Shotgun Opera

No. Can?t get distracted like that. Get in quick and do the job.

It would be okay.

* * *

Although they?d lowered their weapons, Nikki?s .380 still pointed more or less in Mike?s direction. Mike held his shotgun at waist level, finger still on the trigger as he listened to her story.

Nikki Enders wanted out. Mike knew what that was like. She said nobody would be coming to kill his nephew, her least of all. She had bigger worries. Her boss wanted her head. Not exactly her boss, Mike thought, but somebody who pushed her buttons. Somebody who wanted her dead if she didn?t follow orders.

And Mike realized that killing her would be meaningless. It would be like shooting a carpenter?s hammer because he built your house crooked. Nikki was a tool. That was all.

But a dangerous tool. Mike still wasn?t completely ready to trust her. ?How do I know this isn?t a trick??

She sighed, thought a moment, then stepped over to the desk, set the automatic down, and pushed it away. Mike kept the shotgun on her the whole time. He could do it now, blast her with buckshot. His finger tightened on the trigger. His killer?s instincts rose up hard. If she were pulling some kind of trick, then it was the worst trick Mike had ever seen. He started to lift the shotgun. She was so very close to death.

But he couldn?t do it. No, it wasn?t that he couldn?t. He didn?t want to. It would be pointless. In the old days, it wouldn?t have mattered that it was pointless. You didn?t leave a foe alive. It could come back to bite you. Better safe than sorry, right? Mike wouldn?t let himself think that way anymore. He forced the killer inside him to stand down.

Still, there was something he needed to get out in the open. ?Your sister is dead.? Mike didn?t say how or that he?d done it. Nikki would know. He didn?t want her to find out later and seek revenge. This had to be dealt with now. No loose ends.

Nikki?s eyes widened. ?Which one??

?Which one what??

?I have two sisters.?

?Meredith,? Mike said.

Nikki?s lower lip trembled slightly just for a moment. She mastered herself, nodded. ?I figured. Hazards of the business.?

Good, Mike thought. She?s taking it like a professional. No grudges. All business. Mike couldn?t decide if he blamed her for Keone. But who was he to cast stones? He?d made his own mistakes and had to live with them. It was enough that she wouldn?t come after Andrew. He?d made sure his nephew was safe, paid any debt he thought he owed his brother. Time for all of this to be over. Let it be finished.

Mike wanted to go home.

?Okay,? Mike said. ?You have a deal. I?m going to back out of here nice and slow. You stay right where I can see you. I?ll leave, and we?ll never see each other again, right??

She nodded. ?Agreed, Mr. Foley. You don?t have a thing to worry about.?

And then the lights went out.

40

The instant everything went dark, Nikki snatched up her pistol again and dove behind the desk. She paused, listened.

?Foley??

?It?s the storm,? the old man said. ?The lights have been going on and off all night.?

She glanced at the alarm display on the wall. There should have been a blinking green light, but there wasn?t. ?It?s not the storm. The alarm?s been cut too, and it?s a separate system.? She took a deep breath, exhaled. ?They?re here.?

?They who??