Lethal Affair (53 page)

“
Yes. Go now.”

There was a pause, then Crane's radio
crackled. “I can't get the door open, sir. They're locked inside.
I've knocked but there's no answer.”

Crane's panic amplified. On the floor
below Will Delaney had separated the quarreling couple and was
placating the woman while holding off the man.

“
Weaver, you stay here,”
instructed Crane. “Stevens, you come with me.”

They raced out of the room, scrambled
down the stairs and erupted onto the floor below where they shoved
their way through the crowd that had gathered for the show at the
buffet.

*

Inside the storage room, Kylie and
Jolene clung to each other as Drew slowly approached wielding one
of his signature knives. This one was small but clearly well honed,
its blade glistening dully.

“
Who wants to go first?” he
taunted. “Oh, I have an idea. You,” he waved the knife at Jolene,
“grab that cord off the shelf behind you and tie Kylie's hands
behind her back.” When she didn't budge but simply stared, he
yelled, “Do it! Now!”

Jolene jolted, then found her nerve.
“No,” she said, then spat at him. “You want her tied, you do
it.”

The knife flashed as he lunged
forward, slicing neatly across Jolene's upper arm. Beads of bright
red blood erupted.

“
That's just a paper cut
lady,” Drew snarled.

Kylie stepped in front of Jolene,
standing just inches from Drew. “She's just a spectator on the
sidelines. I'm the one you want.”

Drew's focus went onto Kylie. He moved
in closer, face to face, his mirthful mania clearly defined in the
set of his mouth, the narrowing of his eyes. “Aren't you forever
the brave one. You think you can rescue everyone, don't you? But
guess what? When I'm done here, I'll take down everyone you ever
knew. No one will escape me. I'll start with Delaney out there.
He's a menace, a fucking coward who steals other guy's
women.”

There was a loud banging on the door.
Muffled, indecipherable cries came through the heavy steel. Drew
gripped Kylie's wrist and swiveled his head toward the
noise.

In that small nanosecond, Kylie felt
Jolene press something into the palm of her other hand. It was the
cold metal nozzle of the long hose attached to the helium
tank.

*

Will, Lyle and Crane were in a huddle
at the storage room door.

The band played on, the party going
strong, everyone blissfully unaware of the unfolding drama in the
kitchen.

“
Is there any other way into
the room?” asked Crane anxiously.

“
There's a window, but it's
tight. A kid might be able to squeeze through the
opening.”

Crane barked into his radio but got no
response.

“
Fuck!” screamed Lyle. “How
do we get this door open?”

Heart racing, Will sucked in deep
breaths. Eyes searching the door, they came to rest on the hinges.
“Quick. Go out back and bring me a long screwdriver and a
hammer.”

Lyle tore through the kitchen and out
a back door, encountering a body lying in a heap. He stooped long
enough to check for a pulse, then sprinted off toward a shed. In
record time he was back with the tools.

“
One of your men is
unconscious out back,” Lyle spewed in Crane's direction.

While Will began hammering out the pin
holding the upper hinge in place, Crane barked commands into this
radio as he ran out and came back with a chisel and a rock.
Together they worked on releasing the three large pins.

Within minutes Crane's radio crackled
and he received the news that the casing of the small window in the
rear had been pried off with a crowbar, widening it's gap. Big
enough now for a determined adult to get through and lay in wait
inside.

“
Send someone in through the
window,” Will demanded.

“
He's got it blocked from
the inside,” said Crane. “We can try to push whatever it is out of
the way but it might escalate an already volatile
situation.”

*

Kylie felt the cold blade skim along
her jaw. It felt all too familiar. She hadn't given up then and she
wouldn't now.

Drew was staring into her eyes. “What
a waste. You're the only one who might have saved me,” he said. He
released her wrist and pushed her lips together into a pout, then
brutally kissed her, his tongue like sandpaper, sliding over her
clamped teeth, demanding entry.

Disgust, horror and fear mingled, her
mind in overdrive. The helium tank nozzle slipped from her fingers
as she struggled to ward him off, expecting a sharp, blood letting
stab at any moment. Images flashed across her mind like ticker
tape, at first a vague reminder, then sharp and crisply clear.
She'd practiced moves. Would there be opportunity to use them? The
videos she'd watched taught a simple lesson: create your
opportunity, then act on it.

When she would not relent
Drew released her with a swoosh, then stepped back in with the
knife poised. Nostrils flaring, eyes like burning coals, he
expected her to retreat against Jolene's cowering body.
Expect the unexpected Drew!
Feeling a surge of personal power and knowing this was their
only chance, Kylie stepped into him instead and blocked with her
forearm. The arc of his swing went past her, missing Jolene by mere
millimeters. With all the force she could muster Kylie slammed
upward under his chin using the palm of her hand, cutting his
momentum short. He fell backward and hit the hard cement floor with
a resounding thump.

The knife was still in his hand. Semi
stunned, from his horizontal position he swiped at Kylie's shins.
Kylie came at him from the opposite side, dropped down and dug her
knee into his throat while Jolene stomped on his knife hand with
her stiletto heel. He howled in pain as the knife flew from his
grasp, then quick as a flash he grasped Jolene's ankle and down she
went, landing hard on her rump, her elbow connecting with his rib
cage.

The hose and its nozzle were within
grasp. Kylie got hold of it, thumbed open the safety mechanism and
tried to shove the nozzle between Drew's lips. He clamped his mouth
shut and wrapped both hands around Kylie's wrist in an effort to
stop her.

Grunting, sweating, they tussled while
Jolene applied her weight to Drew to keep him down.

Gritting her teeth with effort, Kylie
wrestled the nozzle past Drew's lips and then out again as he
fought against her. His whole body bucked as he tried to extricate
himself out from under the two women.

Their eyes met. His feral, Kylie's
frantic, pleading for some sign of normalcy.

“
Drew!” she spit out between
gasps. “Are you in there? Come out for God's sake!”

Then, haltingly, he went
still.

The wild chaotic gleam faltered. His
eyelids fluttered, his breathing slowed. His eyes so fathomless
moments before now stared up at her with fervor, and she saw the
Drew she'd known so many months ago slowly emerge.

“
Kylie...” he uttered
softly.

Tears brimmed as she gazed down at him
and saw a vulnerable Drew, a confused and altered Drew. Something
inside her crumbled. Slowly she began to move the helium gas nozzle
away. She was no killer. He could be taken alive, judged insane and
live out his life in psychiatric treatment. She owed Olivia that
much.

Now his eyes were pleading. They
stared a long moment into each others souls. His filled with a
sorrow so intense that Kylie felt it at the center of her
being.

He grasped her hands on the nozzle
again, this time gently, persuasively, guiding the nozzle to his
lips.

She questioned him with her eyes and
he answered on a murmur, “You can still save me, Kylie.”

He shoved the nozzle deep down his own
throat, squeezing the trigger and releasing the gas. Choking,
Drew's eyes rolled backward. His body went limp, the gas filling
his lungs, depriving him of oxygen.

Kylie toppled to one side, breathing
hard.

“
Is he out?” asked
Jolene.

Kylie slapped him lightly. There was
no response.

The door slammed inward off its
hinges. The men charged the room and came to a skidding stop to
find the women huddled over Drew Hammond's lax body.

The tank's hose protruded from his
mouth. Crane surged forward and plucked it out, then felt for a
pulse.

“
Is he...?” asked
Jolene.

Crane looked up at the four of them
now standing in a tight, unified circle.

“
He's alive.” He got on his
phone to call for an ambulance.

* * * *

CHAPTER TWENTY
SEVEN

The all day dual bachelorette party was
in full swing.

Kylie and Jolene had been converged
upon by female family and friends while Will and Lyle had been
whisked away for parts unknown by their counterparts.

The previous week had been a whirlwind
of activity starting with an engagement party that had brought all
four families together to form what could only be called a clan.
The addition of friends both local and far reaching had elevated
their status to tribe.

Julia, Tom and Max had arrived and in
the company of Max's island play buddy, Bobby, had enjoyed the
whale watching tour through the stunning Gulf Islands.

Today's entertainment in Kylie and
Jolene's honor took place at the Bear Mountain Resort Spa in
preparation for the next day's main event, the wedding
itself.

Aglow after a series of pampering
treatments, the women now sat in an outdoor mineral pool with wine
glasses in hand, overlooking the splendid greenery of Bear
Mountain's golf course surrounded by dense forest.

Fully relaxed for the first time in
months, Kylie watched as far down the fairway a deer poked her head
out of the woods, tentatively sniffing the afternoon breeze.
Deeming it safe the doe stepped out, followed by two spindle legged
fawns that had been born that summer and were now forming their
winter coats. They began to graze on the more lush grasses at the
edge of the course.

“
I want two I think,” she
said absently, then realized she'd spoken out loud.

Will's mother Nina followed Kylie's
gaze down the fairway. “Two's a good number. When the time is
right. Planned parenthood works best.”

“
We already have two kids,”
Jolene dead panned. With everyone gaping, “Their names are Dino and
Cookie.”

Jolene's mother Shawna yanked on her
daughter's curls. “I guess we're in for a big family.”

Rita had been busy making clandestine
arrangements. She bounced onto the scene wearing a robe and a huge
grin.

“
They're ready for you now
ladies.” Curious but knowing better than to ask, Kylie and Jolene
emerged reluctantly from the pool and were wrapped in heated fuzzy
bathrobes. “You're getting the salon treatment now. All the bells
and whistles.”

“
Oh Mom, this
is...”

“
...your special time. So
don't say another word, just enjoy. We promise not to get drunk
while we wait. Still a long evening ahead of us.”

Ensconced in the salon, Kylie and
Jolene underwent transformations while the ladies transferred to a
twelve person hot tub bubbling with eucalyptus oil scented
water.

Inevitably the subject of Drew Hammond
came up.

“
What was his final
diagnosis?” asked Julia, easing down into the water.

“
He suffered a form of
hypoxia,” explained Lydia, “the result of oxygen deprivation. The
helium itself wasn't the culprit but rather the lack of oxygen to
his brain. In layman's terms, he's brain damaged. He has retained
some of his motor skills but his ability to communicate is
compromised.” She let out a long, satisfying sigh. “His
neurosurgeon told me he'll never be fully cognizant
again.”

“
Best place for him then,”
came Eileen's opinion as she luxuriated in the bubbly tub. “He's
inside his own head and can't come out to play.”

Rita raised her glass. “Well
put!”

“
Where will they send him?”
asked Millie, looking youthful and svelte.

“
Some high security mental
institution I imagine,” said Lydia. “But why are we talking about
something so unworthy of this day?” She raised her glass. “To our
girls and their bright futures.”

Everyone toasted, fully aware that
they'd come close to losing them, grateful that their ordeal was
finally over.

*

Wedding day jitters didn't kick in
until Kylie and Jolene stood poised, hand in hand, at the base of
the flower strewn aisle.

Kylie squeezed Jolene's hand. “It's
happening. We're doing this. Is it real?”

Jolene's eyes glittered with
excitement. “It's a real life fairytale. And we get to live
it.”