let’s clear the kitchen and the rest. Then you can get this asshole trussed up.”
They found the kitchen clear but for one person who looked to be a woman. There was a pillowcase over her head, and she was taped to a chair. They immediately deemed her not a threat.
Payne went to the back door and looked out the window. He just barely saw Tony Harris to the side of the door, waiting for someone to flee.
“It’s me, Tony!” he called. “Matt Payne!”
Matt thought he heard the woman whimper.
He unlocked the door and opened it.
“C’mon in, and clear the rest of the house with Jim!”
Tony Harris entered and said, “Jesus, Matt! What’s with all the gunfire?”
“Just another day at the OK Corral, Tony.”
Through the open swinging door, Harris saw a stream of blood on the floor. He moved for a better look, then saw the dead body of the Hispanic male on the floor of the next room.
He raised his eyebrows. Then he raised his pistol and followed Byrth out of the kitchen.
Matt Payne glanced at the kitchen table and saw a plastic storage box containing a score or more of used cell phones. On the table itself was a battered fancy phone with a big glass touch-screen.
He slipped his.45 in the small of his back and turned to the woman bound to the chair.
“It’s going to be okay,” Payne said softly. “I’m a Philadelphia policeman.”
As he pulled out his folding pocketknife, he thought he heard her start sobbing heavily.
“I’m going to cut open the top of this pillowcase, okay?”
Her head bobbed enthusiastically, the pillowcase moving in a rapid manner.
“Okay, now don’t move your head.”
Taking great care, he grasped the pillowcase’s seam at the top of her head, pulling it up and away from her head so that if she suddenly did move again, his knife blade would be a safe distance away.
Very carefully, he slipped the tip of the serrated blade into the fabric. He sawed slightly, and the blade slit the fabric all along the seam.
Well, she’s a blond, was the first thing that he thought.
Then he tugged the case down so it fell to her shoulders.
“Jesus Christ!”
Payne had to force himself to go slowly while unbinding Amanda Law, first removing the strip of gray duct tape from her beautiful face-the strip literally went from ear to ear-then removing the tape from her wrists and ankles.
What made it harder was that he was shaking.
Are my emotions taking over?
Not good.
It’d be better if it’s just the adrenaline kicking into overdrive…
He started by kissing her on the forehead and saying, “This might hurt…”
Then, as gently as possible, he began pulling the tape from her left cheek and, a moment later, her right cheek.
“Oh, Matt!” Amanda cried out.
Excitedly, she tried to sit up higher so that she could kiss him, but, still bound to the chair, she collapsed back into it.
“Slow down, baby!” Matt said, smiling, then leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips.
He looked her in the eyes. They were all puffy and wet from the crying.
