The Pagan Stone Page 0,104

and felt the weight drop off his shoulders. They'd do what needed to be done. They'd stand behind him, just like always. "The way you drive? Hell no. Cybil gets it. That woman knows how to handle a car. I need you to lawyer up that kind of thing for me. I'd have that off my head."

"Okay, no problem." He shrugged off Cal 's curse. "And my fee's a bet. One thousand says we not only off the Big Evil Bastard, but you walk away from the Pagan Stone with the rest of us after we do."

"I want in on that," Cal said.

"That's a bet then."

Cal shook his head, absently rubbed Lump under his desk as the dog stirred from sleep. "Only a sick son of a bitch bets a thousand he's going to die."

Gage only smiled. "Dead or alive, I like to win."

"We need to take this back to the women," Fox put in, then narrowed his eyes at Gage. "Problem?"

"Depends. If we take it back to the women-"

"There's no if," Cal interrupted. "There are six of us in this."

"When we take it back to the women," Gage qualified, "the three of us go in as a unified front. I'm not going to be arguing with you and them. The deal is, we look for another way until time runs out. When time runs out and there's no other way, it's my way. Nobody welshes."

Cal rose, preparing to come around the desk to shake on the deal. The office door burst open. Cy Hudson, one of the fixtures of the Bowl-a-Rama's leagues, rushed in, teeth bared, and madly firing a.38. One of the bullets plowed into Cal 's sternum, took him down even as Gage and Fox dove at Cy.

His enormous bulk didn't topple, and his sheer madness flung them off like flies. He aimed at Cal again, shifted the gun at the last moment as Gage shouted, and Lump bunched to attack. Gage braced for the bullet, caught Fox rising up like a runner off the mark out of the corner of his eye.

Bill Turner came through the door like fury. He leaped onto Cy's back, fists pounding even as Fox went in low and the dog sprang, jaw snapping. The four of them went down in a bone-breaking tangle. The gun went off again even as Gage shoved up and grabbed a chair. He brought it down, brutally, twice on Cy's exposed head.

"Okay?" he said to Fox as Cy went limp.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, boy, good dog." Fox hooked an arm around Lump's big neck. " Cal?"

Pushing up again, Gage dropped down beside Cal. Cal's face was bone white, his eyes glassy, and his breath came in short pants. But when Gage ripped his shirt open, he saw the spent bullet pushing up through the wound. Sidling over, Lump licked Cal 's face and whined.

"It's okay, you're okay. You're pushing it out." He gripped Cal 's hand, sent him all he could. "Give me something."

"Smashed a rib, I think," Cal managed. "Ripped hell out of me in there." He struggled to even his breathing as Lump nosed his shoulder. "I can't exactly tell."

"We've got it. Fox, for Christ's sake, give me a hand."

"Gage."

"What! Can't you see he's..." Furious, Gage whipped his head around. He saw Fox kneeling on the floor pressing the blood-soaked wad of his own shirt to Bill's chest.

"Call for an ambulance. I've got to keep the pressure on."

"Go. God." Cal pushed breath out, drew more in. He fisted his hand in Lump's fur. "I've got this. I've got this. Go."

But Gage kept Cal 's hand tight in his, drew out his phone. And with his eyes locked on his father's pale face, called for help.

CYBIL WOKE GROGGY, HEADACHY. THE GROGGY wasn't much of a surprise. Mornings weren't her finest hour, particularly after a restless night, and the dreams were a plague now. More, Gage had been closed in the night before. Barely speaking, she thought, as she grabbed a robe in case there were men in the house.

Well, his moods weren't her responsibility, she decided, and felt fairly closed in herself. She'd take her coffee out on the back deck-alone. And sulk.

The idea perked her up a little, or would have if she hadn't found both Layla and Quinn holding a whispered conference in the kitchen.

"Go away. Nobody talk to me until I've had two solid hits of caffeine."

"Sorry." Quinn blocked her path to the stove. "You'll have to put that off."

Warning flashed into her