the money inside the window,” Cade said. “Now I’m walkin’ back to my car.”
“No you ain’t,” Eddie said.
Someone, who I assumed was Cade, was heaved across the room. “You lied to me,” Eddie said.
“I could say the same to you,” Cade said. “The girls aren’t here.”
“The address to where they’re located is on this piece of paper,” Eddie said.
I heard the sound of paper being rubbed together in someone’s hand.
“But you’re not getting it,” Eddie said. “We had a deal. You broke it.”
“I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about,” Cade said. “I brought your money—it’s right there.”
“But that’s not all you brought, is it? I said no cops!”
Come on, Cade. Keep it together.
“I don’t see anyone.”
“Do you think I’m stupid or somethin’? I know camouflage when I see it.”
Cade sighed.
“It was the only way I could get you the money,” he admitted. “I told them not to come, and they said they understood. I can still get you out of here as long as you tell me where the girls are.”
Eddie laughed. It was a low, husky, sarcastic kind of laugh.
“Out of here and back in prison,” he said. “Sorry, don’t think so.”
“You’ll be alive.”
“I’d be dead before I got out again. I’m not going back.”
“Then you’ll die.”
“Where’s your gun?” Eddie said.
Cade didn’t answer.
“I said where’s your gun, tough guy? Hand it over. Now.”
I wasn’t sure that now registered in Cade’s vocabulary. There was some movement and then the sound of something hard sliding across the floor. A gun?
“You make a move like that again, you’re a dead man,” Eddie said. “Don’t move.”
Someone walked to the window—my guess was Eddie.
“I know you’re out there,” Eddie shouted. “You hear me, assholes! It’s time I made a new deal. Get out of here, now! Or you’ll never see those brats again. You hear me?!”
During Eddie’s angry tirade I pushed the lid on the box open a tiny bit. My gun was drawn and ready just in case my timing was off. Thankfully, the man had his back to me. He was staring out the window, waiting for a reply. I peeked at Cade. He was sitting on the floor in a corner on the other side of the room staring right at me. The look on his face was hard to describe—it was a mixture of shock and anger. I waved. And then I realized how dumb it must have looked. He had a gun pointed at him, and I was waving and smiling like a blonde in a beauty pageant.
A minute went by. Then two. No one outside made any attempt to communicate. I assumed they were holding their positions, probably trying to figure out what to do. They hadn’t fired which meant they either didn’t have a clear shot or were waiting for visual confirmation of the girls.
Eddie walked back across the room, and for the first time, I had a decent view of him. He was big. The Paul Bunyan kind of big. No wonder Cade didn’t have the upper hand.
“I guess they don’t care about you,” Eddie said, “so the two of us are going to take a little walk. We can get out the back by going under the house.”
“But you’re surrounded,” Cade said.
The man laughed. “Not the way we’re going. Now let’s go.”
Cade stood up, looking Eddie in the eye. “No.”
“Then you’re a dead man. We go out together, or you die.”
Cade swung at the man, giving it everything he had. It was impressive, and for a moment I thought the man was shaken enough for Cade to knock the shotgun loose, until I heard the pump action of the gun loading the shell.
I didn’t think. I didn’t hesitate. I launched out of the box and fired, twice. The first bullet clipped Eddie’s shoulder, stunning him, and the second hit him in the chest. Eddie didn’t have time to react before his massive body collapsed to the ground. Cade knelt in front of him. I lowered my weapon. My hands were experiencing some kind of spasm. I holstered my gun and rubbed my hands together. It didn’t help. And I knew why. I was fairly certain Eddie was dead or dying, and I’d never killed anyone before. I’d always wondered what it would be like and how I would feel after I’d done it. Maybe that’s why I was shaking. I wasn’t prepared for my own reaction. I thought I’d feel something more: remorse, regret, sorrow. But I didn’t feel any of those things. I felt