“No, of course not,” Paige said, although it was pretty clear to her that Damian was anything but in control of what was happening. That was making the situation more dangerous by the moment.
Paige looked over to Christopher, silently asking him if he was all right. Christopher gave the barest of nods, a tiny movement, but Paige was so used to watching him closely that she made it out easily. He raised an eyebrow slightly, obviously asking Paige if she had a plan.
Paige shook her head very slightly. She didn’t have anything yet, but she was working on it. She silently tried to ask him if he had any ideas, and got a maybe in response.
“Ok,” Damian said. “I’ve worked this out. I know how this is going to go. You’ve insulted my honor, and there’s only one penalty for that.”
“You want to kill me?” Paige asked. If Damian wanted to try that, then she would welcome it. It would mean him letting go of Christopher. “Then come and stab me the way you stabbed the others.”
“What, and have you shoot me the moment I come forward?” Damian demanded. “Do you think I’m stupid? That’s what you said to the press, isn’t it?”
“No, I don’t think you’re stupid,” Paige said. “I said that to bring you here.”
“So you lied about me to the press instead,” Damian said. “That isn’t any better. You still need to pay.”
“So come here and make me pay,” Paige said. She put her gun on the floor. “Here, I’ll even put my gun down.”
It was a terrible risk, because if Damian decided to kill Christopher then, Paige wouldn’t have any way to stop him. The problem was, though, that even if Paige had her gun in her hand, it still didn’t look like she would have a way to get a clear shot. It didn’t do her any good if she couldn’t fire without Christopher being killed. She couldn’t risk him like that, didn’t want to risk losing him, even if he could never truly be hers.
At the very least, she wasn’t going to lose her partner. She couldn’t. She would take any risk if it provided a chance to save him.
“I’m not falling for that, either,” Damian said. “I go for you and your partner shoots me in the back. Maybe I should kill him and then cut you down.”
“No!” It was exactly what Paige had been worried about.
Damian made a mocking face. “Oh, so worried for him. What is it? Are you sleeping with him? An uncouth thing like you, I assume that’s what you’re doing with anyone you can get to.”
Paige swallowed at the taunt. Had Damian actually spotted the feelings she had towards Christopher, or was he just so contemptuous of any women who insulted him that he assumed that the only way Paige could be an agent was to sleep her way through the FBI?
“Well, if you don’t want me to hurt him, you’re going to have to do what I say,” Damian said.
Paige could see Christopher’s hand starting to inch towards his jacket. She realized that he was trying to get to his gun without Damian noticing. Christopher gave her a pointed look. It was obvious to Paige what he wanted from her: he needed her to distract Damian, and to buy him time.
“All right,” Paige said. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Then this is how this is going to go,” Damian said. “You’re going to do the honorable thing to make up for your insults. You’re going to pick up your gun, put it to your head, and kill yourself. If you do that, I’ll let your partner here live. If you don’t do it, then I’ll kill him.”
“If you kill him, I’ll kill you,” Paige replied. She was surprised to find that she meant it. If Damian killed Christopher, then she knew that she wouldn’t be trying to bring him in. She would snatch up her gun and fire until Damian was down.
“You can try,” Damian said.
That was the problem with the threat: it only worked if Damian truly believed that he would die as a consequence of killing Christopher. He might actually believe that he could stab Christopher, and then get to Paige before she could snatch her gun up again to take him down.
If he was actually prepared to kill Christopher, then he had the advantage.
“Pick up the gun,” Damian said.
Paige edged towards it slowly.
“If I do this, what guarantees do I have that you’ll let Agent Marriott go?”
She already knew that there were no guarantees beyond the word of a killer, but every second that Paige could draw this out was a second in which Christopher could get closer to his service weapon.
“Only my magnanimity, and the fact that he hasn’t insulted me,” Damian said. “Now pick up the gun. Do it, or I’ll kill him.”
Paige swallowed and lifted the Glock, her horror at having to do it slowing her movements. She watched as she did so for any sign that she might be able to get off a shot, but Damian was still blocking her line of sight using Christopher, so that there was no chance of hitting him without hitting Christopher as well.
“Quicker!” Damian said. “Chamber a round. I want to hear it.”
Paige pulled back the slide, as slowly and dramatically as she could. She was grateful for it because it bought another second or two. Christopher’s hand was under his jacket now, still moving steadily towards his weapon.
“Now, lift the gun and put it to your head,” Damian instructed. “Right to your temple. Do it.”
Paige started to lift the weapon, fear starting to rise in her. What if Christopher didn’t get to his weapon fast enough? What if Damian put her in a position where she either had to pull the trigger or watch Christopher die. If that happened, which would she do?
Paige didn’t know. She really didn’t. She didn’t want to die, but she also couldn’t just stand there and watch Christopher be killed by a madman.
“Put the gun against your head, or he dies,” Damian said.
Paige put her gun to her skull feeling the coldness of the metal there. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest at the prospect of having to do this.
“Pull the trigger,” Damian instructed, jabbing towards her with the misericord for emphasis. “Do it. Do it now, or I’ll-”
That was the moment when Christopher pulled his gun, firing downward in one smooth movement, the sound of the shot filling the parking facility as he shot Damian in the leg.
Damian fell, screaming, flailing with the misericord as if he might still kill both of them. Paige stood over him, gun leveled, and a part of her ached to pull the trigger. After the way he’d just tried to kill Christopher, after the way he’d tried to just kill her…
“Paige, he’s down,” Christopher said, gently pushing the barrel of her Glock off line. “You’re safe.”
He stepped forward and kicked the misericord from Damian’s hand, sending it spinning away.
“You shot me!” he said, as if he couldn’t quite believe that it was possible. “You shot me!”
Paige moved in, grabbing his arm, and wrenching him over onto his stomach while she got out her cuffs to restrain him.
“I wasn’t lying in the interview,” she said. “You’re an ordinary, worthless scumbag, Damian Carr. You’re also under arrest.”