started
crying again. He felt the wet blood and cried harder. 'Hey, pal. Hey.'
His dad stroked the side of his face, and started crying, too. Ben was terrified that his father would die.
'I'm so sorry, bud. I am so sorry. This is all my fault.' 'Are you going to be all right? Daddy, are you okay?' His daddy's eyes were so sad that Ben sobbed even louder, and it was hard to breathe. His father said, 'I love you so much. You know that, don't you? I love you.' Ben's words choked in his chest. Mike and Eric were talking, but Ben didn't hear. Then Mike squatted next to them and examined his father's wound. 'Let me see. Looks like you got one in the liver. It's not sucking. Can you breathe okay?' Ben's father said, 'You bastard. You rotten sonofabitch.'
'You're breathing fine.' Eric came over and stood behind Mike. 'He fell back into the car. What was I going to do? We had to get out of there, but this asshole's in the backseat.' Mike stood, then glanced at the money. 'Don't worry about that right now. Let's keep the ball rolling. Get the money repacked and put it in the car. They're okay right now. We'll take care of it before we leave.' 'Someone else was at the airport.' 'Forget it. That was Co1?. He's still back there, beating off.' Mike and Eric left Mazi packing the money and went into another part of the house. Ben snuggled close to his father, and whispered. 'Elvis will save us.' His dad pushed himself up to sit a little straighter, wincing with the pain. Mazi glanced over, then went back to the money. His dad stared at the blood on his hand as if it was 35
green ketchup, and then he searched Ben's eyes.
'This is my fault. Everything that's happened, getting mixed up with these animals, what happened to you, it's my fault. I'm the stupidest man in the world.'
Ben didn't understand. He didn't know why his father was saying these things, but hearing them scared him, and he cried even more.
'No, you're not. You're not stupid.' His father touched his head again. 'I just wanted you back.' 'Don't die.'
'You're never going to understand and neither is anyone else, but I want you to remember that I loved
'Don't die!'
'I'm not. And neither are you.'
His father glanced at Mazi, then looked back at Ben. He stroked Ben's head, then pulled Ben's face close and kissed him on the cheek.
His father whispered in Ben's ear.
'I love you, boy. Now you run. Run, and don't stop.'
The sadness in his father's voice terrified him. Ben hugged his father and held on tight.
His dad's breath was soft in his ear.
'I'm sorry.'
His father kissed him again just as something heavy thumped in another room. Mazi ierked erect with his hands still filled with money, and then Mike pushed Elvis Cole through the door. Elvis fell to one knee, and his eyes fluttered vaguely. His head was bleeding. Mike
pressed the shotgun into Elvis's neck.
Mike looked at Mazi.
'Put him in the bathtub and use your knife. The shotgun's too noisy. Then take care of them.'
PIKE
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A long slim knife the color of oil on water appeared in Mazi's hand.
Ben's dad said it again, one final time, and this time his
voice was strong.
'Run.'
Then Richard Chenier pushed himself up from the floor and charged toward Mazi Ibo with a fury that Ben had never seen in his dad. His father caught Ibo in the back and slammed him full-tilt boogie into Elvis and Mike even as Mike Fallon's shotgun erupted and thunder echoed through the house.
Ben ran.
Pike crept through the shrubs alongside the house as quietly as air. He reached an empty bedroom first, dark except for an open doorway framed in light. He heard the low voices of men deeper inside the house; but couldn't tell who was speaking or what they were saying.
Schilling appeared in the hall beyond the bedroom, carrying two duffels toward the rear, and then Schilling was gone. Pike cocked the.3 5 7.
The next two windows glowed with light. Pike eased closer, but kept out of their glow. Ibo was with Richard and Ben, but Fallon and Schilling were missing. Pike was surprised to find Richard and Ben still alive, but Fallon was probably keeping them to use as hostages until the very last moment. In a perfect world, Fallon, Schilling, and Ibo would have been in the room together. Pike would have shot them through the window to end this mess. Now, if Pike shot Ibo, he would lose the advantage of surprise with Fallon and Schilling.
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Pike knew that Cole was probably at the back of the house, but he decided to wait. Schilling and Fallon might step back into the room at any moment, and then Pike could finish it. Pike didn't want Cole to face these guys, not the way he was, and it would be safest for Ben and Richard. Pike braced his gun against an acacia tree to steady his aim. He settled in to wait.
Then Fallon pushed Cole into the room, and Pike couldn't wait any longer. He ran toward the back, searching
