Page 118 of Blood Moon

Mitch, accustomed to absorbing stratagems under pressure, took it all in without question or comment, then said, “Let’s do it.”

He turned away, but John hooked his elbow and pulled him back. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Fuck you. Of course I do.”

“If we pull this off, I’ll owe you big-time.”

“You sure as hell will. How about being godfather to my son?”

John swallowed thickly. “That’d be… thanks. But one more thing before we go. If it comes down to a choice of getting me out or Molly, it’s her. Got that? You’re soon to be a father. You understand.”

Mitch nodded. “I don’t count on having to make a choice, but I understand.” He slapped John on the back and said, “See you outside.” He waved to Beth on his way through the door, then melded into the darkness beyond the cabin.

John pulled on his jacket and double-checked the ammunition he’d placed in its pockets, then went over to Mutt and scratched the top of his head. “Look sharp, buddy.”

Beth was standing near the door, actually trembling. John walked over and placed his palm against the side of her neck, curling his fingers around her nape. “I’m coming back.”

“Make it a promise.”

He pulled her up and toward him. It wasn’t a long kiss, but he made a solemn vow of it.

Chapter 32

John steered into the cul-de-sac and took his foot off the accelerator, reducing his speed to a crawl. Since it was well after eleven o’clock, most of the houses were dark.

“All quiet,” Mitch said.

“But they’re here,” John said, noting the car parked alongside his SUV in front of the bungalow.

He drove the length of the lane and rolled to a stop in the darkest spot beneath the low branches of one of the oldest and most stalwart oak trees. He parked facing its trunk, cut the engine, and killed the headlights.

From the driver’s-seat window, he had an unobstructed view of the bungalow’s cheerless facade. Which meant that whoever was inside could also see him broadside. He stayed as he was, motionless except for his right hand, which curled around the pistol in his lap, and his eyes, which skittered across the front windows of the house, looking for movement.

All the blinds had been closed, but in the slits betweenlouvers there was faint light. The end table lamp, most likely, he thought. The overhead light would have been brighter.

Where was Molly? Was she bound? Gagged? Unconscious? Injured? Would they use her as a human shield?

The questions revolved inside his head like a carousel spinning out of control. His heart was thudding. His ears buzzed with anxiety. His entire being felt supercharged by adrenaline. Each tick of his watch seemed louder than the one before it.

He looked over at Mitch, who turned his head and looked back at him. They’d already said what needed to be said, and now Mitch tipped his head in a silent but cogent communication.

John turned back to the driver’s window and stared at the house as he tucked his pistol into the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back. Then he lifted the handle and pushed the door open.

He had taken the precaution of dimming the interior car lights as far down as they would go, so he wouldn’t be such an easy target for the ogre, if not to kill, at least to maim and render useless.

But even without the lights, he was definitely vulnerable as he got out and stepped away from the car with his hands raised. With one shot, he could be dead in less than a second.

But he didn’t think that Barker would have him killed right away. Barker wanted to see him humbled and pleading, suffering as the ogre did his worst before finishing him off. Barker would want to stage a memorable scene in this live drama with himself cast in the lead role. At least, that was what John was banking on.

Curtain up, he thought as he called out, “Barker!”

The front door opened a crack. Through it, Barker chortled, “Glad you could make it, John. Hope you don’t mind that Frank and me made ourselves at home.”

That cocky opening line could have been scripted. Barker was playing it exactly as John had expected. “Send Molly out.”

“Who’d you bring with you?”

“Haskell.”