Page 47 of Marcellus: House of Drakos

Under cover of darkness, the SUV stopped two blocks from Kalayna’s house. Marcellus, Alex, and Oz made their way along the back alley, behind an eight-foot wooden fence, to the back of Kalayna’s backyard.

As soon as they got back there, Marcellus pulled out his phone and made the call. “We’re in place,” he said in a low tone. “Do it now.”

Then he ended the call, nodded to Oz, and Oz placed his hand on the back gate outside of Kalayna’s property, and waited for the signal.

On the street on the front side of Kalayna’s home, a silver SUV pulled from the curb at the southern end of the street just as a black SUV pulled from the curb on the northern end of the street.

Both SUVs sped up with increasing speeds until they collided into each other with a crash so loud that it reverberated throughout the quiet neighborhood.

As soon as the collision was heard, Oz swung open the gate and he, Marcellus, and Alex, their assault-style weapons ready, ran across Kalayna’s backyard to the backdoor.

As soon as the collision was heard, Zorbo, who had fallen asleep on the couch in the den, was awakened by the sound of a collision. It startled him so that he nearly jumped to his feet. Even Kalayna, who was still wide awake and had not fallen asleep, was startled.

Zorbo got up and hurried through the dining room, through the living room, and up to the window in the foyer.

When he looked out and saw the wreckage and two men hopping out of their SUVs arguing about who was at fault, he relaxed.

It never once occurred to him that that scene in front of the house had anything to do with him until he heard what sounded like the backdoor kicked in, and the sound of somebody running.

Realizing he’d been had, Zorbo ran as fast as he could back toward the dining room.

But the Drakos brothers were running into the dinning room from the kitchen just as he was running into the dining room from the living room.

Zorbo, with his hands in his pockets, stopped them in their tracks.

“I have remotes in these pockets,” he yelled out.

“Make one more move and she’s dead and another plane with hundreds on board drops out of the sky. Now drop those rifles!”

“Where’s my daughter?” Marcellus demanded to know.

“Daddy, I’m back here!” Kalayna yelled, and Marcellus had to look beyond the den to see her, and that bomb on her lap. His heart squeezed with anxiety. But at least she was still alive.

“It’s a real bomb, Daddy,” she said to him. “He can control it remotely. It’s a real bomb! And he’s going to destroy another plane within the next hour or so if you don’t stop him!” She was crying.

“It’s okay, Kalayna,” Marcellus said, although his eyes stayed on Zorbo. “It’s going to be okay.”

“No it won’t,” said Zorbo, “unless you drop those rifles. Drop them now!” he yelled out.

Alex and Oz quickly began sitting their rifles on the floor.

But Marcellus noticed something else: Zorbo’s eyes. And they kept darting to the side. And that was when he understood.

“I said drop your weapons or everybody’s dead!” Zorbo yelled again because Marcellus still held his rifle.

“You think I’m bluffing?” asked Zorbo. “You think you still can control me? I can kill you and your daughter and everybody else right now with just a press of these buttons. And I’ll do it.

All those planes that dropped from the sky, except for the first one, I did that.

You killed my son and my beloved woman in that first disaster.

I made sure you didn’t get away with it.

” He seemed proud. “And I still have one more, another big one, that’ll come down with a press of this button.

Now disarm yourself or face the consequences! ”

But Marcellus held on.

Oz was angry. “What are you doing?” he yelled at Marcellus. “Drop the weapon. You heard the man. You heard your daughter. He’s not bluffing. You wanna get all of us killed?”

“Show me,” Marcellus said to Zorbo.

“Show you what?” asked Zorbo.

“Show me those remote-control buttons you’re threatening to push. Show me.”

It was then that both men understood each other. And Zorbo understood that his error could blow up all of his plans. And that was why he made a run for it.

He dashed toward the side table because it was within ten feet of his reach, but Marcellus didn’t take any chances. He shot him not once, not twice, but five times. He shot to kill. Zorbo dropped dead where he stood.

Alex and Oz ducked in terror, expecting to be blown away in the explosion. Kalayna was screaming Daddy no! as if she knew he had underestimated Zorbo Lay.

But then they all realized nothing happened.

Alex and Oz, puzzled, stood back up.

Kalayna stopped screaming.

And Marcellus made another phone call. “Bring him in,” he said, and ended the call. Then he walked over to the side table, opened the drawer, and saw the two remote controls staring up at him.

Alex and Oz went and took a look too. Then Alex looked at Marcellus. “How did you know he didn’t have them in his pocket?”

“When he ran up front to see what that collision was about, he forgot to take his remotes with him. But he wouldn’t anyway, would he?”

“What do you mean?”

“Remotes are very sensitive equipment. This time of night he would have been sleep. You can’t sleep with remotes in your pockets. You can’t walk around with them, either, because of the stakes. They had to remain stationary.”

“But you didn’t know he had remotes when we came over here.”

“Grishom had mentioned it, but no, I didn’t know for certain.”

“Then how did you know he didn’t have them on him?” asked a still-confused Oz. “Because he was moving around?”

“His eyes gave him away. They looked over at this table one time too many. Now may I go see about my daughter?”

Alex and Oz smiled. “You have my permission,” said Oz, and Marcellus, smiling too, went to Kalayna.

As Alex and Oz stood guard over those remotes, Johnny hurried in with Bobcat Grishom, who they picked up from Oz’s safe house on the way, so that he could safely diffuse the bomb of his own creation. Which Bobcat did. Then he removed it from Kalayna’s lap.

It was only then did Marcellus untie her hands. But she was already hugging him before he could untie her feet.

“I knew you wouldn’t let him hurt me, Daddy. I knew it!”

Marcellus finished untying her feet and she finally got out of that death chair. She wrapped her arms around her father’s neck and began sobbing. “I knew you wouldn’t let him hurt me,” she said again.

And Marcellus held her tightly too. He was acting cool, but he was a nervous wreck inside. He knew how badly it could have gone. He held her tighter still.