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The doorbell rang I et it"

Zane called froet it" WhichRichard,at my face "Who could it be out here? We&039;re in the middle of nowhere"

Jamil and Louie were suddenly back in the room Either they&039;d heard me, or they were just as suspicious as I was I picked the un held at ht hand, also out of sight Louie and Ja room to either side

"Don&039;t cross ht," I said

They both moved a little farther apart Ronnie said, "I didn&039;t bringis in the coat on the floor"

Her grey eyes were just a touch wide, her breathing just a little fast, but she nodded and went for the gun

Zane was looking back at me ide eyes He looked a question at me, and I nodded He checked the peephole "Looks like a delivery guy with flowers"

"Open it," I said

Zane did, blocking my view of the man The man&039;s voice was too soft to hear Zane turned back to n for the flowers"

"Who are they fro his voice to say, "Jean-Claude"

"Just a ht and kept the Firestar hidden behindas I moved for the door Jean-Claude kept me supplied with flowers, but he usually waited for the old ones to start to die, or at least fade Of course, he had turned on the romantic overti the box of roses in his arm, his left hand on top of the box with a clipboard and a pencil with one of those strings on it

Zane stepped away froot my first look in the little plasticof the box Yellow roses I stoppedforward and tried to set my purse"

TheJaht I stepped to one side trying not to be directly in front of him He followed me with the box, with his hand under the box

Jale I made his name a question, "Jah

"I don&039;t need a tip," the n for it so I could get going?"

"Sure," I said Ja on, but Zane was still looking puzzled Ronnie was somewhere behind me I didn&039;t dare look for her, but I moved just a little more off-line and the man followed me with the hand I couldn&039;t see, with the hand that Jaun in it

I was al for ured it out, too Great, nohat?

It was Ronnie who decided it "Drop the gun, or I drop you" Her voice confident--certain I spared a glance to see her standing feet apart, Browning in a two-handed grip pointed at the man in the doorway

Jamil yelled, "Anita!"

I turned and pointed the Firestar in onethe hand and the box I got a gliun at me If he&039;d just fired from his hip, he&039;d have had ti stance and that was that

Zane finally reacted, hat he should have done was stay out of the hich just goes to show that super strength and super speed are not enough You got to knohat to do with it He slapped the box and clipboard out of theinto the floor

Ronnie&039;s first shot ide into the doorjaun come back up, pointed towards Ronnie this tiun went off twicein slow un pointed so that when Zane&039;s body cleared the way, I was ready Ronnie&039;s second shot took thehim backwards He fired at me, slumped in the doorway His bullet ide Mine didn&039;t

Blood blossomed on his chest He stared at me, eyes wide and almost puzzled, as if he didn&039;t understand as happening to hi his eyes, he started to raise the gun, trying for one last shot

Two shots went off like thunderous echoes My shot took him in the chest Ronnie&039;s shot took the top of his head off Glazer Safety Rounds will do that to unprotected flesh

I walked up to the ain, but it was over His chest was a mass of blood, and his head looked like soone a little too deep Heavier fluids than blood were leaking all over un pointed at hi over the dead

Zane just lay there, bleeding Louie was checking his pulse "He&039;s dying" He wiped the blood on his T-shirt and went out into the sunlight to take care of Ronnie

I stared down at Zane&039;s pale chest One bullet had taken hi that horrible sound that sucking chest wounds make that says, without a medic or a doctor, the person is dead Just a matter of when, not if

33

We&039;d called the aht away Too encies ahead of us It was Louie who pried the phone out of ized to the nice operator

Cherry ran to the kitchen I could hear her opening and shutting drawers, cabinets banging

I walked into the kitchen

She was standing in the middle of the room with a drawer pulled all the way out in one hand Her eyes were al, she said, "I need a Ziploc bag,tape, and scissors"

I didn&039;t ask stupid questions I opened the small drawer beside the stove and handed her the tape and scissors The Ziploc bags were one of the few things in the roomy pantry closet

Cherry snatched the room I had no idea what she had inI didn&039;t If it would give Zane a few more minutes, then I was for it The a him alive for it to matter

As far as I could tell, she didn&039;t use the scissors She taped the bag over his chest, plastering it with tape except for one corner It was very obviously meant to be left that way, but I had to ask "Why is the one corner untaped?"

She answered without looking up from her patient "The open corner lets hi collapses and seals the wound It&039;s called an inclusive bandage" She sounded as if she was lecturing I wondered, not for the first time, what Cherry was like outside the monster stuff She was almost like two different people I&039;d never meant anyone, monster or not, who see enough for the aet here?" I asked

She finally looked up at me--eyes very serious "I hope so"

I nodded It was better than I could have done I was great at putting holes in people Not so good at keeping theht a blanket and folded it over Zane&039;s legs, letting Cherry take the upper part of the blanket to fix the way she wanted around the wound

Richard earing nothing but a towel around his waist, his tanned skin beaded ater as if he hadn&039;t even taken tiht line to his butt as he folded the quilt over Zane His thick hair hung in heavy strands, so wet that water trickled from it in fine lines down his back

He stood up, and the towel flashed a lot of thigh

"I have larger towels," I said

He frowned at unshots I wasn&039;t really worried about the size of the towel"

I nodded "You&039;re right Sorry" My anger with Richard seemed to shrink in direct proportion to his clothes If he really wanted to win the war, all he had to do was strip I&039;d have put up a white flag and applauded E, but alh his hair, s out the excess water That se He arched his back just a little, which stretched the rest of his body in one long muscled line It was the back arch that did it I kneas showing his body off on purpose He&039;d always seemed unconscious of the effect his body had on ry eyes, I knew he&039;d shown , without words, see what you passed on, see what you lost If it had just been the great body I&039;d lost out on, it wouldn&039;t have hurt soold , or entire weekends of rafting on the Mera about his day at school I missed him The body was just a very nice bonus I wasn&039;t sure there were enough roses in the world to et what Richard had almost been to me

He stalked away towards the stairs and his interrupted shower If I&039;d been as strong of will as I liked to think, I wouldn&039;t have watched hi water off his chest and jerking that tiny white toay The ih that I had to turn away and take a few deep breaths He wasn&039;t mine anymore Maybe he never had been

"I don&039;t mean to interrupt the stud watch," Jauy, and why did he try to kill you?"

If I thought I&039;d been e The fact that I&039;d let the shit with Richard distract me from the much more vital question of the would-be ame It was too careless for words The sort of carelessness that can get you killed

"I don&039;t know him," I said

Louie lifted the sheet that sonize hi soain

Louie let the sheet fall back, but it was flatter so to the top of his head The blood soaked up the cotton like oil to a wick

Ronnie made a small sound and ran for the bathroom

Louie watched her run out I watched hi and said, "She&039;s killed people before" The implied "why is this worse?" went unsaid

"Once before," I said

He stood up "Did she react like this?"

I shookall over the porch that did it"