Page 76 of V-Day

Serrano’s grip was already loosening in shock. She pulled her wrist out of his fingers.

Serrano didn’t notice. He was scrabbling for the gun.

Nick kicked it out of the way and it skidded through the open doorway behind him. Maria Roldán bent and picked it up and hefted it.

Calli ducked out of the way, leaving the path clear for Nick.

He came at Serrano with his hands out.

Calli watched Nick’s hands close around Serrano’s throat. She might have worried about the weight differential for Serrano was a large and heavy man. Only Nick was strong and months of deprivation, heart-ache and fury drove him.

She even felt sorry for Serrano. Not much, but enough to pity him. He didn’t understand what he had unleashed.

Roldán came to the door and watched Nick and Serrano struggle with as much interest as Calli. The gun was still in her hand.

“Give it to me,” Calli told her.

Roldán tossed the gun to her.

Calli checked the load, then pointed it at Serrano’s head and waited to see if she was needed.

While Serrano gripped Nick’s wrists and tried to prize them away, Nick worked one hand, inching it up Serrano’s pudgy throat, then over his chin.

Calli’s heart raced. She knew what Nick wanted to do.

His other hand stretched for the back of Serrano’s neck. Nick’s arms worked hard as he fought against Serrano’s grip on his wrists. He strained, until his fingers curled around Serrano’s neck.

Nick looked the man in the eye. “Vistaria is better off without you.” He wrenched sideways, his shoulders flexing, his whole body twisting with the effort.

A soft, wet crack sounded.

Nick stepped back.

Serrano toppled like a tree, onto his face. The whole room shuddered.

The silence was broken only by Nick’s heavy breathing.

“Wow,” Roldán said. “I never thought I’d ever hear myself say this, but I enjoyed that.”

Calli threw herself into Nick’s arms. He trembled as hard as she.

“Time, time,” he muttered, trying to untangle her.

He pulled out his phone.

0 hours, 13 minutes.

“Oh, god…” Calli breathed.

Roldán whirled back to the cupboard and yanked out a white business shirt and shoved her arms into it. “We can run. Mow down anything in the way. I’ll even shoot people.”

Nick shook his head. “There’s not enough time.”

“Nick…” Calli gripped his shirt. “There must be something…”

Nick plucked the gun from Calli’s hand and ejected the clip, checked it, then slapped it back. “There is something. It’s a long shot.”

“I don’t care. Anything is better than standing here waiting for zero hour!”