9. Chapter 9
Chapter nine
I can’t believe I almost let him kiss me, Rissa thought. And I wanted him to—so badly.
She was shaking with adrenalin as much as anything else. Elio’s sudden fainting spell had her worried. She was mentally running through the argument she would present to the detectives to get them to allow further testing before they transferred him when Elio—facing her as Officer Hupp fumbled with the handcuffs—suddenly stumbled again, backward into the police officer.
It all happened so fast that she barely registered what was happening as Elio stepped on the man’s foot. His weight fell onto him, causing Hupp to fall backward heavily, his arms windmilling to catch himself. Then, Elio was spinning, swiftly and precisely, thrusting his knee into the cop’s chest and knocking the breath out of him with a grunt. His hands were a blur as they drew the gun from Hupp’s belt, then unfastened the belt itself and tossed it across the room.
Elio was on his feet a half second later, whirling back toward Rissa. She found herself stumbling backward, her lips parted to cry out. But before the sound could escape her stunned vocal cords, his hand clapped over her mouth. He twisted around behind her, yanking her against him.
The cold metal of the gun pressed into the soft skin of her neck, and Rissa froze in the act of reaching up to pry his fingers from her jaw.
“Make one sound and I pull this trigger,” he said, his voice a low rumble that she could feel through her entire body. “Either killing you or that cop on the floor. Do you understand?”
Rissa nodded, shock flooding her body and leaving her numb.
This can’t be happening, she thought. I thought he was innocent. I believed him. How could I have been such a sap? It would almost serve me right if I died right here.
Elio dropped his hand from her mouth to wrap it tightly around her arms and middle, pinning her against his hard body. He shifted his other arm to cross her chest, placing the barrel of the gun against the soft place below her chin and pressing just hard enough to force her head slightly upward.
Shock gave way to terror, and Rissa’s eyes flooded with tears as Officer Hupp slowly sat up, still gasping for breath. His eyes were pinned on her and Elio.
“One more move without my say,” Elio said, “and both of you get a bullet in the head, one right after the other.” His voice was hard and cold, despite how hard Rissa could feel his heart beating against her back. “Nod to let me know you understand,” he said to the cop on the floor.
Hupp nodded, the rest of his body as still stone. Sweat trickled down his face, dripping into his collar.
In this stuffy, little abandoned office at the end of the hall, they might as well be in an entirely different world from the rest of the hospital personnel. With the detectives waiting at the car, no one was going to stumble upon them. Elio had chosen the perfect opportunity to make his move.
She could hear him breathing in her ear, quick and shallow, and feel the stubble of his jaw as it brushed her temple. She closed her eyes, wishing she could shut out everything that had happened after their almost kiss. What felt like a dream abruptly turned into a nightmare, and her emotions were struggling to catch up.
“Here’s what’s going to happen,” Elio said in that cold, hard voice. “We’re going to walk out that door just as we walked in. Rissa will help me, and I’ll keep the gun on her the whole time. You’ll walk in front of us,” he said to the cop, “and if you so much as move your mouth in anything other than a charming smile to any person we pass, you will be entirely responsible for the minimum of three deaths that will follow.”
Rissa opened her eyes as Hupp’s face blanched. Still, he did not move.
“You’ve all already conspired to set me up to take the fall, right? What do I have to lose?” Elio said. Rissa found herself momentarily distracted from the pistol against her throat as she registered his words and, at the same time, watched for the cop’s reaction. Would he confirm what Elio had just alleged? Had they truly set him up to take the fall?
Hupp blinked.
Elio stroked the gun barrel down Rissa’s throat and then up the side of her face, bringing it to rest against her temple. Hupp’s eyes followed the weapon, as they were no doubt intended to do.
He called me Rissa, she thought irrelevantly. Not Dr. Mahoney. She wasn’t sure why that should interest her in these circumstances, but she couldn’t help the fact that it did. Maybe it was simply her brain’s way of keeping panic at bay—attempting to catalog and find meaning in a situation that could not feel more out of her control.
“Do both of you confirm that you want to go on living and will cooperate?” Elio asked. “Say it out loud.”
“I’ll cooperate,” Hupp said, his voice wavering only slightly. “I don’t want anyone to die.”
“Rissa?” Elio said. His voice was quieter, almost apologetic. Rissa’s stomach churned with a confused flurry of fear, surprise, and whatever was left over from what she started to feel for him before he’d drawn Hupp’s gun.
“I’ll cooperate,” she said.
“All right,” Elio said. “Let’s go.”
He dropped the gun from her temple and stepped to the side, his arm shifting to her shoulder as Rissa slipped a trembling arm around his waist, bracing her shoulder under his armpit. She glanced up at him, curious to see what face he would wear now that the kind, sensitive mask had been dropped—he’d presented it too well while he’d no doubt been planning this very moment.
His eyes were locked on Hupp as he watched the police officer clumsily scramble to his feet. But once the cop had turned and started toward the door, Elio’s eyes dropped to hers. Rissa felt a start of wonder at the expression there. Elio’s eyes were just as intense and searching as ever. It was as if he saw to her very soul.
“I’m sorry,” he said, so softly she would have thought she’d imagined it had she not seen his lips moving. “I had to.”
They took a step toward the door. The sound of Rissa’s phone ringing pierced the tension around them. Hupp froze, and Elio immediately released Rissa to slip his fingers into her pocket and retrieve the device. She caught a glimpse of the caller ID as he silenced it.
Reagan. She must have found out some things about Elio. Rissa almost wanted to laugh at the irony of it. It was better than crying. I’ve found out some things about Elio as well.
Hupp had half-turned toward them, his eyes dropping immediately to the gun that Elio now held pressed against Rissa’s side, where it could be hidden by the drape of her white coat once they reached the hallway. All Elio had to do was jerk his chin at him, and the officer snatched the phone from his own pocket and dropped it on the floor.
“All right,” Elio said, settling his arm once again around Rissa’s shoulders, pulling her close to his side. “ Now , we go.”