Four to Go (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (23 page)

John looked up then. “Samuelson,” he said loudly. “How did you get in here?”

Mrs. Mallory gave a terrified moan, and Samuelson tightened his arm around her neck, his attention on Ben, who was standing.

Samuelson gestured to Ben. “Drop your weapon to the floor. Now! Unbuckle that belt very slowly with your left hand and let it drop to the floor. The rest of you, put your hands on the table and don’t move an inch,” he said, and he returned the gun to Mrs. Mallory’s temple.

Ben, standing in front of Carolanne, did exactly as directed while everyone else placed their hands on the table.

Samuelson gestured to Ben again with his gun. “Put both hands behind your head. Now!”

Ben did as Samuelson directed.

“Samuelson, let Mrs. Mallory go,” Mike shouted.

A look of extreme shock crossed his face as the use of his name finally registered. “How did you know my name?” Samuelson roared.

“We know all about you, Samuelson. We know you murdered your wife, Rosie.” Tom stood up slowly, sighing with obvious relief when the gun left Mrs. Mallory’s temple and pointed directly at him

“Nooooo. No. You stole my Rosie away from me. You did. It’s your fault that my Rosie is gone.” Samuelson’s face was contorted with insane rage and hatred.

Kate slowly rose to her feet beside Tom, her voice raised in anger. “Mr. Samuelson, my husband had nothing to do with your Rosie’s disappearance. And what’s more, you know it. Now let Mrs. Mallory go, and we can sit down and discuss this like rational human beings.”

“Kate, please don’t,” Tom cried softly.

“I said sit down and put your hands on the table where I can see them, unless you want to see her dead.” Samuelson shouted as he pointed his gun at Mrs. Mallory again. “Except you, Sheriff. You stay right where you are, and keep your hands behind your head.”

Tom and Kate sat back down and put their hands on the table.

Carolanne reached up very slowly, her body half hidden by Ben.

Ben hissed in a breath and fear twisted his insides, until he felt her slip a gun into the back waistband of his jeans.

“Mr. Samuelson,” Carolanne said softly, soothingly as she leaned forward to look at him. “The police notified us that your Rosie’s body has been found. It was buried a few steps into the woods. You remember the house, don’t you? I think they said it was number twenty-four Canyon Road.”

Everyone in the room could see the moment when his mind remembered. They could see the horror and the pain. And they could see his instant rejection of the reality he couldn’t face.

“Noooooooo. You lie! I would never hurt my Rosie. You lie! It’s not true!”

Ben reached back and pushed Carolanne fully behind him. “Sit back,” he hissed and quickly put his hand back behind his head.

Mrs. Mallory suddenly slumped unconscious in Samuelson’s hold, her face blue. He adjusted his hold across her chest instead of around her neck, and the blue began to disappear.

“Let her go,” Kate cried. “You’ve nearly killed her. Just let her go!”

A cold, calculating look appeared on Samuelson’s face. “Fine, I’ll let her go when you come up here and take her place.”

“Deal,” she said shortly. Kate stood and slowly edged by the chairs in front of her.

“Kate, no. Oh God, Kate, please don’t do this,” Tom whispered helplessly.

Kate continued to move slowly forward. “You lost Rosie’s little girl, didn’t you, Samuelson. She must have looked a lot like her mama. You killed Rosie first, and then you wanted to turn her little girl into a copy of her mother for you to use. For you to hit with your fist, like you did to her mama.”

“Damn it, Katie, shut the fuck up,” whispered Mike urgently as she passed his chair.

As she slowly walked forward, Kate looked around the room and saw Ben across the table and slightly ahead of her with his hands behind his head and a revolver in the back waistband of his trousers. She saw Connor, who was seated with his back to Samuelson, and noted one hand on the gun tucked in the front of his trousers. She also knew that her guys were armed to the teeth. She just had to give them a chance to take Samuelson down.

“Did you know that she’s married now? Rosemary’s going to have a baby. Another man’s baby, Samuelson. She’s happy with another man. A man who didn’t murder her mama. A boy she fell in love with in her class at school, not an old man like you. That’s who stole her away from you, a boy from school. Not my husband.” Kate gripped the derringer in her jacket pocket as she angled her body so that he could not see what she was doing.

“You lie. It’s a lie, a lie. She’s mine!” he shrieked. His screams covered up the sound of Kate flicking off the safety on her derringer and cocking it. She was almost close enough for him to grab her. Before she took the last step, she looked back at her three men, her three loves, but the terrified look she saw on their faces nearly stopped her in her tracks.

Enraged, Samuelson shoved Mrs. Mallory to the side and grabbed Kate by her arm, yanking her toward his body. She lurched into his side and jammed her derringer into the elbow of his gun arm, pulled the trigger, and dropped to the floor.

“Nooooo!” he screamed in shock as the gun hung limply from his useless hand. He made a frantic attempt to grab the gun, but it dropped out of his hand.

As Kate fell to the floor, Connor turned low in his chair and snapped a shot up at Samuelson, hitting him in the throat. Ben’s shot was a bare fraction of a second later, hitting Samuelson between his eyes. But before his body fell to the floor, Mike, John, and Tom got off one body shot each in a rolling volley of sound, punching his already dead body back through the doorway into the foyer.

* * * *

John picked up his cell phone and said two words, “He’s dead.” His cell phone came alive with shouted instructions and questions. “Get here as soon as you can, and we’ll fill you in on everything.” He turned off his cell phone and slipped it into his pocket.

Mike and John split up and began searching for Trey and Ryan. John found them conscious, but tied up and gagged in the pool room. They had moved back-to-back and were frantically trying to untie the ropes that bound them, but hadn’t quite made it. Seeing the blood on both of their faces, John quickly called for another ambulance as Mike arrived and helped cut them free.

They absolutely refused to stay in the pool room, wanting to be a part of the whole takedown, even if it was after the fact. John nodded to Mike, and they assisted the men to their feet and explained what had happened during the shooting.

Trey nodded morosely as they walked down the hallway. “He said he’d be back to put a bullet in our brains, but he wanted us to listen to the others get it first. Then he laughed and walked away. He was one sick son of a bitch.”

“The worst thing was,” said Ryan, “he meant every word, literally. He was going to come back and kill us. It certainly gives you a new perspective on life and on living.”

They stopped in the foyer where Samuelson’s body had ended up. They looked at the bullet-ridden body dispassionately.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Mike said as they turned away. “But because he stopped to tie you both up, he missed hearing the phone conversation where his identity was revealed and the fact that his wife’s body had been found. We were able to keep him surprised and just a little off balance, which gave us a small edge.”

They looked slightly mollified at that thought.

Ryan and Trey headed for Connor, who was in deep discussion with Sheriff Whittaker, but Carolanne headed them off and pulled them to a couple of chairs near the table and started asking them what had happened to them.

* * * *

Kate watched, fascinated. After the shooting had stopped and he’d verified that Samuelson was dead, she watched Ben stride toward Carolanne and haul her into his arms and kiss her senseless. Then they both looked at Connor. Carolanne said something to Ben, and he nodded, kissed her lingeringly again, and then went to talk to Connor.

Whatever Ben had said to Connor seemed to help. Color was finally returning to his face, and he looked almost normal as he walked over to where Trey and Ryan were sitting and joined their conversation.

One ambulance had already come and taken Mrs. Mallory to the hospital for observation. She was obviously distraught and had undergone quite a terrifying ordeal.

Forty-five minutes later, the sirens screaming outside announced the arrival of Ian and Trent and their teams, as well as the second ambulance Mike had called for Trey and Ryan. Chaotic confusion reigned as Ian and Trent, with their headsets bleating instructions from headquarters, took over. Their men were milling about in the hall, taking pictures of Samuelson’s body from every possible angle. They even appropriated the ambulance for transportation of Samuelson’s body, although the EMTs did patch up Trey and Ryan before they left. Finally, hours later, the body and most of the men were gone.

Ian and Trent videotaped and audio taped interviews with each person present. Then, just before they left, they played the taped cell phone coverage they obtained from John’s call.

“I can’t even begin to tell you how we felt listening to that and not being able to be here, or able to do anything to help. Especially, when we knew exactly how dangerous this guy was,” Ian stated solemnly. “I don’t ever want to go through anything like that again, and I’m sure you don’t either. But, having said that, I can’t help but acknowledge the incredible job you all did. Each and every one of you contributed to getting a veritable monster off of the streets. Well done. Well done.” He turned and left the room without another word.

Trent smiled grimly before following Ian out of the room and said, “What he said, and thanks.”

Ben stood and held his hand out to Carolanne. “Is our date still on? It’s way past seven o’clock.”

“Most definitely. Let’s go home, Ben. I’ve got beer cooling and I’ll call for the pizza on the way.” Carolanne stood and took his hand, pulling him to the door.

“Boy,” said Ryan after they left. “Pizza and a cold beer. Sounds like heaven to me.”

Connor and Trey nodded enthusiastically.

“Tell you what,” said Tom. “I have an account at the Pizza Palace and can have three or four pizzas delivered, and maybe some hot wings, salad, and pasta, too. There’s plenty of beer and soft drinks in the refrigerator in the pool room. Unless you’d rather escape from here for a while. I could understand that, too.”

“Not me,” said Ryan forcefully. “Staying here sounds great.”

“Me, too,” said Connor and Trey.

“Well, go on. Enjoy yourselves. We’ll let you know when the food gets here. You’re off for the rest of the night.” John smiled and added, “Don’t worry about getting up early tomorrow, either. Take the day off and have a good time.”

“My God, the resiliency of youth.” Mike grimaced. “Were we ever that young?”

Tom put down his cell phone after placing the food order. “No, actually, I don’t think we were ever that young. But I like seeing them happy. How is Connor doing? I’m sure it was traumatic for him to actually shoot a man. But I’ll be eternally grateful that he never hesitated. I saw both you and Mike talking to him for a short time. Is he okay?”

“Well, Connor said Ben talked to him and told him that, yes, his shot to the throat could have been lethal,
if
we’d had the time to wait for him to bleed out. Or Kate’s shot could have hit an artery or vein in his arm, and eventually killed him, with enough time. But Ben told him that what his shot and Kate’s shot did was to shock and stun Samuelson just long enough for Ben to be able to take aim and deliver the killing shot. So I think he’s going to be able to deal with what happened. But what about you, Kate?” John looked anxiously at her. “How are you dealing with this?”

“Actually, I’m dealing with it just fine, at least for now. I keep expecting to have a reaction, but so far, nothing. I was so angry at that man for all he put Tom through and what he did to that poor child’s life that shooting him in the arm didn’t seem so bad. I just had to do it, you know?” Her voice started wobbling. “I’m glad it’s over. No more worries, but I’m so tired. I know it’s probably shock and adrenaline overload, but all I want to do now is sleep. Just stretch out and sleep.”

“Then let’s go upstairs, sweetheart,” Tom said quickly. “We’ll stretch out together because I’m suddenly feeling exhausted, too. And I’m not willing to let you out of my sight, or my arms. We’ll wait until tomorrow to give you hell for taking ten years off of our lives.” Tom looked at Mike and John. “Will you see that the food is taken back to the pool room for me? You’re both welcome to join us, you know.”

“We do know,” said John as he leaned down to kiss Kate good night. “You take care of our girl tonight, Tom. We’ll see you both in the morning.”

“Good night,” said Mike as he kissed Kate, too.

“I sure hope Tom ordered enough food,” John said after they’d gone, “because suddenly I’m starving.”

“Me, too, but I’ve got to run upstairs for a few minutes. Will you call me when the food arrives?”

“You know I will.”

Mike nodded and went upstairs.

John stood in the empty foyer, noting the bullet holes in the walls and the occasional smear of blood that Ian’s and Trent’s men missed. They’d have to call in a professional cleaning crew as well as have the bullet holes patched.

But that was for another day.

The next morning Mrs. Mallory was preparing breakfast, the aroma of fresh coffee and homemade cinnamon rolls filling the kitchen.

“Mrs. Mallory,” cried Kate. “I never expected to see you today. How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m just fine. Charlie came to get me at the hospital last night and took me home, thank goodness. I just hate hospitals.” She smiled and returned the hugs she was getting from everyone.

“Charlie’s taking me on a trip to Florida to see our daughter and grandkids. I’ve never been there, and I’m so excited. But I told Charlie that I had to come back here before we left. I wanted to tell you how much it meant to me that you were willing to trade places with me, just to save me from that crazy man. Charlie said it was the bravest thing he’d ever heard of, too, especially after he talked to those two men who came to the hospital to get my statement.”