arm across my neck. I saw why in a second: Detective Sergeant Kobrinski had crept up on us at the far edge of the clearing and had her pistol aimed at us. To my surprise, she looked unharmed.
I wasn’t comforted, however. Harry tightened his grip on me and raised his gun to my head. “Options. I need options, Emma,” he said. “And right now, you’re all the options I have.”
Chapter 20
“PUT THE GUN DOWN, HARRY,” PAM ORDERED calmly. “Let Emma go.”
“No, put your gun down, throw it away from you,” Harry countered. “We’re going to walk away and you’re not going to do a damned thing about it. Not if you’re smart.”
“You okay, Emma?” Pam never broke eye contact with Harry.
“Uh…yeah,” I said. But I could feel my jaw swelling and my neck was aching from the way that Harry was holding me. My feet hurt from spending so much time on tiptoe but that was nothing compared to the way my shoulder felt. I wished my arm would just fall off and be done with it. I could feel Harry’s heart pounding, could smell the blood and fear from him. I wished that I could figure out what to do, but the last thing I wanted was to screw up any advantage that the detective might have.
“Harry, let go of Emma,” she said. “You don’t want to make this any worse than it is.”
“And if you don’t back off, you’re going to have corpses here!”
As if “here” were the cue, a tremendous crashing was heard alongside of us. Several things happened, all too quickly. Harry tightened his grip across my neck. I clung to his arm, as much to steady myself as to try to keep him from accidentally strangling me, and tucked my chin to prevent that. I thought that I might have been able to get out of his grasp, but then there was the gun, and I had no idea what the detective might have in mind, and heavens knew, she was the expert here. Detective Kobrinski, not knowing what to expect, rapidly swung her pistol from us to the source of the disturbance, then back again. And Michael Glasscock skidded into the clearing, tripped over a log, and landed face-first in the leaves before us all.
“Goddamn trees,” he muttered, picking himself up. Then noticing the tableau onto which he’d stumbled, Michael paused.
“Holy shit,” he whispered in awe. He scrambled backward until he was alongside the detective, staring at Harry incredulously the whole time. “It is you!”
I could feel Harry relax slightly; Michael was no threat to him. “I don’t think things have changed materially, Detective. Now there are just more innocent people to die. Lose your gun!”
She hesitated, with a scowl for Michael.
“Throw it away!” Harry screamed, jamming the muzzle of the pistol to my temple.
I felt the gun press into my head and squeezed my eyes shut. “Oh God!” I flinched, sending another spasm of pain through my jaw.
“Okay, Harry? Harry?” Pam’s voice was urgent, attention-grabbing. “Harry. You’re in charge.” Detective Kobrinski tossed her weapon carefully on the ground behind her. “You’re the one who can decide to end this right now.”
Harry’s gun pulled back, maybe a millimeter. I thought I felt the pressure ease up, or maybe it was just what I was hoping.
My heart sank as she said, “We can work this out.”
As much as I didn’t like being caught between two gun barrels, this was even more alarming: I knew things were going to start happening now. Every fiber of my being was straining to be ready for whatever was going to come. I could only wait for the right moment—and when that moment came? Well, the only advice I could find to give myself was Don’t screw up.
“How about a trade, Harry?” Pam offered. Her voice was so calm, so reasonable, I would have done it in a heartbeat. “Me for Emma.”
“Not a chance.” Harry swallowed, licked his lips. “Now here’s what we’re going to do—”
I don’t think Harry realized he was shouting, another assault on my ears. I don’t think he realized how tightly he was holding onto me, close to choking me.
“—We’re going to leave here, and you’re going to stay. If I see you near us, I’ll shoot her.”
Pam tried again. “Harry, you don’t have to—”
He yanked me, ignoring her. “Move!” he bellowed in my ear.
I couldn’t make my knees bend. I didn’t want to leave. “Can’t breathe,” I gasped.
“You don’t need to breathe, you need to