Walk the Wire

Chapter 85

Decker grabbed Jamison and yanked her from the room and out onto the front porch.

The blast blew out the front windows, and the front wall partially collapsed on them, but it had also taken the brunt of the explosion, leaving them bruised but not seriously injured.

They staggered up and looked around.

“Where’s Kelly?” shouted Jamison.

They pushed through the debris and went back inside the house to find the front room demolished.

They saw Kelly climbing out a broken window at the rear of the room. He was all bloody and one of his arms was dangling by his side.

“Kelly, wait,” called out Decker.

But the man disappeared from view.

“Where are Liz and Caroline?” cried out Jamison.

Decker ran to the shattered window and looked outside. “I can’t see anything, but their cars are out front. It’s the only way out.”

They clambered over the debris and ran out of the house.

No one was near the vehicles parked in front.

“What the hell!” exclaimed Decker. “Where did they go?”

They heard an engine start up. A few moments later, Cramer’s Honda raced from the outbuilding. They ran toward it even as it bore down on them.

At the last possible second, Decker went one way and Jamison the other.

Then shots were fired. Decker looked up from the ground to see Kelly standing in the middle of the one road leading out, his left arm dangling uselessly next to his torso and the other curled around his service pistol, which he was emptying into the car’s front windshield on the driver’s side.

“Kelly, look out,” screamed Jamison.

The car lurched to the right and appeared ready to miss Kelly, but then it straightened out and continued to bear down on him.

Kelly launched himself sideways, a second too late, as the edge of the right bumper clipped his leg and sent him flying.

He landed hard in a heap twenty feet away and didn’t move.

The Honda, cracked windshield and all, stopped, backed up, and turned. Now it was heading right toward Decker. He stood and aimed his pistol.

Jamison did the same.

Before either of them could fire, a heavy round hit the car dead center of the front grille and it exploded. The Honda was lifted off the ground before slamming back down to the dirt.

Before Decker could move, a man came to stand next to him, his long gun in hand.

Robie said, “You okay?”

Decker nodded.

Jessica Reel appeared and helped Jamison up. “Nothing broken?” she said.

“I’m good,” replied Jamison before seeing Kelly writhing in pain on the ground. She hustled over to him and cried out, “Call 911. Hurry!”

Decker pulled out his phone but Reel barked, “Ambulance is already coming. One minute away. We figured it might be needed when you told us to be here tonight as backup.”

Decker, Robie, and Reel stared at the Honda. It was no longer mobile, so they weren’t worried about it coming at them. But no one had gotten out of the vehicle, either.

Both Robie’s rifle and Reel’s pistol were pointed at the car.

Decker called out, “Liz, come out of the car. Now!”

Seconds passed and then the passenger door opened. Southern climbed out with a gun pressed against Dawson’s head.

When Robie and Reel started to move forward, Decker called out, “Wait. Just... wait.”

The two women moved in front of the Honda.

“Put the gun down, now,” barked Robie. Both his and Reel’s weapons were pointed directly at Southern’s head.

“Don’t think so,” said Southern. “Now, you’re going to let us pass, we’re getting in Caroline’s Porsche, and then we’re getting the hell out of this godforsaken place.”

“Liz, please,” said Dawson. “Let me go.”

“It’s going to be okay, Caroline. Just trust me. You’ve always trusted me. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“You’re holding a gun to her head,” Decker pointed out.

“Well, you sort of forced my hand on that.”

Dawson looked over at where Jamison was kneeling next to Kelly. “I hope Joe is all right. I tried to stop Liz from hitting him.”

“You should have known better, Caroline. But that’s okay. I’ll be strong for both of us. I’ll take care of you.”

“Put the gun down, Liz,” said Decker, watching her every movement, while Robie and Reel did likewise. “You are not leaving here.”

“Well, then we have a very big problem, because I have no intention of going to prison.”

“Did you really have to kill Cramer?” said Decker.

“I kidnapped her and brought her here. I had the idea that I could get some money from Caroline to make her go away and leave us alone.”

“She moved from Dawson Towers and was planning to leave town. I don’t think she was doing anything to try to hurt the two of you. I think you’re paranoid and you read way too much into the situation.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong, Decker. My love for Caroline is absolute. But there are others, so many others, who will do anything to keep us apart. Caroline understands that. She knows I had to do what I did.”

Dawson flinched at this but remained slient.

“How did Cramer end up dead and butchered, then?” asked Decker grimly.

“I was taking her some food when she broke free. There was a struggle. My ring came off. And... Cramer just swallowed it. I couldn’t believe she did that. So... I stabbed her and then dumped the body. I never expected the FBI to come here and investigate.”

“You didn’t know about Cramer’s past,” said Decker.

“And then Hal Parker appeared one day and threatened me. You were right about the tires. He had taken photos. He wanted money.”

“What about Ames?”

“At the same time she came around and started asking questions. About Cramer. She seemed to know about me and Liz. Ames knew Cramer from the Colony. I thought she might have told Ames what she had seen. I got scared. If Hugh found out, he’d cut Caroline out of the money.”

“So it was just about the money then?” said Dawson bitterly.

“I loved you,” shouted Southern, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Like I have never loved anyone ever. I was looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you.”

“Liz, you were very special to me. So kind and supportive. But... killing people and saying you did it for me? That’s... you can’t do that. It’s wrong. You know that.”

Southern tightened her grip around Dawson’s throat. “I loved you. That’s why I did it. It was all for you! You!”

“Okay, put the gun down now, Liz,” said a nervous Decker as Southern grew more and more out of control.

She shook her head. “That won’t be happening, Decker.”

“Why not?”

“Caroline and I were meant to be together. And nothing will stop that from happening.”

Southern took a deep breath. Her gaze grew rigid and her expression determined. Her finger slipped to the trigger. “We will be together. If not in this life, then the next.”

Decker shouted, “Don’t!”

The shot rang out.

It was like a frozen instant in time. No one moved, no one breathed.

The round passed right through Southern’s head and out the back. She stood there, dead, for less than a second. And then she toppled to the dirt.

Dawson screamed and ran toward them.

They all looked around to see the source of the shot.

From a hundred yards behind them, Shane rose from a prone position on the ground, his rifle and scope in hand.

“I was a sniper in the Army,” he said quietly.

Robie looked at Southern’s body.

“And a good one,” he said.