Disturbance

FIFTY-ONE

They weren’t aware of my presence. Donovan was moving toward me. Parrish was firing at Donovan. I saw Donovan fall, saw Parrish hurry toward him, gun raised and ready to fire again.

That brought him closer to me. I stood, which brought him to a shocked halt, and I used that instant to smoothly raise my weapon and fire. I wanted more than anything to aim for his face. But I had two bullets and only two bullets. I aimed for his body, taking no chances.

Parrish’s knees buckled, and he fell.

I turned my aim on Kai, whose mouth had opened in a silent, shocked O. Then he ran. I ran after him, pissed as hell, ready to put an end to this. But he kept going, panicked. He ran past something and knocked it over, trying to block my pursuit.

A backpack. It had Donovan’s name on it. Better yet, it had a tent and a bedroll on it.

I let Kai run.

I picked up the pack. It was too large for me, but I put it on anyway and let it jostle against me as I moved back to where Donovan and Parrish lay.

When I got there, I saw that both Parrish and I had been less than successful in killing our targets. Parrish was on top of Donovan, trying to strangle him. Donovan was fighting back. I could not see where he was injured, but it was clear that at least one arm was useless. I dropped the backpack, placed the gun beneath it, and pulled out the garrote.

Parrish was utterly intent on killing Donovan. He had not so much as glanced at me. I stretched the wire between my gloved hands, then quickly put my left forearm against his neck, looped the wire and my right hand over his head, and uncrossed my arms. The wire crossed at the back of his neck. I pulled it tighter.

I had his attention then. I had it through the seconds during which he let go of Donovan, while he clawed and bucked and kicked and rolled, taking me with him. I felt him go limp, didn’t trust it but slackened slightly.

He didn’t move, but Donovan did. He reached into his boot with his uninjured arm and in one swift motion withdrew a knife and plunged it into whatever passed for Nick Parrish’s heart.