The Paladin Book 1 Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Friday

December 24th

My girlfriend is a supervillain, my girlfriend is a supervillain, my girlfriend is a supervillain. I couldn’t wrap my head around it, it was a good thing it was a snow day because I kept myself up all night long repeating it just to even accept it. Alicia Romero is a supervillain, and I didn’t realize it. I was destroyed. I didn’t know what to do. What could I do? I couldn’t go to my father, it would bring up more questions than solutions. I couldn’t go to Alex, not only would he not believe me, but also I wasn’t entirely sure he didn’t deserve what he had coming to him. I had alienated everyone I should have trusted and now I was left with no one. Maybe I should just follow her advice, stay out of it. The idea wasn’t completely without merit, keep my family and friends out of harm's way, and all I’d have to do was avoid buying the new Tech-Sync items. I quickly dismissed the thought, I couldn’t let Alicia do it. Whether it was me still being attached or my misplaced self-righteousness, I wasn’t about to allow Alicia to throw away her life. I needed to do something.

By the time two o’clock rolled around I had come up with the basic outline of a plan. I was going to wait till dark, then break into Tech-Sync tower and try to steal her laptop, then have the police arrive and be forced to enter due to my presence. As long as I played it right the police would be forced to take the laptop and would stumble across the videotapes. It was a risky play, at night the place was packed with guards patrolling the place. And not the typical rent-a-cops either, these were seriously well trained private security, not to be trifled with. A few wouldn’t have been a problem, but dozens of them would be an issue. I needed to make sure the police came soon enough to help, but not so soon as to catch me before I got to the laptop. As long as I timed everything correctly there was nothing to fear. Dad, I know this might sound weird, but I need you to bring the police to Tech-Sync tower at 6:30. I think I might have found something important. I texted. A few minutes went by with no response, I couldn’t wait on him, time was ticking and since the weather was so abysmal outside I needed to walk to the tower, but not without making a stop first.

I stood outside of Gerry and Samantha’s apartment, shifting my weight between my feet, considering whether or not I had the courage to go in. I needed to apologize to Samantha, Johnny was right if I wanted to maintain any relationship at all with her I needed to make it right. I had chosen a supervillain over her and now I stood there with egg on my face. I had to face the music. I knocked on the door when I realized it had been left open. I stepped in and tried closing it and noticed something else. Forced entry, splintered wood on the ground was a dead give away.

“Gerry! Sam!” I called. No response. I reached into my gear bag which I took with me and pulled out my mace. “If you guys are here, let me know now!" I searched through each room. Bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, study, family room, nowhere. I ended up back in the kitchen when I noticed a letter magnetically pinned to the refrigerator door. I told you to stay away. If you want to see them alive, go home, and they’ll be returned by New Years. No harm done. But if you cross me, I will hurt them and other people you care about. Please, do the smart thing Booker. No signature but I didn’t need one, it was obviously Alicia’s doing. If the content wasn’t enough, the handwriting matched. This was the final straw, it was one thing to threaten me, to go after me, but going after my friends was a line that was not to be crossed. She went too far and now she was going to have to live with the consequences.

(Meanwhile at Tech-Sync tower)

“Booker told the cops to come around six thirty, odds are he’ll show up a bit before then after it gets dark out. Brief the guards, I want them to be ready, and to know he’s to be taken alive. That means rubber rounds and stun sticks. Other than that anything else goes,” Alicia ordered Rachel who had the remaining members of SEAL Team Zero behind her.

“The other day you said if he puts on the suit to kill him, what’s changed?” Rachel reminded.

“Are you questioning me?” Alicia asked.

“No ma'am, we’re getting paid regardless,” Rachel answered.

“Good.”

“What the hell do you want with us and more importantly what do you want with Booker?” my dad demanded, trying to struggle out of his bindings.

“Alicia, baby, please let me go, why are you doing this?” Alex begged.

“Shut up, you know why you’re here dad. You know exactly what you did to mom. So be quiet before you really piss me off and I have one of them shoot you,” Alicia threatened pointing to the SEALs.

“She was going to leave and bring you with her! You were everything to me Alicia, I couldn’t just let her take you, she would have never let you see me. I had to do it,” he pleaded.

“I knew you did it, you manipulative scum sucking son of a bitch. Tell me this, since you’re in such a talkative mood now. Why did you hire Booker, huh? I know you had a conniving reason, you always do, don’t you?” my dad asked. Alex looked like he was caught in a trap and even Alicia was surprised by his expression.

“Answer him, why did you hire Booker? And don’t even think about telling another lie, I’ve had just about enough of those,” Alicia ordered. Alex looked to the floor ashamedly, taking a deep breath.

“When Alicia told me the name Booker Kelly, I knew it had to be your son Bill. I figured if I got to know him he might be an asset, maybe keep me in the loop about what you knew about Tatiana’s investigation. So with a little bit of digging, I found out where he worked and came up with a reason to show up there. Ethernet cables and soldering irons for the living room, I think it was. So we ran into him at the hardware store, figured it was now or never, and I offered him a position at Tech-Sync. I was going to fire him as soon as I got the information I wanted,” he explained.

“You son of a bitch,” my dad spat.

“How could you?” Alicia asked.

“How could I? Don’t act so innocent Alicia, you were stringing along Booker just the same as I was, weren’t you?” Alex snapped, just as Alicia did the same. She slapped her father with all her might, which was enough to knock the taste out of his mouth.

“Just because you were born without a heart doesn’t mean I was,” she uttered with the utmost bitterness. My dad puffed his cheeks and whistled.

“Well, I guess we know why he’s here. But why us?” my dad questioned.

“You Lieutenant Kelly? You, Samantha, and Mr. Anderson have a very important job to do which is to keep your son in line,” Alicia informed. Gerry chuckled, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. “Something funny?”

“Yeah, actually. I just find it funny that you don’t know how screwed you really are,” Gerry snickered.

“Really? What exactly do you think you know that I don’t? You think I don’t know what Booker does at night? Is that it? Or maybe you don’t think I know about his training, or his gear, or his tactics? Because I know everything, I know he’s the Paladin,” she assured. The entire room looked to my dad except for Gerry, expecting a bombastic reaction.

“Yeah… No shit Booker is the Paladin. I was a detective for Christ’s sake, I’m not an idiot,” my dad scoffed.

“You knew?” Alicia questioned.

“Of course I goddamn knew, the kid has a forge in our backyard and sneaks out at night. Who the hell else could it have been?” my dad scoffed.

“And you let him!?” Alicia followed up.

“What the hell was I supposed to do? Lock him up? I knew if I told him to stop I would drive him away. So I did my best to protect him, covered up his messes a little bit at the crime scenes, had Gerry keep an eye on him,” my dad explained.

“Listen up Alicia, you said you wanted to know what I know that you didn’t? Okay, first thing, I know that if you think you’re going to stop the Paladin with a few guards and some rubber bullets then you’re delusional. Second thing, I know that if you’re going to stop the Paladin you’d better be committed one hundred percent, anything else you and you are sorely underestimating him. In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t think you’re even capable of stopping him,” Gerry provoked.

“Is that so?” Alicia questioned.

“Third thing, I know he’s relentless, and one of the toughest people I’ve ever met and I’ve seen them all honey. But you, you’re just a rich girl with daddy issues. He’s going to tear through you like he’s torn through every other low life in this city, with ease,” he taunted.

“I guess we’ll see,” she replied.

I knocked on the green door and after a moment waiting, Rosa came to the door, a pleasantly surprised look forming on her face. I hadn’t seen her since my theatrical exit at Thanksgiving, so I didn’t know how she would react.

“Booker, hey, how are you doing?” she posed.

“Hey Rosa, I hate to rush you but is Johnny home? I’ve got something important to talk to him about,” I made clear. She nodded.

“Johnny! Baja, Booker está aquí!” she called up the staircase.

“Que mami?” he asked, walking down the steps. He looked in the threshold noticing me and his face slumped in disappointment. “Oh, hey, what’s up?”

“Wanted to talk, you got a minute?” I asked. I could see him considering telling me to screw off, but his mom was right there, and he also was a little curious as to what I had to say.

“Sure,” he replied, motioning me to follow him. I knocked the snow off my boots and followed him up the stairs into his room, where he closed the door behind him. “What do you want, Book? And what’s with the bag?”

“Johnny, I was wrong about everything. I thought that it was Alex Romero behind all this shit, but it was Alicia. It was Alicia the entire time. Now she’s taken Gerry and Sam, and if I don’t stop her she’s gonna hurt a lot of people,” I rushed.

“What!?!?” Johnny exclaimed.

“Look I know this is all crazy, and like ten seconds ago you were pissed at me, but I need your help right now man. I’ve got no one else and I need some backup. You know I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t need you-” I insisted. He scoffed, opening up his bureau drawer, pulling out his holstered revolver that was buried under clothes.

“Just shut up and tell me where we are going,” he cut off, counting the rounds to make sure it was fully loaded, giving the cylinder a quick spin just for good measure.

“Tech-Sync tower.”

“Now remember safety on the bottom, mag release on the side. Also, we’re trying to hurt them not kill them, so wing them if you can. And try your best not to shoot me,” I reminded into my Bluetooth, as I approached the front steps of the tower. It was going to be hard enough to get to the top of the tower and I didn’t need to be worried about Johnny accidentally sniping me from behind.

“Wow, how little trust do you have in me?” Johnny asked, climbing up the side of the construction site across the street with Gerry’s AR on his back. That seemed like a trick question, and one I especially didn’t want to answer given that I didn’t want to offend my only backup. I opened up the door to the lobby and spread across the floor were some ten odd security guards, each armed with electric batons, pistols loaded with rubber rounds, and shotguns loaded with bean bag rounds.

“Booker, don’t be stupid and surrender now. I’ve got four hostages with me, the elevators have been disabled and there are a lot of guards between us. I don’t want them to hurt you, but if you give me no choice I will have you brought to me by force,” Alicia’s voice warned over the building’s intercom. I scanned around the lobby, spotting the main camera and looked at it dead in the lens.

“I’m coming for them first, and then I’m coming for you,” I made clear, then hurled a dagger piercing it dead center. Most of the guards drew their batons and approached while a few drew their pistols and shotguns, forming a perimeter around me. I drew my mace, cracked my neck, and pulled out my shield. WHOOM! I beat the mace against the shield. WHOOM! Another time. WHOOM! Another. I pounded a deep primal beat, getting myself into the zone. “COME ON!” I bellowed, causing the first guard to come in swinging. I ducked under his swing, drilled him in the gut with mace, immediately followed by a bash with the edge of my shield to the side of his head. THUNK! The second came plunging down but I spun around him, kicked his knee out from under him, and when he tried to stand back up I laid into him with a loaded left cross. CRACK! One of the gunners tried flanking around me to take pot shots, but before he could pull the trigger he was sent sprawling to the ground with a 5.56 bullet lodged in his shoulder. I looked back, just barely able to spot what looked like Johnny laid prone on the third floor of the construction site nearly half a mile down the road. I turned back to the lobby floor to see three more guards charging me. WACK! SMACK! THUD! Three more down. BANG! Another one. Johnny and I cut through them like a hot knife through butter, our synchronization, and teamwork exceeding my expectations. I had to admit, Johnny wasn’t as much of an amateur as I’d thought. Maybe I was wrong about this whole team up thing.

“How’s that for not shooting you, huh? Ye of little faith,” Johnny commented through coms.

“Don’t get too cocky there Wyatt Earp, that was the warm up. About to hit the stairs now. You’re gonna need to reposition,” I advised.

“Roger,” he replied, slinging the rifle over his shoulder, climbing up the scaffolding to get a better line of sight on the stairwell. As soon as I made it to the stairs I looked up, seeing the remaining eighty private security guards marching down the stairwell in a single file line. The natural bottleneck made by the staircase was my best chance to fight them one on one, it was now or never. I went back to drumming. WHOOM! WHOOM! WHOOM! Feeling each pulse pump adrenaline throughout my body, a chaotic serenity falling over me as I approached the wave of men coming my way. WHACK! BANG! WHAM! CRACK! THUD! BANG! DING! BANG! Guards started dropping in heaps of broken bones and bullet holes. I wanted to quit, the odds were pretty slim and I saw no way out. Who was I kidding? I was a sixteen-year-old kid who got in way too deep, and now I had to fight a small army. I was screwed. Then I recalled something my grandfather told me, the one maxim my dad ever repeated of his. You feel tired Booker? You feel like you want to give up? Congratulations, you’re halfway there. Now pick yourself up by your bootstraps and finish the job, you didn’t come all this way for no reason.

“Come on Booker, halfway there,” I muttered to myself, biting down on my proverbial mouthpiece. I charged straight into the oncoming mob of men, coming in swinging. Each hit I gave and each hit I took reminded me why I did what I did. Each time I got knocked down by one of their batons and stood back up swinging, I knew. I was the Paladin.

(Meanwhile)

“Holy shit! How the hell is he doing this? It’s impossible, you all said it was impossible. You said that fighting through that many men was something you only see in the movies,” Alicia demanded, turning to SEAL Team Zero, pointing to the TV in front of her displaying me chewing through the guards one by one.

“Looks like your boyfriend should be a movie star then, holy shit,” Yoel noted with a chuckle, pointing at the monitor screen.

“Goddamn look at that boy swing! He’s a real killer out there,” Dallas added. Alicia didn’t seem amused by their remarks.

“Clearly we all underestimated him. But ma’am if I may suggest you retreat and regroup? We can create a new plan to take him down,” Rachel advised.

“You want me to run away after we’ve gotten so close. I’m just supposed to start over from scratch? Just like that? We’ve got the hostages!” she objected.

“The way I see it, the cops are most likely on their way. So it’s either leave now or risk starting from scratch in a prison cell, your choice. Like I said, we’re getting paid regardless,” Rachel posed. Alicia looked past them to the hostages, then thought for a second, pacing back and forth angrily.

“Damn it! Fine, we’ll do it your way.”

“Do you want us to kill the hostages?” Rachel offered. Alicia did a once over of the room, and while she felt a strong urge, especially when looking at her father, she staved it off.

“What would be the point? My father’s already confessed to murdering my mother in front of a police officer with two credible witnesses. He’s going to rot in a cell for the rest of his days. There’s nothing left for us here, we can delete the rest of the evidence from the road,” Alicia made clear.

“We have a chopper and a pilot on standby on the helipad, follow me,” Rachel assured. Alicia nodded and followed behind her.

“Hey you two! I’m gonna stay behind, deal with the punk, make sure he doesn’t follow you,” Dallas informed. Rachel and Yoel gave him a confused look. “Somebody’s gotta dish out a little bit of payback for Andy.”

“That’s not the smart play here Dallas,” Yoel pointed out. Rachel sighed, realizing Dallas had made up his mind on the matter.

“Don’t be stupid about it, you do what you gotta do and you get the hell out. No cops, no jail, Andy might’ve gotten caught because of this kid but I don’t want to have to see you in cuffs too,” she made clear. Dallas nodded in agreement, cocking his shotgun in anticipation.

I pushed through first past the tenth floor, then the twentieth, then the thirtieth, by the time I reached the fiftieth, my mace was bent, my shield severely dented, and my helmet had been so warped that I had to take it off. My face had been beaten and bruised, I had a few new stress fractures on my ribs and arms, and my knuckles had swelled so much they pressed against the inside of my gauntlets. I considered stopping to take a breath, but there was no time to waste. Not to mention if I adrenaline dumped then, I would be so tired that I couldn’t take another step.

“Be careful Booker, once you get in there I won’t have a shot,” Johnny warned into my earpiece. I took a deep sigh, drawing my sword from its scabbard as it was the only weapon I had left. I booted down the door, seeing the four hostages sitting in the center of the rooms, taped to chairs. As soon as they saw me, panic set into their eyes. I rushed forward to cut them loose but by the time I knew what was wrong, it was too late.

“Booker look out!” Gerry yelled.

“It’s a trap!” Samantha shouted. I jerked up my shield instinctively, and it was lucky I did or else they might have been picking my head up in pieces. BANG! I was floored by a point-blank shotgun shot to the shield. I peeked over the shield, seeing Dallas rack another shell.

“I don’t believe we’ve met, name’s Dallas,” he introduced, raising his shotgun. I curled up in a ball behind the shield. BANG! The force rolled me onto my back, leaving me wide open. He ran on top of me, kicking the sword out of my hand towards the center of the room by Gerry’s feet. Click Click. Another shell racked. I brought up my shield for protection but Dallas grabbed it, trying to wrench it out of my hands to get a clear shot. I booted him in the shin, getting him to one knee then caught him in the jaw with another boot, allowing me a chance to get to my feet. That type of hit had knocked out many a common street thug up until that point, but Dallas was a purebred killer that had about seventy pounds on me. This is gonna hurt. He pulled down my shield with a yank and drilled me in the face with a right hook that doubled my vision. Wham! Even if I was at my best this guy would’ve been a challenge, but after fighting through countless armed guards I was all but spent, running on fumes. He tried to wedge his shotgun in to get a good shot but in doing so practically gave it to me for a disarm. The shotgun slid off to the door, far out of reach from the two of us.

“Haha,” I chuckled, proud I managed the disarm in my punch drunken state. Wham! A fist in the face for my troubles, this one re-injuring my already messed up nose. Wham! Another one, this time causing one of my eyes to start swelling shut. Damnit! I stumbled down, shooting for a takedown on him but he pushed me down, bullying me with his size like my older brother used to do. Whap! Whap! Whap! Raining down hammer-fists to the side of my head as I held on to his leg, trying to cover up with my arms.

“Come on kid, where’s that killer instinct? Where’s the Paladin!” Dallas antagonized, smacking me in the face. I was tired. Really tired. More importantly, though, I was tired of dealing with all the shit. Might as well go for broke. I choked up my grip on his leg, and with my last bit of strength I picked him up in a high crotch takedown, his feet dangling above the ground. I roared in pain, tilted him and slammed him headlong into the hard stone floor, falling down with him. The two of us laid motionless, brutal pain split between the two of us. After a few seconds, I rolled over to my back, sucking in air like I had just remembered how to breathe.

“Shit,” I groaned. Suddenly Dallas rose to his knees, head cracked from the fall. He was down, but he wasn’t out. He stumbled on top of me, grabbing my throat in a straight choke. I tried to wrestle him off but I didn’t have the strength to fight it off, I was trapped. Normally there would’ve been five different ways I could have escaped but I barely had enough air to not blackout, let alone fight.

“Okay great, now free me,” Gerry urged, as he handed Samantha the sword after he cut her restraints. She looked over to me, seeing my face turn purple as Dallas squeezed the life out of me and she dropped the sword. “No Sam! No!” Gerry beckoned, knowing what she was about to do. She took off like a lightning bolt, sprinting towards Dallas, nailing him with a flying knee across the jaw. Crack! The strike landed perfectly, causing him to roll across the room and lay sprawled on the ground. Samantha offered her hand and I gladly took it, getting pulled to my feet.

“You think you can keep up with me?” she asked. I smiled, spitting out blood at Dallas indignantly as I stared him down.

“Let’s see what you got,” I agreed, giving Samantha a fist bump. The two of us rushed Dallas, I came in fist swinging wildly but none connected, meanwhile Samantha ducked under, landing a kick to the leg. Dallas crumpled a little, dropping his guard enough for me to land a follow up right hook, which set Samantha up for a quick elbow strike that led into a leg sweep by me. Dallas hit the ground but rolled back to his feet. We pressed forward in perfect synchronization, knowing what each other would do before it happened. I jumped forward with a push kick straight to his chest which he caught but Samantha staggered him with a straight punch to the gut, softening his grip. I threw my whole weight into the sloppiest kick I’d ever thrown that managed to catch him square on the jaw, which Samantha used to combo into a spinning back kick that sent Dallas tumbling. Dallas and I staggered back to our feet, both of us determined not to fall first.

“Son of a bitch,” Dallas growled, grabbing at his jaw. Samantha and I charged in again, this time I slid down low with an ankle pick, pulling Dallas’ leg up at an awkward angle, leaving him wide open to the head kick that Samantha had launched. He managed to block the attack but got floored in the process, this time unable to get up. From the ground, Samantha jumped into side control while I held him down from his guard. Dallas struggled against her but I threw body shot after body shot, not giving him an opportunity to shake her off. She managed to get his back, isolating one of his arms, then another in a full crucifix. She landed a few hard elbows to the head which slowed Dallas down enough for me to land a fearsome right straight to the jaw that had him dizzy. From there Samantha transitioned into the body triangle, sinking in the rear naked choke she’d done a thousand times before. Dallas struggled against her grip, grabbing the back of her hair. But she leaned in hard and I pulled his head down into the choke and wrestled his hands away from her. Within a matter of seconds, he was slumped over, unconscious. I turned onto my back, hyperventilating just to get air into me. Samantha helped me to my feet once more and I pulled her in close with a hug.

“Samantha, I’m so sorry for what I said. I cannot apologize enough for what I-” I was cut short when she broke my hug, grabbed my head and pulled me in tight. Kissing me with all of the stored emotions and feelings that she had been bottling up. All the kisses with Alicia, no, all the kisses I had with all other girls (not that there was much of a difference at the time) combined hadn’t felt half as good as her lips at that moment. I grabbed her waist and held on for my life, never wanting to let go of it. Suddenly I got all of those shitty, tropey, movie moments that I hated so much. Don’t get me wrong, I still hated them, but they made sense.

“You don’t owe me an apology,” she made clear, embracing me tightly.

“Am I the only one who wants to know what the hell is going on?” my dad questioned.

“Long story. Tell it later. Where did Alicia go?” I asked, cutting Gerry and my dad free.

“I overheard her say something about the helipad. But you’re in no condition to go after her Booker, let me go after her while you get them to safety,” Samantha insisted.

“Absolutely not,” Gerry made clear.

“Go, you got this,” I agreed. Samantha nodded and split off to the stairs to the roof, while I pulled the chair out from Alex, allowing my dad to pick him up.

“Which way to the stairs,” my dad asked.

“Hold up guys,” I insisted. Seeing a lull in the action I took my opportunity to stretch out my sore muscles and check myself for any serious injuries.

“Need a minute princess?” Gerry joked.

“You know I don’t appreciate your tone,” I retorted.

“Oh really? Well I don’t appreciate sticking your tongue down my daughter’s throat in front of me! After getting us both into a hostage situation! Then sending said daughter after a dangerous criminal! Guess neither of us are getting what we want,” Gerry replied. If I wasn’t so exhausted I would have gone off on him but I just decided to ignore him and loosen up my back muscles that had been tensed from repeated electrocution.

“Okay, I’m good now.”

“You sure?” Gerry patronized.

“Bite me,” I retorted. I led them through the hallway and to the staircase, making sure I didn’t miss anyone the first time. “Mind the writhing unconscious bodies, and don’t worry, you’ve got the best sniper around watching your back. Dad, you got Alex right?” I asked. He dropped him to the ground and Alex fell flat on his face due to his bindings, and my dad picked him back up.

“Oops,” my dad muttered, eliciting a dirty look from Alex. “I think I got him from here. But Booker, you and I, we’re gonna need to have a long conversation about all of this when we get home,” he made clear. I nodded with a sigh. “As for you Gerry, we’re gonna have that long conversation right now,” he motioned. Clapping his hand on Gerry’s shoulder. As much as I might have wanted to, I didn’t have time to see how that conversation panned out, Samantha needed back up on the roof.

I burst through the doors to the helipad where I saw a helicopter flying off in the distance and Samantha looking down off the edge of the building. Upon realizing Alicia wasn’t there I scanned again, then another, then a third time. She was gone.

“Where’s Alicia?” I asked, looking around Samantha as if she was hiding. “Sam, where’s Alicia? Did she get away?” I repeated. Samantha shook her head and just looked over the edge. After a moment my mouth and my gut dropped with the realization of what had happened. Alicia was dead.

“No. No, no, no no no no no. She didn’t… She’s not… No,” I denied.

“I’m sorry Booker, I couldn’t stop it,” Samantha apologized.

“No. No. She can’t be, she was just…” I continued. Samantha put her arm on my shoulder to try and comfort me but it was no use. “NO!” I roared, crumpling to the ground. “No! No! No! No! FUCK!" Each time smashing my fists against the asphalt until my gauntlets deformed around my hands. After my outburst, I took a few deep trembling breaths, trying to contain my rage as it boiled beneath my skin. “Who did it? Who did it to her?”

“I… I can’t tell you,” she answered, averting her eyes. I looked up to her with a look of burning rage that I had never shown Samantha before. I might have seen her monster before, but this was the first time she saw mine.

“What do you mean ‘I can’t tell you’?” I questioned in a dangerously calm tone, staring her through with an inferno burning in my eyes. “I said, what do you mean?”

“I’m sorry Booker, I just can’t,” she pleaded, her voice quivering. Part of me felt like I wanted to hurt her or hurt someone at the very least. But I knew it wasn’t going to bring Alicia back, and I had had my fill of violence for the evening.

“You did it didn’t you?” I accused. She looked at me appalled that I’d even entertain the idea. But the more it ran through my head the more I could see it. She murdered Alicia. There was no other option. “Didn’t you?”

“No! I would never do that!”

“Really? Would never, huh? Then who did Sam? Huh? Who the hell did!?” I yelled, point blank. Tears formed in her eyes. Her silence spoke for itself. I turned my back on her as a light blanket of snow beginning to descend over Tar City as the full moon sat high in the sky. It was beautiful, but all I could see was the ugliness. “That’s what I thought,” I muttered as I walked away.