Chapter 28
28
Lyric
I ’m paralyzed with fear, staring right into the muzzle of Bowman’s weapon. I can almost feel its cold steel pressed into my forehead, even though there are still several inches between us. Thick air that reeks of death and violence.
“You don’t want to do this,” Max warns him.
But he, Ivan, and Artur still have their hands cuffed behind their backs. Bowman is keeping them at a reasonable distance. Ivan tries to step toward him, but Bowman fires a warning shot at the ground close to his boots.
I scream and burst into tears, shaking as I move away from the bars.
“Bowman, stop!” Max shouts, his shoulders broad and heavy as he gives him a murderous look. “It’s over. For you, for Smith. It’s over. Don’t do anything to make it worse.”
“You forget, I’m still the one holding the gun.” Bowman points it at Artur next. “And I swear the second bullet I fire will go right into her pretty little head if you don’t stay where you are.”
“Please,” I mumble, “please, Mr. Bowman… Jack… stop this. I’m pregnant, my baby doesn’t deserve to die. Please.”
“I decide who lives and who dies tonight. And I’ve had about enough of you.”
He sets his sights on me again.
Time slows down to a halt.
I hold my breath.
I can see his finger squeezing the trigger. I’m frozen, unable to breathe, unable to even think.
My heart stops for what feels like an eternity.
Suddenly, I see movement out of the corner of my eye. Ivan, as big as a mountain, lunges at him. Bowman is too crazed and determined to kill me that he doesn’t see Ivan until it’s too late. Ivan rams into him with the full weight of his massive body. I hear Bowman’s lungs deflate as he’s knocked down and Ivan lands on top of him.
“Fuck.” Artur drops to the floor.
POP. POP. POP.
Gunshots erupt somewhere just beyond the door, getting louder and louder, as Artur struggles, twisting and turning himself until he manages to get his cuffed hands to the front.
Ivan and Bowman are wrestling on the floor. Bowman gets the upper hand and pulls himself to his feet.
He delivers a kick to Ivan’s ribs that steals his breath for a minute before Artur tackles him back to the ground.
Max comes in and kicks Bowman in the face. I hear his jaw crackling from the sheer force of the blow.
Everything happens so fast. They’re all scrambling for control. Bowman is desperate to get to the gun before any of my guys can. Artur almost reaches it, but in the scuffle and confusion, the gun gets kicked closer to me, sliding just outside the bars.
I don’t hesitate.
I rush and drop to my knees, sticking my hand out between the bars to grab it.
Bowman has Max in a headlock. I can see my love’s face draining of color, his eyes losing focus. I point the gun at Bowman. “Stop it!” I scream.
“Look at you,” he chuckles, then lets Max go. “What are you going to do with that? Shoot me?”
“Don’t move!” I reply, both hands shaking as I struggle to keep the gun aimed at him. I’m not sure I’m able to sell this but it’s worth a shot. Anything to buy us some time, just until the real Feds get down here. “Do not fucking move.”
Ivan groans as he tries to sit up.
Bowman chuckles again and pulls another gun, a smaller piece, from an ankle holster.
“Don’t!” I warn him.
But I cannot reason with this man. He’s well past any kind of redemption. He isn’t interested in salvation. He just wants to take as many of us down with him as he can. His all-or-nothing mentality is out of control.
“Bowman, stop!” Max coughs and wheezes, still recovering from that gruesome headlock.
“Don’t do this,” Artur says, the handgun now pointed at him.
“I’ll do whatever the fuck I want,” Bowman snarls as he curls his finger over the trigger.
BANG.
I fire the gun.
The bullet pierces Bowman’s torso. Blood seeps through his suit and shirt. Everything turns red as he gives me a stunned, wide-eyed look. His lips part, ever so slowly. “You little bitch,” he whispers.
I watch as he falls to his knees, dropping the gun.
Artur kicks it away and takes a step back as Bowman falls flat on his face.
“Oh, God,” I whimper, realizing what I just did.
“It’s okay,” Max says to me. “Lyric, look at me. Look at me.”
I look at him, rivers of tears streaming down my cheeks. “Max…”
“It’s okay,” he says it again.
We’re alive.
I killed a man. But we survived. I killed him so that we would survive. My brain is wrapped in a cold and heavy fog. I’m unable to process anything. Max keeps talking to me. I can hear him, but I’m not sure I understand. Artur and Ivan are on their knees, waiting.
They’re all looking at me.
Scared. Worried. Relieved. A million emotions flash through their eyes at once. Everything moves in slow motion as the door bursts open. The corridor is suddenly flooded by over a dozen FBI agents and SWAT operatives.
I drop the gun.
I barely register reality.
But it’s over.