on Jack. Everything happened at once. He pulled the trigger as Jack dove for the ground, knowing what was coming. There was a loud CLICK! from downstairs and—
All the lights in the house went out.
The gun fired in the dark, and the bullet whizzed over Jack’s head. Not wasting a moment, he leapt up and ran for Lombard. Lombard reacted more quickly to the surprise of the darkness than Jack had hoped; he took off into the hallway. Lombard fired wildly behind him, and bullets hit the walls beside Jack. He kept going. Gaining on Lombard right before the stairwell, Jack saw his chance—he dove and tackled Lombard full-force. Grabbing for Lombard’s gun, Jack pushed him backward at the same time, using all his strength to hurtle them toward the wooden banister. Jack braced himself—this was going to hurt—as they slammed against the banister and broke through with a loud crack.
Tangled together, both men plummeted thirty-five feet down the open staircase.
They landed hard on the first-floor foyer. Jack heard the sickening sound of breaking bone as he crashed on top of Lombard, who screamed out in pain.
Jack instinctively lunged for Lombard’s gun, gritting his teeth at the flash of pain in his chest—he must have broken a few ribs. Fighting off a wave of dizziness from the shock of the fall, he pushed away from Lombard, stood up, and pointed the gun at him.
Jack caught his breath and wiped blood off his forehead with his sleeve. One of the bullets had hit the wall so close to his head he’d been cut by a flying piece of plaster.
“Almost had it there, Lombard,” he panted. “Almost.”
Jack heard footsteps above him. He looked up and saw Cameron running down the stairs. Seeing him, she stopped on the landing between the first and second floors and sank against the wall in relief. Jack realized then that he and Lombard must’ve fallen through the stairwell right past her.
With a look of shock, Cameron peered up at the third floor, all thirty-five feet up, then back at him. “My God, Jack.”
She caught sight of Lombard through the moonlight and swallowed. He lay on the floor before Jack with his right leg bent at a grotesque angle beneath him. Breathing heavily, he clutched his right arm to his chest and watched Jack warily.
With all the action, Jack had lost count of how many times Lombard had fired at him. He popped out the clip of the gun to see if it was still loaded. Three rounds left—more than enough. He slammed the clip back in.
He and Lombard had some unfinished business to discuss.
“Go upstairs to your bedroom, Cameron. Don’t come out until I tell you,” Jack said.
She nodded. “Right. I’ll call for backup and an ambulance.”
“Don’t call anyone. Just go upstairs.”
Her eyes widened. “What are you going to do?”
“You don’t need to know. You’re an assistant U.S. attorney—you can’t be a part of this.”
Lombard’s eyes widened nervously.
Cameron hesitated on the landing, and for a moment Jack thought she wasn’t going to listen to him. “Okay,” she finally said. She left, and a few seconds later Jack heard the door to her bedroom shut.
He turned his attention to Lombard, who was sweating profusely as he lay on the floor at his feet.
“When we were upstairs, you talked about the person who told you about Cameron’s involvement in the Robards case. I want to know who it was.”
Lombard coughed, wheezing in pain. “Fuck you, Pallas.”
“You might want to save that for later. I haven’t even gotten started yet.”
“Fuck you anyway.”
Jack squatted down at Lombard’s side. “You’ve been listening to Cameron and me this whole time,” he said quietly.
Lombard tried to laugh, but it came out sounding hollow. “Almost every word. Loved the part where you wouldn’t fuck her after I shot her. You’re as weak as the rest, Pallas. All because of a woman.”
Maybe Lombard saw him as weak because of Cameron, Jack thought.
But tonight she was his greatest strength.
“Since you’ve been listening, you know what she means to me. I would kill anyone who harmed her,” he said with cold simplicity. “Give me a name, and I’ll make an exception.”
Lombard didn’t say anything. But he didn’t look so smug anymore, either.
Jack brought the gun in closer. “You shot her. I watched as you took this very gun and held it under her chin. Like this.” He grabbed Lombard’s jaw and shoved the gun right under his chin. Lombard flinched, breathing heavily through his nose.