"You must pay," Pedro continued. "First, you must tell me who is out there with you."
Abbie placed a hand on Louis' arm, a finger to her lips. He looked frightened. Shook his head. Abbie continued to tap her fingers to her mouth and hoped he would heed her for a minute or more. Turning from him, she looked to Tony in the doorway and to the driveway beyond. It was a quiet, still night. The gunshots would not have been missed. How long before the police arrived?
"Louis," Pedro said. "Why must you do this? Do you want to make it a game? Okay, here are my guesses. I think you came with Alice and the mystery woman I have heard so much about. Am I right? Are they alive?"
Pedro waited a three count, then sighed.
"Tell me now, or I'll put a bullet in the boy."
"I'm alive."
It was Alice who spoke, perhaps sensing Louis was going to give away more than was necessary.
"Alice, how lovely to hear from you. Such a shame our business relationship had to end. I want you to know I didn't come seeking this. Your daughter got in touch. She wanted to continue the relationship."
Alice was looking at Abbie, who held up her hand and moved her thumb and fingers together in the chatterbox sign. She mouthed, Keep him talking, then leaned into Louis and began to whisper.
"You should have turned her away,” said Alice.
"But I couldn't. I need the guns, and Angel was willing to do me a good price for the lot. Where is she, by the way? I hope you didn't kill her. That wouldn't be very motherly."
"I didn't kill her," said Alice. "She killed Abbie, that's your mystery woman, then went off to verify some information I gave her."
"About the location of the guns?”
"That's right."
"And what did you do?"
"I killed Max and knocked the other guy, whoever he was, unconscious."
"Raphael."
"Whatever. He was not good at his job."
"Then you should have killed him."
As Abbie finished whispering to Louis, he shook his head and looked as though he were about to speak. Abbie pressed her finger to his lips.
Almost inaudibly, she said, "We have to risk it to save Kyle. Go when you hear the bang."
Alice was saying, "How long are we going to stand here, Pedro? It feels like a waste of everyone's time."
"What alternative do you propose? You've come to kill me, have you not? But I have the boy, which makes this a stalemate. Where should we go from here?”
Abbie slipped out the front door, dragging Tony onto the driveway. To the right of the entrance was a large, grand window, covered by curtains. Abbie checked the shotgun, ensuring it would fire at the pull of a trigger, and pressed it into Tony's hands. As his eyes widened in horror at the feel of the gun, the weight of it, Abbie dragged him onto the lawn, in front of those curtained windows.
"I don't care about you," Alice was saying. “Go. Take the guns if you want. Whatever. All we want is Kyle and Alex."
Abbie forced Tony onto his knees and angled the shotgun in his grasp into the perfect position.
"Don't move an inch," she whispered.
Inside, Pedro said, "Have your daughter; she's upstairs. But how can I trust you’ll let me live if I release Kyle? I cannot. Louis is angry because I ordered his son shot. He will attempt to murder me. Grieving parents are always so unreasonable. Unfortunately, I can see only one way this works. You go upstairs with Louis and join your daughter. I will leave with Kyle. If I see anyone that I don’t like the look of, I murder the boy and start shooting. Otherwise, I’ll release him when we’re away from your nasty guns. What do you say?"
Still holding Tony's hands in place, Abbie pointed to the corner of the house. "As soon as I disappear from sight, you count to ten. When you reach it, pull the trigger, then immediately jump to the floor, so your stomach and head are flat to the grass. Don't hesitate or move the gun. Just shoot, then hit the deck.”
"That doesn't work," said Alice. "How do we know you won't kill the boy the moment you're safe?"
Abbie rose, checked the angle of Tony's gun one more time. As long as he kept it still, the spray of his shot would shatter the windows and pepper the ceiling. Kyle was towards the other end of the living room; Louis' bedroom was on the other side of the house. No one for whom Abbie cared would be hurt.
As Pedro said, "See what I mean... stalemate," Abbie disappeared around the corner.
Nervous people asked to count tend to let the numbers slip by too quickly. Even if they are expected to do something they dread at the count's end. With this in mind, Abbie sprinted along the house's sidewall, skipping the first window to which she came, stopping at the second.
Curtains prevented Abbie from looking inside. Regardless, when Pedro spoke, she knew he was only feet away.
"I think our negotiations are over," he said.
Then the living room’s front window exploded, and all hell broke loose.
Thirty-Two
When Abbie had entered Louis' room and found Alex tied to the bed, a scumbag in the en-suite, everything had gone wrong, though the plan had seemed watertight.
After rushing around the corner of Louis' house having asked a frightened man, who had never fired a gun, to let off a shotgun, and a grieving father to take actions that would not only put his own life but his son's in danger, Abbie assumed this plan was destined to fail.
Which went to show that Abbie might suffer the occasional semi-prophetic dream, but she was no fortune teller.
Eight seconds after he started counting, Tony reached ten and pulled the trigger. As the window shattered, glass exploding into the living
