Last Breath

57

She landed hard on the floor with Adam on top of her. His thighs clamped on her hips as he straddled her, and crazily she thought of the first time they’d made love.

“God, I’ve wanted this,” he breathed. The same words, then and now-spoken then with passion, now in hate.

She thrashed and flailed at him, and his hand closed over her right wrist, squeezing hard. “Fuck you, C.J.”

He twisted her wrist. She jerked sideways and rammed her elbow into his face. A shout of pain, a crunch of bone, but his grip on her wrist didn’t loosen.

“Broke my nose,” he muttered. “God damn it, you broke my fucking nose.”

She’d ruined more than that. “Guess what, Adam? You can’t get away with it anymore.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“Busted nose. Very visible. No way to hide it.” She panted out the words, her whole body shaking with raw triumph and raw fury. “How will you explain that to the police, asshole?”

Silence from Adam as he took this in. Then a croak of rage. “I’ll kill you.”

I sort of thought that was the idea, C.J. almost said, then felt cold metal against her cheek.

The gun drifted lower, its muzzle kissing her lips.

“Open your mouth,” Adam said.

She wouldn’t.

“Come on, C.J. You used to like it when I put it in your mouth.”

The noise that escaped him was less a laugh than a high, hysterical shudder.

“Open up. And don’t tell me how it doesn’t match the MO. You’re right. I can’t face the cops, so it doesn’t matter anymore. Come on, Officer Osborn. I want you to go out with a bang.”

She clamped her jaws. She would not yield to him in this last contest of wills.

“What’s the matter? You won’t open up for me? You won’t put out? Nothing new about that. You were always too goddamned busy. Why do you think I took up with Ashley? She knew how to have fun. I’ll bet you haven’t been fucked since you walked out on me.” He laughed again. “Well, you’re fucked now, C.J. You’re fucked now! ”

Ringing in the darkness.

The alarm again? No, the sound was too soft.

His cell phone. That was what it was.

It seemed to take Adam a moment to remember the phone. Then he swore, and she heard a rustle of clothing as he removed it from his jacket. It rang again, but he still didn’t answer.

The gun shifted position, and now the muzzle was under her chin, in the hollow of her jaw.

“Make one sound, I blow you away,” he whispered.

Click, and the phone’s keypad light came on, illuminating Adam’s face. She stared up at him. His eyes seemed to have sunk into deep hollows. His mouth was a ragged line.

But when he spoke into the phone, his voice was calm, almost normal. “Adam Nolan.”

He was close enough for her to hear the reply over the phone’s small speaker. “Mr. Nolan, this is Detective Walsh.”

Adam closed his eyes briefly, as if a headache was coming on. “Oh. Yes, Detective, I-I’ve been waiting for your call. How is she? Did you find her? Is she okay?”

C.J. wanted to scream. Wanted more than anything to incriminate him. But she couldn’t. She had fought so hard to live, and she still wanted to extend her life, even if for only another minute. A minute was a long time. Anything could happen in a minute. Anything.

“We’re not sure, Mr. Nolan,” Walsh was saying.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?” A good imitation of concern. It was all in his voice. His face remained blank, a mask. “Did you find her or not?”

“Oh, we’ve found her, all right. But as for her condition, I’m afraid you’ll have to fill us in on that.”

A beat of silence, Adam’s eyes shiny and faraway, and then she saw the heavy swallowing motion of his throat.

“Mr. Nolan?” Walsh asked, a tiny voice, like a buzzing insect.

“What is this,” Adam said finally, “some kind of sick joke?”

“No joke, sir. Your ex-wife is with you, in a warehouse in an unfinished business complex called, uh, Midvale Office Park, I believe. And I’m right outside-me, and some friends of mine.”

“You…” Adam’s face had gone slack. The light in his eyes was dead. “You couldn’t… you can’t…”

“We did. Come out, Mr. Nolan. Come out right now.”

Hesitation, and then she saw a new coldness in his eyes, a sudden resolve. “No way.”

“Be reasonable, Mr. Nolan.”

“Fuck reasonable. You want to know C.J.’s condition? She’s alive, with a gun to her head. I’ve got a hostage-you hear that? Anyone comes in here, and she fucking dies.”

Click, and Walsh’s voice was gone, and so was the light.

They were in darkness again, the two of them.

“You’re not getting out alive, C.J.,” Adam whispered. “That’s a promise. Till death do us part, remember?”