it.
“You asshole,” she growls.
“Stop moving so I can shoot you,” I yell.
“I thought you were here to protect me!” She elbows me in the face, but it puts her arm high enough that I can grab onto it and push her down under the surface. For a moment, we grapple. There are body parts moving everywhere that I can’t even see and they’re slowed down by the foam squares. I break free of the surface just in time to lock eyes with Henry. Anna’s trying to emerge from the depths of hell as I try to drown her in a sea of foam, so I shove her back down.
“Leland!” Henry yells, arms waving.
“What?” I ask as I keep her pushed down.
There’s so much noise and chaos going on that I’m positive he’s saying, “Keep her under, you’re doing a fantastic job!”
“Thank you!” I say.
He yells something else that sounds a little bit like “You’ve got the thong worsen!” which is a bit strange.
“I didn’t know you wore thongs!” I say.
Suddenly, I see Anna pop up about ten feet from me before realizing that if she’s over there… who am I holding down?
“Dammit, Leland! You have the wrong person!” Henry shouts, a little clearer this time.
“Ohhhh. I thought you were telling me about your underwear choices!”
Jackson pops up as I ride on his shoulders and realize that somehow during the tussle, I ended up pinning Jackson down instead of Anna. “What are you doing?” I ask as I drop off his shoulders.
“I fell in with you and then you kicked me in the face and started riding on my shoulders and wouldn’t let me up!”
“Huh,” I say as I press my hands against his ass and toss him out onto a trampoline. “Go get her, my wild stallion!” He races after Anna as I hold a hand out to Henry. “Henry! Henry, save me!”
He honestly seems to contemplate not saving me as he stares down at me. “Dear god, how do you get anything done?”
“It was a simple mistake!” I say as he grabs my wrist and pulls me from the pit. “I’m an amazing marksman. I never said I was good at… whatever this is! If you’d just let me kill her, it’d be over with by now.” A few parents who already look terrified look even more horrified. “It’s alright, I’m with the police.”
“You are not!” Henry says.
“I’m with the feds.”
“Still not!”
“I’m with SWAT,” I inform them before chasing after Jackson who is passing through the door leading outside. “In my case SWAT stands for Super Wicked Ass Talent.” As soon as it’s out of my mouth, I regret it. “Henry, please don’t ever tell anyone I said that. Please. I’m… I’m already embarrassed enough as it is.” I glance over at the man running beside me.
Henry waves in front of us. “Let’s worry about what’s going on, shall we, Ass Talent?”
“Fuck,” I whisper as I step into the alleyway.
Jackson and Cassel have Anna cornered as she holds her side that’d been stabbed just yesterday. She seems to realize that she’s outmatched as Jackson stands before her.
“You and Hutson were supposed to kill each other,” she yells. “Answer me this. Did Sami send you the information? Did she?”
“No. I’ve never even been in contact with Sami. You basically dragged me into this when I had nothing to do with it. You dug your own grave the moment you had someone shoot me,” Jackson tells her.
“Fuck.” Her eyes dart around, constantly looking for something to help her. “I’ll give you money if you let me go. Tell me what you want. I’ll call the others off you.”
“I don’t want a cent of your filthy money. I want this to end. I want to keep Leland safe and it seems like getting rid of you is the only option for that. We’ve already gotten rid of everyone else,” Jackson says.
“Where’s Hutson?”
“He’s been arrested. He told me that he only hired people to protect him from you. Did you tell the others that it was Hutson? Did you plant that seed?”
“I did, and it would have fucking worked if I’d have just left you guys alone. I should have fucking known Sami was lying. She always was a greedy bitch.”
“Should never have fucked with my badass motherfucker,” I inform her.
“Clearly,” she says.
She’s looking for something to aid her in her grand escape, but Henry walks up with a pair of handcuffs.
“I’m with the police, get on the ground and put your hands