Shel thought about reaching for the pistol at his back. But he knew if he did, he was going to have to use it.
Let it ride, he told himself. Let this develop. He’s smart enough to realize he isn’t going to get out of this without getting hurt.
At least, Shel hoped that was true. Whether Bobby Lee was sober enough to do the right thing was another question.
Outside, through the large windows that overlooked the parking lot and Doggett Avenue beyond, two unmarked sedans with flashing lights shrilled to halts. Car doors jacked open, and men in Kevlar armor and FBI jackets took up ready positions behind cover.
“FBI?” Bobby Lee said in surprise.
Well, Shel thought, he isn’t so high or panicked that he can’t read.
“It ain’t supposed to be the FBI,” Bobby Lee moaned. “It’s the Marines. The Marines are supposed to be after me.”
“Maybe they’re not after you,” the woman behind the counter suggested. “Maybe they’re here after somebody else.”
“Who?” Bobby Lee demanded.
The young woman flinched back. “I don’t know. I was just saying.”
In the next minute, though, a man on a loudhailer stripped away that illusion. “Bobby Lee Gant! This is the FBI! Put down your weapon and come out with your hands up!”
Bobby Lee whirled around just in time to get lit up by ruby spotter lights. He glanced down at his chest and cursed.
“Give it up, bro,” Spider advised. “They got you cold. You can still get out of this in one piece.”
A lithe movement put Bobby Lee next to the young woman at the counter before anyone could move. He roped an arm around her neck and pulled her body back against his.
“I’m getting out of here!” Bobby Lee declared. “Or I’m going to kill her stone dead! I swear I am!”
1 3
›› Spider’s Tattoo Shop
›› Doggett Street
›› Charlotte, North Carolina
›› 2037 Hours
The young woman screamed and tried to break free from her captor. Bobby Lee popped his forearm up and hit her in the mouth. She stopped screaming and remained still.
“Try that again,” Bobby Lee yelled, “and I’ll hurt you bad! Do you understand me?”
The young woman nodded and shivered in fear.
“Don’t do that, bro,” Spider said. His voice was more calm than Shel expected. “If you just stay calm, Bobby Lee, you’ll come out of this all right. I promise. But if you go off half-cocked, you’re gonna get a lot of people hurt.”
Shel forced himself to remain still. Any move on his part would turn the tattoo shop into a bloodbath. He didn’t know why one of the FBI snipers outside didn’t drop Bobby Lee Gant in his tracks. Shel also wondered where Remy was.
Spider stepped forward slowly. “Give her to me. She don’t deserve none of your trouble.”
“Well she’s in it now,” Bobby Lee snarled. “All of you are. Whatever happens to me is the same what happens to you.”
Moving slowly, Spider took another step toward Bobby Lee.
Shel’s breath locked down in his lungs. Don’t, he thought. Bobby Lee wasn’t holding together well. He wasn’t going to handle the situation.
“Give her to me, bro,” Spider said.
Bobby Lee shook his head. “I can’t. I can’t. ICANTICANTICANTICANT.”
“Yeah, you can.” Spider took another step. “That there’s my blood, Bobby Lee. My sister’s girl. I promised my sister I wouldn’t let any harm come to her.” He gestured with one hand. “You got to give her to me an’ let me get her outta this. C’mon now, bro.”
“No.” Bobby Lee shook his head like a scared child. Unshed tears gleamed in his eyes. “I heard stories about what prison’s like, man. I ain’t gonna go. They ain’t gonna do something like that to me. I ain’t gonna be no…”
Spider wouldn’t stop moving.
Shel knew that was a mistake, and it was like watching a train wreck happen in slow motion. He wanted to tell Spider to stay back, that the FBI snipers would put Bobby Lee down without hurting the young woman if it came to that, but he couldn’t. If he spoke, he would further split Bobby Lee’s attention and ratchet up the tension.
It was at a time like this, Shel knew, that his brother Don would have told him to pray. But Shel had never been a big believer in the power of prayer. He had prayed on occasion, but he’d never been able to put his heart into it or really believe.
Instead, he remained still and hoped that he was wrong about how events were about to unfold.
“Bobby Lee, listen to me.” Spider took another step. He was close enough now that he could have reached out and touched the pistol in Bobby Lee’s hand.
Bobby Lee pointed the pistol and squeezed the trigger without warning. The detonation filled the tattoo shop with rolling thunder.
Spider recoiled only slightly. His head jerked to one side. Shel saw the ugly wound in the side of his face and the huge exit wound in the back of Spider’s head. Death had to have been instant, but he remained on his feet for just a moment. Then his legs went out from under him and he sank to the floor.
“I told him!” Bobby Lee shouted. “I told him to stay back! It wasn’t my fault he didn’t listen!”
Even though he’d seen it happen before, Shel couldn’t believe the suddenness with which the violence had erupted. He watched Spider fall in the periphery of his vision, but he kept his eyes on Bobby Lee. Beside Shel, Max bunched, ready to leap into action. Shel stilled the Labrador with a hand signal and Max subsided.
One of the sniper’s ruby dots flicked to the exposed side of Bobby Lee’s head and tracked across his face. Even though he couldn’t see the light, Bobby Lee instinctively pulled back more tightly behind the young woman. She shuddered as she cried. Tears tracked her face and blood ran down her chin.
Shel continued to hold his hands up and offered no threat. He debated saying anything until the young woman started fighting against Bobby Lee.
“Don’t fight him,” Shel instructed. “Just-”
“Shut up!” Bobby Lee roared. “Shut up! Shut up!” He brought the pistol around and pointed it at Shel. Shel saw the young man’s finger tighten on the trigger and knew he was going to shoot.
Before Shel could move, two sledgehammer blows chopped into his chest and one caught him in the right shoulder. The impacts vibrated through him and drove him back as pain washed away his thoughts. The sharp bite of intense agony told him the vest hadn’t stopped all of the bullets. As he fell, he managed to grab Max’s left foreleg.
Hold on, Shel told himself. Hold on. He tried because he knew that Max might attack. Without him there to back Max up, Bobby Lee would gun him down. Shel tried to maintain his grip, but the white-hot pain sucked him into a whirling pool of blackness.
›› 2040 Hours
Helplessly Victor Gant sat handcuffed in the back of the FBI sedan and watched his son write his death warrant. Victor spoke through the wire mesh that locked him in the rear seat.
Urlacher was crouched behind the driver’s side door with the loudhailer clutched in one hand and a pistol in the other.
“If you kill my boy,” Victor threatened hoarsely, “the deal’s off. I won’t tell you nothing. You hear me?”
“Hold your fire,” Urlacher said over the radio. He didn’t turn around or even acknowledge that Victor had spoken. “Nobody shoots until I give the word.”
