“You had Kelly blow up the Serpent to get rid of the security footage,” Chloe announced. She didn’t seem even vaguely worried that a rogue FBI agent might start shooting. Joel was stressed the hell enough for them both. “But it was more than just the footage, wasn’t it?” Her voice was musing. “You were angry at Kingston. Why? Did he tell you to, ah, go fuck yourself, too?”
“Kingston should have been there that night! His ass should have been in the VIP room and he would have been gone!”
“I take that as a yes,” Joel said as he angled his body to shield Chloe a bit more. “King told him to fuck himself.”
“I wanted a cut of his take! That bastard was raking in the money!”
“That bastard worked for the Feds,” Chloe informed him crisply. “So when you threatened him, you basically outed yourself. You realized that mistake too late, and you tried to cover your tracks with Kelly.”
“This asshole is just making mistakes left and right.” Joel realized that by talking to him, they were distracting Paul. If they could just distract the SOB enough that he lifted the gun from Gordo’s temple, then Joel would take his shot.
“I didn’t make any mistakes!” Spittle flew from Paul’s mouth.
“Someone is bragging,” Joel deliberately needled him. You sonofabitch. You tortured me for hours. You thought you had the power. The control.
“I got Stephen to shut her up for me before she could talk.” Paul seemed so fucking proud of himself. “Wendy told me all about him. How he liked to hurt women but that he wanted help. Oh, I gave him help all right.”
“Okay. I think that about covers it.” Chloe’s hand slid to the side of Joel’s body, and she waved her fist toward Paul. “I believe everyone heard you. Thank you very much for speaking clearly.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Paul boomed.
But Joel knew. Hell, yes, he knew. He’d realized Chloe’s game.
“I wasn’t trying to get the scalpel from Morgan. Why would I bother with that when Joel has a gun? I just wanted the listening device.” Her hand opened. “I turned it back on. Cedric and the others on his team just caught your full confession. I do appreciate your cooperation. Now, I’m turning it off once more.”
Joel saw it happen. First in cracks—a tremble of Paul’s lip. A flicker of his eyelid. A jerk along his cheek. Then the rage shattered through as he let out a guttural roar and he brought his gun up to aim it at Chloe and Joel. He was going to pull the trigger and—
Joel fired. He fired over and over again until the bullets ran out. The booms echoed around him, but he didn’t stop. Paul’s body jerked back like a puppet on a string.
Boom. The man in the dark stood laughing as he cut Joel.
Boom. Dirt rained down on Joel’s face as he was buried.
Boom. His hands were shaking when he tried to return to his job at the hospital. Tried to work on a patient. Shaking so hard he couldn’t hold a scalpel.
Boom. Chloe was lying so still. Being sealed inside a vault.
Boom. Paul was aiming his gun at Chloe. He was—
“It’s okay, Joel.” Chloe’s soft voice. “You got him.”
Joel’s breath shuddered out. Paul was on the floor, and his body was twitching. Blood pooled around him. Slowly, Joel stalked forward. Paul still held the gun in his hand, and Joel kicked it away.
Paul’s eyes rolled toward him. Blood spilled from his lips, but the bastard tried to smile. Smile. “S-see…” A hiss. “Told y-you…” His body jerked and shuddered again.
Then he went still.
Chloe’s hand curled around Joel’s. Her body pressed to his. “He didn’t tell you anything. Like I’ve always told you, his profiles were shit.”
Joel’s head turned toward her.
“You saved my life. You saved Gordon. Something tells me your shrink will never call you a monster again.” She stared straight at him, and Joel could see the love in her eyes. Chloe was unflinching. Strong. Determined. And standing by him. As she’d always done. As he knew she always would do.
“I fucking love you,” he said.
“And I—”
“Chloe…” A ragged growl from Morgan.
Joel spun around.
Morgan had the scalpel still gripped in his hand. He was trying to crawl toward them—no, toward Chloe. As he stared at her, he lifted the scalpel.
“Morgan!” Chloe shouted. “Don’t—”
With his right hand, Morgan drove the scalpel into his chest.
“No!” Chloe rushed to him. She fell to her knees beside him. Grabbed for the scalpel.
Morgan didn’t let go. “H-help me…”
“No, no, you do not get to do this!” Chloe tried to pull the scalpel back.
Morgan’s left hand came up and locked around hers. “I…can’t…do it…my own…”
Joel flew toward them. “Let her go!”
Morgan didn’t look at him. His eyes never left Chloe. “I’ll…h-hurt…y-you…”
“Morgan, you sonofabitch, do you think I don’t know what you did?” Her voice had gone ragged. “I figured it out. You bribed one of the staff members at my brother’s treatment facility. You found out that he was admitted when he was fourteen, and you bribed them to get his case files. You learned what he was. You read his case notes. That’s how you and Paul knew about my mother. You told Stephen to taunt me. You knew what my mother was. You knew what my brother was.” Her words tumbled out as she glared at him. “And when you realized the Reese who lives with me now—when you realized he wasn’t a killer—you knew that my real brother was dead.”
“You killed h-him,” he whispered. “My…b-beautiful Chloe…So d-dark…”
“I killed him, but I’m not killing you!”
Joel grabbed her arms and heaved her back. “You’re going to jail, asshole. You’re not going to force Chloe into killing you.” He crouched over the bastard. Assessed the wounds. Tried to determine where he would begin—
“I’ll…keep coming…” Morgan promised. “I w-won’t ever stay away from her.”
He’d already sealed Chloe in a damn grave.
“Stop me,” Morgan wheezed. The words were almost a plea. “S-save…her…”
Joel reached for the scalpel.
“NOPD!” Cedric bellowed as he rushed into the office. He was immediately followed by about a dozen uniformed cops, men and women. They swarmed the scene.
Joel stared down at Morgan. The cops were watching. Guns were aimed. Joel swallowed. “He…needs an ambulance.”
Gordo grunted.
“And Gordon probably does, too,” Chloe added in her cool and collected way. “But FBI Agent Ricardson does not. He’s far past the point of saving.”
Cedric crouched near Paul’s body. A low whistle escaped him. “How many times was he shot?”
“Were you counting?” Chloe lifted her brow as she studied Joel. “Because I couldn’t be bothered.”
***
The first ambulance sped away. Morgan Fletcher had been on the gurney inside, and a cop had ridden in the vehicle with him. Two other police officers had followed in patrol cars.