Rhonda’s voice carries down to the beach, accompanied by an opening squeal of feedback. “Kurt?”
The assistant’s head whips around. “Mayor?”
She can’t hear his response. Not yet, anyway. But she continues as if he’s listening. “I knew the day I hired you that it was one of the best decisions I ever made. And you have never let me down. Not once. There is no one on my staff that I trust more. No one that believes in my vision for this county and has the tools to help me execute it.”
“I had to do it!” he calls back, thinking Rhonda can hear him. “Stanley would have killed our chance at being reelected.”
I drop the phone away from the bullhorn, bringing the speaker to my mouth. “Kurt, the mayor has some things she would like to say to you in private. For your ears alone. Are you okay with me bringing down the phone?”
I hold my breath. Come on.
He’s torn. His attention shifts from the staircase to Taylor, back to me. “Leave your weapons up there. All of them. Or I’ll fucking shoot her, I swear to God.”
No.
Not going to let that happen, sweetheart. Have faith in me.
“Okay.” I set down the bullhorn and the phone, taking my gun out of my waistband and putting it on the ground. I lift both of my pant legs to show him I have nothing. “I’m unarmed, all right? I’m coming down.”
This guy might be book smart or politically savvy, but he’s an idiot to let me come within ten feet of him. I just have to hope he doesn’t realize that as I get closer. Holding up the phone like a peace offering, I travel down the steps slowly, heart ricocheting in my ribcage. Kurt is not stable. The closer I get, the more obvious that becomes. He’s muttering to himself. Every once in a while, he punctuates the air between him and Taylor with the muzzle of the gun, as if to remind her who is in charge. The tide could turn at any second.
Please just let me make it over there.
“Are you ready to speak to the mayor, Kurt?”
“Toss me the phone.”
I’m down on the beach now. It’s high tide, so I’m only about twenty yards from where they stand and I’m continuing to inch forward slowly, over the crunching seaweed and pebbles. “You’re pretty close to the water, man. I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Breathe. Breathe. She’s right there. Don’t think about how terrified she looks or you’ll lose it. “How about this? You let Taylor head back up the stairs and point the gun at me, instead. That way I can come over there and hand you the phone safely.”
“No. No way. I don’t know.”
“The mayor told me you would never hurt an innocent woman. She’s right, Kurt. I know she’s right. And she has a lot more to tell you. Let’s just let Taylor go home.”
“Myles,” she whimpers, shaking her head.
“It’s okay,” I rasp. I can’t look at her. I can’t look at her, even to reassure her. There’s still a gun pointed at her and I’m not good. The longer it’s trained on her, the more rapidly my sanity deteriorates. “Kurt?”
When he points the gun at me, I’m nearly felled with relief. “Go, Taylor.”
She hesitates.
“Go. Please.”
With a sob, she starts to run. Thank God. Thank God. I don’t move a single step until I hear her footsteps fade on the wooden planks of the stairs. Until I hear Jude’s exclamation and the flurry of police movement. Safe. She’s safe.
I hold out the phone in my right hand, the palm of my left hand visible.
One step, two, my boots sinking into the sand.
“We found the same gun on the beach,” I say, nodding at his Glock, which he is struggling to keep aloft. “Did you plant it to delay the investigation or throw us off your trail?”
He’s staring at the phone. “Both.”
“Well played.”
“Don’t humor me,” he hisses through his teeth. “Give me the phone.”
I nod evenly, edging forward another step. Two. “Here you go. It’s all yours.”
He’s so eager to speak with his boss and absorb more of her false praise for what he’s done that he’s distracted for a split second. But that’s all I need. I toss the phone up in the air and his attention goes with it. My left hand clamps around the wrist of the hand holding the gun, angling it toward the ocean. It goes off. A bullet fired into the black water where it will hit no one. Especially not Taylor.
The reminder that this man meant to kill her causes me to subdue him with a harder punch than intended, the crunch of cartilage not nearly enough. Nothing will ever be enough. But that’s all it takes for him to go down in a heap on the sand, the phone landing beside his outstretched hand. I remove the clip from his gun and toss it down, too, my adrenaline crashing with a vengeance. From all sides. I see Taylor flying down the stairs in my direction, but I’m shaking my head, not quite ready to declare the beach danger free for her.