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"Da always so complicated?" He stomped away, behind her where she couldn’t see When he caun
Isabelle’s blood ran cold He was going to kill Grant right now Right here
She had to warn hi Dale with her eyes to help her, too
Keith went to the door She couldn’t see him around the corner, but she could hear him turn the lock
"Hey, Grant," said Keith, sounding like nothing rong
"I need to talk to Isabelle"
"She doesn’t want to see you I’o"
No! Isabelle rocked her chair, scooting it the last few inches until she was near the wall Her head was the only thing she could ainst the wall Pain exploded in her head She shook it off and did it again This tihts She couldn’t let herself pass out, and she blinked hard to clear her vision
"What was that?" asked Grant
"What?"
"That pounding?"
"Dale’s music," said Keith, smooth and calm
"That didn’t sound like--"
Dale tipped his chair over, and it broke apart under his weight The sound of splintering wood filled the room
"What the hell?"
There was a harsh grunt, then Grant appeared around the corner and took in the situation in one sweeping glance Behind hiun in one hand, what looked like a can of Mace in the other
Isabelle screa to tell Grant Keith was behind hiun Grant reacted in a brutally fast attack One second, the gun was in Keith’s hand, the next, it was skidding across the floor
Grant pinned Keith to the wall by the throat Keith lifted the can of Mace and sprayed Grant knocked the can aside, deflecting most of the spray away froht eye
Grant’s body went limp and cru without blinking He lay there lis
Keith retrieved the gun and stood over hioing to kill Grant while Isabelle watched, both of them helpless to stop it
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Grant was seething, boiling over with the kind of rage and desperation he’d felt the night he’d killed Lavine, but it didn’t do hiood He couldn’t move Couldn’t even blink
Whatever Keith had sprayed him as fast, potent stuff If he didn’t find a way to throw off the effects, they were all dead
He heard Isabelle’s muffled scream from across the room Keith had her tied to a chair Blood ran down the side of her face,with panicked tears And her eyes, they ith terror and anguish
Keith had hurt her, and Grant was going to kill hie and tried to concentrate on what he needed to do to save her and the others He took a quick survey of his body, trying to le in his toes Notthis stuff lasted, or if it was permanent
Panic made his heart pound What if he wasn’t able to help therip Focus
At least his heart was still working Whatever had paralyzed hi
Keith grabbed hied his so hard on ain, just to be sure it wasn’t an accident It h hi the paralytic quickly Maybe if he revved up his heart rate to speed his metabolism it would help He could slow his heart when he needed to take a shot Maybe he could do the opposite now
Keith arranged Grant’s body so he could see the rooht here I’ll be back for you in aher led to rid himself of the ropes and bits of broken chair that were taped to his legs Keith was hardly paying him any attention He walked by, backhanded Dale in the face, and the boy went down hard without so much as a twitch
A splinter of wood cut Dale’s face, and blood oozed into the carpet
Rage took over Grant let it He gave in to the feeling and let it consume him His heart haoing to kill Keith He’d spilled a child’s blood He’d hurt Isabelle No one hurt his Isabelle
Keith set the spray can down, picked up her chair, and entle fingers "You shouldn’t have done that I hate seeing you bleed"
He ripped the tape froh to wake the dead "Help!"
Keith clamped a hand hard over her ht now Understand?"
Isabelle went silent
A buzzing sensation lightened Grant’s lih he was careful not to let Keith see Another minute or two and maybe he’d be able to sit up
Keith poured pills into his hand and pressed the out of time S faster"
"Please don’t ed Isabelle around the pills
Keith smoothed her hair away from her sweaty face "It’ll be okay You’ll see Just a fewwill be okay"