landed in my hand. At the same moment, I heard Tubby sigh and stagger. It must have passed through part of him on the way to me.
I looked at the ceiling. They did, too. I cut the handcuff chain with my ghost knife. My hands were free.
The next part happened very fast.
I swept my left hand upward as quickly as possible and struck the kid’s gun arm, batting it aside. The gun went off, but the barrel was already pointing past me. I heard the boom of the shot and felt the rush of air as it passed my shoulder.
At the same time, I threw the ghost knife at Bobby’s gun. Again, I was too slow. Bobby squeezed the trigger.
I felt the pressure of the bullet striking my chest, but there was no pain.
Hot gas billowed over my neck, and a burning speck struck beside my Adam’s apple. The spot where he’d shot me didn’t hurt. I didn’t feel anything there. There would be no wound, either, if Annalise’s tattoos had held. I didn’t look down to check.
The ghost knife slid through Bobby’s gun, cutting it in two, then vanished into his chest. I heard him gasp.
My back was still exposed, and I’d left the kid too long. I lunged at him, punching him on the side of the head and ripping the weapon from his hand. I grabbed the back of his head, spinning him between me and Tubby and Tiffany.
I didn’t have to worry. Tiffany was frozen in place; what ever she’d imagined would happen, this wasn’t it. And Tubby was on his knees, a bloody gunshot wound in his chest. Then he fell onto his back. He wasn’t going to get up again.
I don’t remember a lot about the next few seconds. There was a feeling of tremendous pressure inside my skull. I know I didn’t shoot the kid’s gun. I know Tiffany was much quicker with her knife than I’d expected, and I hit her too hard on the side of her face.
What I do remember is standing over Bobby, Tiffany, and the other two and slicing the kid’s bloody gun in two. One of Bobby’s teeth was still wedged in the barrel.
I’d broken their bones, but at least they’d live. They were better off than Tubby. It took every ounce of willpower I had to keep from vomiting all over them.
Doors all along the hallway swung open and heads poked out. Geniuses. They hear gunshots and rush toward them. The peeping face nearest to me was Rev. Wilson.
I stepped around the bodies on the floor to the dead man. He had forgotten to shave that morning. I took Cabot’s gun from him and pocketed it. I also took back my wallet and keys.
After a moment of indecision, Wilson rushed toward me. He was wearing long black pants but no shirt. “What is happening here?” He looked me in the eye for the first time.
“These guys need an ambulance,” I said. “But I’m afraid this guy is gone.” I was talking too fast. I wanted to be cool and collected, but I felt anything but.
“Why did you-” Wilson began.
I heard a commotion behind me. Three more men had appeared at the far end of the hall. They rushed toward me, guns in hand. One held a walkie-talkie to his mouth.
“Help them,” I said, and rushed past him. Another man rounded the corner of the hall ahead of me.
The door nearest to me was the one Rev. Wilson had come out of. I ducked inside and locked the door. I had a gun, but I didn’t want to use it. There were too many people around, and I wasn’t some badass hitman. Also, I had already gotten more lucky than I deserved. If Bobby had aimed at my head instead of my heart…
A woman was standing next to me. She was stark naked and unashamed. I guessed she was about forty-five, with long, auburn hair and a simple, honest face. Wilson had good taste.
“What’s going on out there?” she asked.
“General naughtiness.”
She reached toward my chest and tugged at the bullet hole in my shirt. It was scorched with powder burns. “I see that,” she said.
For a moment I thought she would panic just as I was about to. “I don’t want trouble-“
“Of course not. Come this way.” She led me through the room into a second, smaller room. She was very calm. “Bobby and the boys have been getting worse and worse over the last few years. They used to be working guys protecting their own. Lately they’ve been acting like thugs.”
There was a second door, next to a window that showed the forest slope behind. It was the way out. She took a key ring from a hook. “Not everyone wants to come in through the casino. We have a couple of rooms with a back door.”
She unlocked the door and swung it open. The sun had gone down, but there was still a little light in the sky. I stepped out onto a metal staircase. There was a little carport four stories down.
I turned toward the naked woman. “Thank you.”
A shot ricocheted off the metal stairs. I didn’t see where it came from, and I didn’t hang around to find out. I pushed my way back inside and shut the door. I heard the faint sound of construction boots running up the metal steps.
Damn. So much for sneaking out the back.
I ran back into the bedroom. The knob rattled but didn’t turn. Someone’s meaty fist pounded on the door.
“Keep out!” the woman yelled. “He’s got a gun!”
