doing?” he said.
Right behind the man she could see David Douglas and Jeremy Ashton, peering around him into the room.
“I said, what the fuck are you doing here?” the man repeated, and then he started to charge.
Carlo had been holding the gun against his hip. Quickly he aimed it and shot Douglas’s bodyguard, the bullet ripping into the giant’s right thigh. He lurched forward and then collapsed onto the floor. He grabbed his leg, but blood spread quickly onto the carpet. Then the man Ava had taken out threw up. The white shag was now covered with viscous yellow vomit and fresh blood.
“Holy shit,” Douglas exclaimed.
“Stay exactly where you are,” Ava said to Ashton and Douglas, who were still standing in the kitchen doorway.
“Holy shit,” Martin said.
Ava turned around. Martin was still standing at the front door.
“Holy shit,” he repeated.
“Keep everyone covered,” Ava said to Carlo, then went over to Martin. “That’s it — the worst is over,” she said to him. “Now please get in the car and stay there. You won’t hear any more gunshots, so don’t worry about that. Things are under control now.”
“Holy shit, Ava.”
She took him by the elbow and moved him outside, half closing the door behind her. “I need you to get in the car,” she said gently. “I also need you to stay here for a while. If you see anyone approaching the house, call me on my cell. But please, don’t wander into the house.”
When Martin didn’t move or acknowledge Ava’s words, she gripped his elbow a little tighter and steered him to the car. “I need you to keep calm,” she said.
“I’m all right,” he said as he climbed in.
“I know you are. And as I said, the worst is over.”
(29)
Ava walked back to the house, pushing Martin further out of her mind with every step. When she opened the door, Douglas’s man was throwing up again. His partner was bleeding badly, the leg of his blue jeans completely soaked from the thigh down.
“Where are the dogs?” she said to Douglas, who stood paralyzed.
He looked at her blankly, his mouth hanging open, a streak of saliva on his chin. His eyes flickered from her to Carlo, to Andy, to his two men on the floor.
“Where are your dogs?” she said.
“Out back.”
Ava walked over to the sliding glass door leading to the backyard. There were three Rottweilers, as the detective had said, each in its own steel cage secured by a padlock. “Do I need keys for the locks?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Where are they?”
“In the kitchen, on the counter by the toaster.”
“The two of you, sit over here,” she said, pointing to a loveseat. “Don’t move and don’t speak unless I tell you to.” Then she said to Carlo, “Keep an eye on them.”
She retrieved the keys and came back into the living room.
“What are we going to do with these guys?” Carlo asked, pointing at Douglas’s men.
“How badly is that one bleeding?”
“We should tie it off,” Carlo said.
“Andy, go to the bathroom and get what we need.”
Ava turned to the bleeding man. “What we’re going to do is put a tourniquet on your leg to help stop the bleeding. If you and your friend here behave yourselves, this should be over soon and you can go to a hospital. If you give us any trouble… well, these two won’t care what happens to you. Understand?”
“You fucking — ”
“That is exactly the wrong attitude,” Ava said, stepping on the hand he was holding over the gunshot wound. He screamed in pain as his partner nodded.
Andy brought towels, gauze, and two ACE bandages from the bathroom. Without a word he split the blood- soaked jeans with the cleaver and then went to work on the leg.
Ava took the duct tape from her bag and taped the other man’s hands and ankles together. She felt him tense when he saw Andy standing over him with the cleaver. She turned to the man with the gunshot wound to do the same.
“You don’t have to do that to me,” he said. “I can’t move anyway.”
“Sorry, but I can’t play favourites,” Ava said, as she wound the tape around his wrists and then his ankles.
She got up and tossed the keys to Andy. “Take them to the backyard and put them in the cages with the dogs.”
“What did you tell him?” the pasty-faced man asked nervously.
“You’re going to stay with the dogs for a while.”
“What the fuck, are you crazy?” he yelled.
Ava looked at Douglas. “Have the dogs eaten today?” she asked.
“This morning.”
“When next?”
“Around five.”
“You’ll be okay for a while,” she said to the two men.
Carlo gave Ava the gun and went to help his partner. They took the smaller one first, making him hop. Then they each grabbed an arm of the other man and dragged him to the cages. She could hear the dogs barking when the men came into view. Ava walked towards the kitchen, still pointing the gun at Douglas and Ashton, and looked through the glass door. Each man had his back pressed against the bars of the cage and the dogs were sniffing at their feet. Andy was smiling nervously; even on the other side of the bars the dogs made him nervous.
Ava turned her attention back to Douglas and Ashton. “Now, Mr. Ashton, I think it’s your turn.”
“Who the hell are you and what the fuck do you want?” he said, his eyes jerking back and forth between Douglas and the door leading to the backyard.
Ashton’s hair was gelled and spiked. He was heavier than she had thought, and his five-foot-six frame didn’t carry the weight well. He wore a black silk shirt that hung loosely over his stomach and a pair of fashionably ripped blue jeans.
“I’m the woman your partner met at Wynn’s two days ago, the woman you sent two goons to beat up.”
“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” he said, his eyes flickering towards Douglas. Douglas just nodded as if to say, That’s her.
“That doesn’t matter right now. You’ll know soon enough. But first I need to talk to Mr. Douglas, and while I do I’m going to put you in the third dog cage.”
“No!” he snapped.
“You can either walk out there on your own or I’ll have the boys take you.”
“Fuck no!”
Ava walked to the kitchen and opened the glass door, still pointing the gun at the two men. “Come and get the small one and put him in the last cage,” she shouted at Carlo and Andy.
Ashton tensed, his teeth gnawing at his bottom lip. His eyes flicked in the direction of the front door. Don’t be stupid, Ava thought. Carlo and Andy came back in and grabbed Ashton’s arms. “There’s no need to tape him,” Ava said in English. “He’s no threat.”
Ashton stood and glared at her. Then he spat in Ava’s direction. “Fuck you,” he said.
