Kneel

Case 46

  "And then Lee took me to see Saw. It was our first R-rated movie." Megan chuckled as I carried boxes into her house. "Thank you again for helping me." She flicked on the lights as I shut the door with my foot.

  "Don't mention it. I wanted to make sure you got home safe, anyhow." I replied, and Megan froze as she was looking at something. Walking around her, I saw a severed hand on her island counter. Carefully setting down the boxes, I glanced at Megan and saw the look on her face.

  A gun loudly cocked, and my hand shot for my gun.

  "You, put your gun on the counter." The man ordered. "Do it now."

  "Relax, I'm doing it." Raising my other hand by my head, I unclipped my holster to pull out my gun. Carefully setting it on the island, I was already quickly thinking of how this scenario could play out.

  "You're Rod. You used to room with Lee. Did you kill him?" Megan asked.

  "That loser brother of yours gave us no choice. He still owes us our cut from our last job. Now, where's the money from the safe?"

  "You don't have it?"

  "The safe was empty when we got there." Rod stated, and Megan laughed. "What the Hell's so funny?"

  "I mean, of course, it's gone. You knew my brother. He probably thought he could double it at a casino, or, I don't know, spend it on that stupid boat."

  "Quit stalling and give us the money." He shot a plate on the shelf as a warning.

  "The money's right here." I pointed at the sidebag on top of the boxes. "Just don't shoot." Slowly opening the bag, I reached my hand in and wrapped my hand around Lee's gun inside. Firing, I shot the man through the bag, and just as I thought, more men came out.

  Grabbing Megan, I yanked her behind the island for cover. Pressing my back against the cabinets as the men opened fire, glass and porcelain came raining down from the shelves and counters.

  "When they stop to reload, I want you to run for the door. I'll cover you, so don't look back, just run. Okay?"

  "No!" Megan wildly shook her head. "No, no, no, I can't!"

  "Megan, listen to me." I looked her in the eye as she was shaking. "You need to run fast, no hesitation. The quicker you get out of here, the quicker I don't have to worry about keeping you alive as well. You understand? I need you to run so we can both live." She was just looking at me before slowly nodding. "Good. When I say go, go."

  I listened to the shots, waiting for the pause when they were to reload. One gun stopped, then two, but then there was....whistling?

  "What the Hell?"

  "Hel-lo, bad guys."

  "Who's this crazy fool?"

  "I hope I'm not late to the party." My brows furrowed at that familiar voice, and since the firing had stopped, I cautiously peeked around the corner. I had to quickly duck back when a gun shot my way.

  Hearing a crash, I looked back out to fire and took down a man aiming his gun at Lucifer. Standing up, I didn't even look at Megan.

  "Go!" And she ran for the front door as Lucifer broke the gun the last man standing was holding. He threw the man across the room, and he landed right next to the first one's shotgun. He picked it up and aimed, but couldn't even get his finger on the trigger before my foot crashed into the side of his face.

  Pausing to make sure he wasn't getting back up, I then looked at Lucifer.

  "Thought you could use a hand, but....looks like someone beat me to it." Lucifer smiled while pointing to the hand on the island. I snorted before launching at him with a hug.