THE HITWOMAN UNDER PRESSURE (Confessions of a Slightly Neurotic Hitwoman Book 15) Read online

  I grabbed the nearest thing I could to use as a weapon. The bowling pin was surprisingly light, only weighing about three pounds or so. The gun appeared first, followed by a few inches of the man’s arm.

  Raising the pin overhead as the door opened further, I swung it down, as hard as I could, smashing it against the man’s wrist.

  Yelling in pain, he dropped the gun. I dove to the floor to grab the weapon, but before I could reach it, he grabbed my hair.

  Eyes. Nose. Throat. Groin. The self-defense lessons Patrick Mulligan had drilled into me, sprang to mind. I coupled them with my boxing lesson and delivered two hard jabs to the man’s groin. He collapsed forward, releasing my hair to protect himself. I finished him off with an uppercut. He fell to the ground, hitting his head and knocking himself unconscious. Grabbing his gun, I stumbled to my feet, hurrying toward the crying girls.

  “Come on,” I gasped, tucking the gun into the waistband of my jeans. “Let’s get out of here.” Grabbing each of the wide-eyed children by the hand, I yanked them to their feet. “Hurry.”

  Together we ran back the way I’d entered.

  “Don’t look at him,” I ordered as I lifted them, one at a time, over the prone body of their kidnapper.

  “Is he dead?” one girl asked.

  “Not yet,” I muttered, grabbing their hands and starting to run again.

  I heard the giant man yell, “What the hell?” in the room we’d left.

  Thankfully, the girls were pretty fast kids and we made it back to the door we’d entered through, but I could hear the big man gaining on us.

  “Maggie,” DeeDee panted anxiously as we emerged from the building.

  “DeeDee!” the girls cried in unison when they saw her.

  “Go get in that car,” I told the girls, pushing them in the direction of Armani who was flashing the car’s headlights at us. “Show them, DeeDee.”

  “Way this,” DeeDee barked, running toward the car, looking back over her shoulder to make sure the twins were following. “Way this.”

  While those three raced toward the car, I pulled out the gun I’d taken and quickly fired every bullet in the gun in the direction of the approaching kidnapper. I heard him stumble and fall.

  I didn’t know whether his injury was fatal, but, slamming the door closed, I figured that I’d bought enough time for us to escape.

  The getaway car squealed to a stop beside me and I jumped in the front passenger seat, hiding the empty gun at my side so that Armani wouldn’t see it. “Go! Go! Go!”

  “Go! Go!” DeeDee barked in agreement from the backseat.

  Chapter 19

  I smiled weakly at my two nieces who were sitting in the back, clinging to the dog. “You guys okay?”

  They both nodded.

  “Where to?” Armani asked, slowing down a bit as she realized no one was chasing us.

  I looked at the two girls who were watching me expectantly and admitted, “I have no idea.”

  We stopped at a nearby fast food place to get the girls something to eat and to give me a moment to think. It also gave me a chance to stick the gun in the waistband of my jeans.

  The girls each got to feed DeeDee a cheeseburger, a treat they enjoyed immensely and the dog enjoyed even more.

  I considered calling the hospital and trying to reach Delveccio, but I didn’t know how I’d explain it to the authorities that I’d called a mob boss for help if we got caught. Just like I didn’t know how to explain why I’d rushed off to save my nieces whose very existence I wasn’t supposed to know about.

  “I can’t take them back to the B&B,” I whispered to Armani.

  “It’s not safe there,” she agreed.

  “Is something else going to happen I don’t know about?” I asked, freshly alarmed.

  She shook her head. “We could take them to my place.”

  “No. I’m sure that by now Katie told everyone I left with you. Your place will be one of the first places they’ll look.”

  “How long have you known about them?” Armani asked, watching me watching the kids.

  “Not long.”

  She raised her eyebrows, signaling she didn’t believe me. “So Darlene is alive?”

  I nodded. “Never doubt psychic powers.”

  “Unless they’re mine,” she muttered bitterly.

  “I don’t doubt you,” I assured her. “I just like to practice denial since you’re usually the bearer of bad news.”

  “Only because you manage to get yourself in so much trouble,” she teased lightly.

  I nodded. If she only knew.

  “Maybe we’re supposed to take the girls on our road trip,” she suggested.

  “I doubt we’d get very far,” I told her. “It’s only a matter of time before the Griswalds have everyone looking for your car.”

  That’s when I knew what my only option was.

  I had to call the cops.

  Not too many people have a police detective’s private cell phone number, but I did. Sitting there, in the parking lot of the fast food place, my finger shook as I prepared to call.

  “Daddy!” the girls yelled simultaneously.

  Looking up I saw Dave running across the parking lot toward them.

  There was a lot of talking and crying and smiling and hugging as the three clung to each other. My heart squeezed at the sight.

  Even Armani welled up watching the reunion.

  Finally Dave’s gaze found mine. “Thank you,” he mouthed.

  I nodded.

  “You know him?” Armani asked.

  “A little. He’s Darlene’s husband.”

  “Susan’s going to hate his hair,” she predicted.

  I laughed. “Did you use your psychic powers to come up with that one?”

  She punched my arm. “No one likes a smartass.”

  I tensed as an SUV pulled up alongside us, but Dave didn’t seem alarmed. He urged the girls to get inside. Refusing to comply, they pointed at me, whispering something to him.

  Dave shook his head.

  They whispered more.

  Sighing, he waved me over. “They want to hug you good-bye.”

  “Good-bye?” I asked worriedly, bending over to hug first one then the other.

  “Only temporarily,” he promised.

  Satisfied with their hugs, the girls climbed into the waiting vehicle. Dave shut the door so that he and I could talk privately.

  “Thank you, Maggie,” his voice cracked. “If you hadn’t saved them…”

  I patted his arm awkwardly. “Don’t even think about that. They’re safe now.”

  He shook his head. “They’ll never be safe with Redcoats after us. I heard what happened to Zeke and your parents. I’m so sorry. Now do you understand why Darlene has stayed away for so long?”

  I nodded. “Where is she?”

  “Whitehat’s keeping her under lock and key for her own protection.”

  “Probably not a bad idea. That’s not really her name, is it? Whitehat?”

  He chuckled. “I don’t think so, but it’s fitting considering she’s one of the good guys. I’d better go, Darlene’s got to be losing her mind waiting for me to bring the kids back.” He reached for the door handle. “Besides, your friend looks impatient.”

  I glanced over at Armani who was drumming on the table with her good hand.

  “How’d you find us?” I asked.

  “There’s a tracker on your friend’s car. Pretty much everyone you care about is being monitored.”

  I frowned. “That’s creepy.”

  He shrugged. “It’s effective. We found you, didn’t we?” He opened the door and climbed in.

  “Tell Darlene…” I said quickly.

  He hesitated to close the door, waiting for me to finish.

  “Tell her I love her.”

  Dave nodded. “Will do.”

  He closed the door and the SUV sped away.

  I turned back to Armani. “You can’t tell anyone about what happened.”
/>   She nodded.

  “I mean it. Not a word to a single soul.”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” she promised. “But how the heck are you going to explain running off and leaving Katie?”

  “Maybe I just won’t go home?” I suggested weakly, having no idea how I could possibly get out of this situation without revealing the truth.

  “Ever?” Armani asked.

  “You make that sound like it’s a bad thing.”

  She shook her head. “Oh no. Not me. I’m the one who keeps telling you we need to take that road trip and you’re all like, I’ve got responsibilities.”

  “I do have responsibilities.”

  At that moment one of them decided to call.

  I looked at my buzzing cell phone. “It’s Susan.”

  “Don’t answer it,” Armani urged.

  “She’s probably worried sick.” Taking a deep breath, I answered, “I can explain.”

  “She’s gone!” Susan wailed.

  Fear made my knees go weak and I would have fallen if I hadn’t leaned against a nearby car.

  “Did you hear me? She’s gone,” Susan repeated on a hiccupping sob.

  An acid wash of guilt tore through my stomach. I bent over, gasping with pain. I’d made the wrong choice when I’d left Katie to save Darlene’s daughters. “What happened?” I choked out.

  Susan dissolved into heaving sobs and couldn’t answer me.

  The world tilted and I found it hard to breathe. I felt like everything had been pulled out from beneath me and I had nothing to hold on to.

  Then Armani grabbed my hand and squeezed. I looked into her face and saw concern, but I also saw strength and determination. I latched on to those as much as I did her hand.

  “Maggie? Maggie, are you there?” Marshal Griswald asked through the phone.

  “I’m here,” I whispered, tilting the phone so that Armani could hear him too.

  “Are you okay? Are you in a safe place?” Urgent concern made his voice deeper than usual.

  “What happened to Katie?” I asked, annoyed that he was asking about my well-being when a child’s life hung in the balance.

  “Katie’s just fine.”

  “What? But Susan said…”

  “Katie’s fine,” he assured me. “It’s Marlene we’ve lost.”

  “Lost?” I screeched. “You lose socks or bets or hair. You don’t lose people.”

  Armani shook her head, letting me know I was off track.

  “A poor choice of words,” Griswald countered calmly. “Marlene is missing. She went out on the front porch with Doc. He came inside for a minute to get them something to drink and when he went back out she was gone.”

  “And nobody heard anything? Saw anything?”

  “I saw it, sugar,” Piss suddenly yowled in the background. “Meet us at Belgard’s. Meet us at Belgard’s.”

  “Even the cat’s upset,” Griswald groaned. “You need to come home, Maggie. Your family needs you.”

  “I understand,” I said firmly. “I’m on my way. I’m on my way.”

  I hung up the phone, hoping that Piss had heard me and had understood I was talking to her.

  “I need your car,” I said to Armani.

  “I’ll drive you home.”

  I shook my head. “I can’t go home. I need to help Marlene.”

  “But you just said…” Armani interrupted herself by snapping her mouth shut. She let go of my hand, pulled out her keys and held them out to me.

  I took the keys. “Thanks.”

  She hugged me tightly. “Remember,” she whispered, “two wrongs make a right. It’s very important. Two wrongs.”

  I had no idea what that meant, but I said, “Got it.”

  Disentangling myself from her embrace, I gave her my phone. “Call Brian Griswald and have him come pick you up. Just don’t tell him anything that’s happened.”

  “I won’t,” she promised. “Be careful, chica.”

  “I will.”

  We both knew that was a lie.

  I would do anything to save my sister.

  Chapter 20

  I took the roundabout route to Belgard’s house so that I didn’t have to pass the B&B.

  “Trouble in Marlene?” DeeDee asked as I drove.

  “Yes.”

  “Save will Maggie.”

  “That’s the plan.” I squeezed the steering wheel knowing that I actually had no plan, no weapon and no idea what I was going up against.

  As though she sensed my worries, DeeDee leaned against the back of my seat so that she could lean over the top and rest her chin on my shoulder.

  “Okay be everything,” she panted in my ear. “Help will DeeDee.”

  I stroked her snout. “I know you’ll help, sweetie. Thank you.”

  She licked my ear, which felt more gross than soothing, but I knew she meant well.

  Parking in front of his place, I got out of the car and whispered, “Piss? Piss are you here?”

  I got no answer.

  “Piss?” DeeDee barked, supplying some of her trademark help. “Are here we.”

  “Shhh,” I scolded. “I don’t want to attract attention.”

  “Plus,” God drawled from the shadows, “Are here we may be the worst sentence ever constructed.”

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  “At the base of the stairs,” the lizard answered.

  “Heh it dis,” the cat mumbled, coming into view. She dropped a still squirming cricket in front of the lizard. “Eat it and stop complaining that no one ever feeds you.”

  The lizard pounced on the insect and dined. “Sustenance!”

  “Is Marlene in the house?” I whispered.

  “Not here, sugar.”

  “Then what are we doing here?”

  “We couldn’t very well meet at home. Those people wouldn’t have let you go and Marlene needs you.”

  “I don’t understand,” I said slowly. “If she’s not here, how are we supposed to find her?”

  “We know where she was taken,” Piss purred.

  I looked from her to the lizard who had a cricket leg sticking out of his mouth. “How?”

  “Someone was clever enough to follow them,” Piss said with obvious admiration.

  God made a retching noise like he disagreed with that statement.

  “Who?”

  “Why me, of course,” the crow squawked landing at my feet. “They never knew they were being tailed.”

  “Well how would they?” God asked, gulping down the remainder of his snack. “They’re humans. You’re a bird. You don’t even register on their radar. It’s not like the time I broke into a killer’s home and discovered his stash of poison. Now that was dangerous.”

  “And I appreciate that,” I interjected before they could continue bickering. “Just like I appreciate Mike tailing them. Could one of you at least tell me where Marlene is?”

  “I can show you,” Mike offered.

  “That’s because he can’t read,” God said haughtily.

  The bird suddenly pecked at him, his sharp beak landing in the dirt less than an inch from where God stood.

  God screamed in terror. “Murderer!”

  Mike raised his beak again.

  Piss flexed her claws. “Are you looking to lose some feathers?” she hissed.

  DeeDee panted, “Show. Show.”

  The crow gave the dog a sideways glance. “The dog’s right. We got more important things to do. Me and you,” he fixed a beady eye on the cowering lizard, “we’ll sort this out later.”

  Hearing a car idling further up the street, I looked in its direction. It was too dark to make anything out.

  “Come one,” I urged nervously. “Let’s get in the car.”

  I scooped God up and put him on my shoulder as the dog and cat hopped into the car. I waited expectantly for Mike to enter, but he shook his head.