Chapter 11

“Do you really believe that you are going to get away with this?” Adelice asks as she sits on her knees, looking up at Miriam.

“I already have,” she answers, pushing the pistol harder into the other’s forehead. “I bet that right about now you wish you were never jealous.”

“No, not at all,” Adelice sneers. “But I do wish I had killed you myself instead of sending someone to do it for me.”

“But didn’t,” Miriam laughs. “I guess in this case you snooze, you lose.”

“And you don’t think the council will come after you?” Adelice tries to stall, but to what end? She knows that no one is coming to save her. Or is there?

“Drop the gun,” Mr. Thomas says, holding a pistol of his own. His hand in shaky, but he manages to keep it aimed at Miriam.

Miriam sighs. Without taking her eyes of her sister-in-law, she says, “Damn fool.”

Realization appears on Adelice’s face. Then she laughs. “You planned to pin this on him?”

“Well, no shit,” the other woman admits. “And I had one hell of a story spun too.”

“I said drop the gun, lady,” Mr. Thomas says with a little more force. “I don’t want to kill you. But I’m not going to let you ruin my life or keep me separated from Jasmine.”

“That’s not going to happen,” she says, taking her eyes off her captive to look at him.

Adelice’s face changes again and this time it is a mixture of hatred, anger and confusion. “What the hell is going on?” she asks, the authority that she is used to kicking right back in.

Miriam looks back at her and frowns. “It’s none of your goddamn business anymore.” And with that, she pulls the trigger.

The bullet tears through the woman’s head, bursting out the back and sending her brain matter all over. Then she turns, raising the pistol toward Mr. Thomas. Whether he is just faster or his nervousness gets the better of him, he fires before she is even fully turned around. Miriam takes a stumble back, but doesn’t fall. Anger fills her at underestimating the man and she lifts the pistol toward him once more. Mr. Thomas’ survival instincts kick in and he fires two more into her. This time she falls to the ground, her gun scattering across the floor.

“No!” a shout from his right rings out right before the sound of a pistol does.

Mr. Thomas takes the shot in the shoulder, having turned just in the nick of time. He falls, joining the two women. He was nervous before, but now he is scared. He watches as Markus approaches, his boots a steady drum on the pavement.

“You son of a bitch,” Markus snarls. He points the pistol at the teacher’s head. “You were supposed to take the fall, not cause all of this.”

Me. Thomas closes his eyes tight, knowing it won’t make a difference when the man pulls the trigger. Then bang! then a thump. He opens his eyes and looks to see Markus lying on the ground next to him, eyes open and starring at him, but without any life in them.

“Talk about some crazy shit,” Bryce says stepping out from where Markus did. “Damn, Quintis, I didn’t expect you to still be alive.”

The teacher groans form the ache in his shoulder. He first looks at the man that obviously fed him a line of bullshit and then the gun laying a few feet away.

“I bet you’re wondering just what the hell happened just now,” Bryce says. He shoves Markus with his boot. Satisfied the man is dead he steps over and does the same to Miriam and then his wife. “Well, I had a job to do and you were the cog in the wheel I needed to pull it off.”

Mr. Thomas slowly begins to slide over toward his pistol, grunting. The pain slows his effort, but he is determined to not die here. Bryce knows what the man has in mind, so he steps over and kicks the pistol farther out of his reach.

“You see, I could never be free from the council. So I struck a deal with them,” he explains. “They were tired of my wife and were angry with what her brother did to our daughter. Yet they couldn’t get rid of Adelice and only a handful knew that Markus was alive. Seeing a way out of this I went to the council and reveal everything I knew and gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse. But the plan needed a scapegoat.”

“Me?” Mr. Thomas asks, coughing raggedly. “But why?”

“Well, for a couple reasons,” the man answers. “First they needed it to look like Markus and his wife hired a hitman and fro there things went wrong. Second, I want my daughter for myself especially after I found out she was fucking you.”

“I’ll stay away,” Mr. Thomas begs. “Just let me go. I’ll forget about this, you, her. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Bryce shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s the problem,” he says. “I know you love my daughter and she does have genuine feelings for you too. Staying away is something you won’t be able to do. But more importantly the council needs the hitman dead or alive and so you have to stays here and face the consequences of your actions.”

“What will they do with me?” Mr. Thomas asks, feeling thankful he will be spared but scared at the same time of the unknown.

“Nothing,” Bryce says with a smile.

“They’re just going to let me go?”

“No,” Bryce says, shaking his head again. “They can’t risk you denying anything and telling a story that may create doubt for the rest of them. More importantly, I can’t risk that and then having someone come after me and my daughter.”