Jeff Abbott: Panic

‘That still cool with you, Dad?’ Evan called. ‘You want Jargo in or not?’

Mitchell found his voice. ‘I don’t want my brother dead. But, no, he can’t stay in command.’ Playing along with Evan, stepping into his son’s charade.

‘Okay, Dad.’ Evan gave Jargo a smile; the hardest gesture he’d ever made. ‘I’m not cutting you entirely out of the family business. I mean, if you want to retire, it’s your choice.’ He pulled Khan’s PDA out of his jacket pocket. ‘I took this from Thomas Khan. A copy of that film we’re all enjoying is also sitting on a computer, preset to e-mail in less than ten minutes. To every client. And to every Deep. Those kids you were raised with, endured hell with. I know you’ve killed at least two of them. That leaves twelve who don’t know what a piece of shit you are. They’ll find out in ten minutes.’

‘So I just hand over the reins to you?’ Jargo said.

Dezz bounced on the soles of his feet.

‘Yes, you do. Sound familiar? You pulled a similar stunt on Alexander Bast twenty-odd years ago. But I’m not killing you.’ Not yet , he thought. He gripped the PDA, willed his hand not to shake. ‘I can stop the e-mail program from scaring the shit out of your whole network and every client of yours. Only I have the key. You kill me, you hurt my dad or Carrie, the files go, and you’re history. The Deeps will hunt you. The clients will hunt you. And when they find you; you’ll be the one kicked to death.’

‘Dad,’ Dezz said in a strained voice, ‘this is absolute bullshit.’

‘I had a hacker break all of Khan’s files open for me,’ Evan said. ‘I know your name, Uncle Nikolai, I know who you are and who pays you. It’s done for you. Over.’

‘He’s lying!’ Dezz screamed.

‘Am I? I have Khan’s laptop. I have his files, his PDA, and that film footage.’ Evan narrowed his stare. ‘You messed with the wrong guy.’

‘It’s all a bluff,’ Dezz said. His reddened face sweated, he grimaced showing small white teeth.

Evan kept his gaze on Jargo, unlocked the PDA with his thumbprint. He tapped open a file on the PDA. Held it out for Jargo to read. A long list of names. Clients. Deeps.

‘Do I look,’ Evan said, ‘like I’m bluffing?’

The glow of the PDA played along Jargo’s face. He read the names. Closed his eyes. ‘What… do I have to do to get you to not send the e-mail?’

‘Put your guns on the floor. Unlock my father and Carrie. Leave. Immediately. Just go.’

Dezz raised his gun. ‘No!’

‘Kill me and it goes,’ Evan said. ‘Decide.’

‘You could still send the e-mail,’ Jargo said.

‘You’ll just have to trust me,’ Evan said. ‘Dad still wants to run the Deeps, I won’t destroy his business.’ The lie tasted fine in his mouth, with all the other lies. He held out his hand. ‘Your gun.’

Jargo said, ‘Mitchell. For God’s sake… you know I never would have hurt you. I gave you the life you wanted. The life we dreamed about. I cannot believe you would turn on me.’

‘You just broke his fingers,’ Evan said.

‘Not me. Dezz did. Dezz… did.’ Jargo took an unsteady step. ‘You’re doing this because you think I killed your mom. I didn’t. I did not.’ A stress on the I. ‘I just wanted to find out what she had taken, why she had taken it. I…’ He shuddered, uncertain in his sudden weakness.

‘Shut up and give me your gun. Eight minutes.’

Jargo handed him the gun. ‘Unlock Carrie. Unlock my dad.’

‘Do it,’ Jargo said to Dezz.

‘No way, no way, no way!’ Dezz’s voice morphed to a high shriek. ‘It’s a lie, he’s just telling us a story, it’s what he does!’

Evan aimed the gun at him. ‘Seven minutes. You want to get down the road, I imagine.’ He wanted to shoot Dezz, shoot him right through his lying eyes. But he just wanted them gone, his father safe, Carrie safe. The police could pick them up on Alligator Alley, whether they fled back to Miami or headed northwest to Tampa.

Jargo grabbed the keys and knelt by Mitchell. Mitchell pushed himself away from the wall. In pain.

Dezz closed the laptop, cut off the reel of video, and swung the gun toward Evan. ‘Dad, this is a bad idea. He’s bluffing. There’s no wireless around here for him to connect to, to stop an e-mail.’

‘I can do it with a phone call, too,’ Evan said. ‘You’re running out of time.’

‘Dezz. Shut up.’ Jargo clicked loose the cuff that held Mitchell to the iron bar and glared at his son. ‘If not for your lack of self-control…’

Mitchell climbed to his feet, one circle of the handcuff open, the other dangling from his left wrist. He stared at his brother. Anger, hate, hurt, a kaleidoscope of emotions built over the years of deception, played across his face.

Evan saw it, keeping his gun trained on Dezz, thinking, Dad, just let them go, we’ve got the upper hand, play it out, they’re gone and we’re fine…

‘You killed my Donna,’ Mitchell said. His mouth sounded as if it were full of gravel. ‘You flew to Austin and killed her.’

Then he swung the heavy cuff.

The open circle of steel caught Jargo in the face, sliced through skin, hooked hard into his cheek. Jargo screamed. Mitchell yanked the cuff and tore his brother’s face open.

Dezz swung his gun toward them, but Mitchell spun with a kick and caught Dezz’s arm. The bullet blasted into the cypress flooring.

Evan ducked back to cover Carrie, who was still bound to the floor.

Dezz retreated to the door and fired. Twice. The first bullet caught Jargo in the back of the head as he staggered, his hooked face chained to his brother’s wrist. The second hit flesh with a wet pop as the two brothers collapsed together.

Evan fired. Dezz fell back from the doorway. Evan heard footsteps pounding in retreat, a howl of pain. Evan kept his gun trained on the door, frantic with fear for his dad. He knelt by the crumpled bodies. Jargo lay atop his father and he pulled him off. Jargo was dead, the back of his head a wet mess. Unseeing eyes bulged in disbelief.

Mitchell looked at his son. He moaned and closed his eyes. A circle of bullet gouged the middle of his shirt.

‘Evan!’ Carrie’s voice cut through the haze of shock. She pulled hard at the cuff that bound her to the floor.

‘Dad is shot-’ he started, then his head cleared. Get her loose. She could help Dad, he could go finish Dezz. If Dezz came back, he couldn’t leave her bound to the floor.

‘Jargo’s got the key,’ she said.

He found the keys under Jargo’s dead arm. He hurried to her, keeping the gun aimed at the doorway, jabbed the key into one lock. It popped free.

‘Keep aiming,’ she said. ‘I’ll open the other lock.’

‘Babe, he shot my dad.’ All the bluster, all the confidence bled out of Evan’s voice.

‘We’re… going to get help right now.’ She sat up, shaking. ‘I’m shot, Evan, he shot me in the leg.’

‘I’ll kill him,’ Evan started. She put a hand on Evan’s mouth. Silence.

‘I think he’ll run,’ she whispered.

‘I’ll get help for you and Dad. Then I’m going to go kill Dezz.’ Evan heard a coldness in his voice he had never heard before.

Carrie touched Mitchell’s throat. ‘Evan…’

All the lights went out.

I n the darkness Evan closed his hand over Carrie’s.

Silence again. But then a groan of the cypress staircase.

‘He’s coming back,’ Carrie whispered.

‘Is there another gun up here?’ Evan whispered.

‘I don’t know… they’d taken your dad’s when they brought him in.’

Another creak of a footfall.

Dezz. Dezz killed the power, plunged them into darkness. Evan’s PDA, abandoned on the floor, gave off the barest gleam. Evan groped for and found his father’s face. A slight trickle of breath tickled Evan’s fingers. Alive.