Temple to the Barrel (Part 3)
Originally published at The OCBENJI Blog (beta). Please leave any comments there.
Rays flicker through the smoke from the lightening as it crackles outside. Again and again light illuminates the smoke-filled room as their eyes continue to lock in an unexpected stalemate. Her with both hands on her gun pointed firmly at his forehead. And him, with one hand on a shard of glass and the other firmly gripping a grenade with his index finger ready to yank the pin. He knows that the grenade will make her second guess popping him in the head. Even if she could get a clean shot, it would only take a fraction of a second for him to take her with him. Should she lose focus for a even a second, the glass will make her pay for it. His classic “sword and shield” strategy has never failed him. She tries to hide her surprise with an even colder stare and a tighter grip aimed at his temple. She contemplates taking a chance against his reaction time and giving him one to the head. Either that or shoot his hand off and run for it. She decides to stick with her plan and keep him talking until she can figure something out and pray that he makes a mistake. With the smoke still heavy around them, every flash of light highlighting the intensity in their eyes. Eagerly waiting for the other to be distracted only for a second, just long enough to make their move. They circle each other, only a meter apart, him trying to get closer and her the opposite. Both being careful not to move too fast and trigger a reaction. “Where is our son?” he asks coldly. “Safe for the time being” she responds, knowing that her knowledge is the only thing keeping him from rushing in and forcing her hand, “they are using him as leverage against me and if you take me out, they’ll have no more use for him.” His forehead wrinkles in the middle, “Let’s say that I believe you, why tell me now, other than to save your own life?” Without hesitation, “To save his.” His face shows nothing but complete focus on her, “You think we’re gonna work together to save him?” “If you love him as much as I do, you’ll do whatever it takes.” His teeth grit as he realizes that what she says is the truth. He couldn’t take a chance on calling her bluff and single-handedly dooming their son. He eased his grip on the glass and slowly backed away, still ready to flick it into her throat should he second-guess himself or her words. Her trigger finger eased only slightly knowing what he would do if he felt anything was out of place. “Whats the plan?” he asks as he sulks backwards toward a safe spot. “I was supposed to deliver you on a silver platter” she smirked, “and we can both see how well that’s going.” He lets a slight smile sneak out but doesn’t let it show in his voice, “true, but the only people who know what happened here are you and me.” She keeps her gun aimed squarely at where she guesses he is, “You’ve got a plan and I want to hear it.” He throws a rock against a barrel around his old position to watch her squirm. She instinctively aims in the rock’s direction fires. Before the empty casing even hit the ground she realized her mistake and prepared for his wrath. Before she could even frown, he was behind her. With a quick twist of her wrist, he had her disarmed. She felt a wet cloth hit her hand and then that hand slap over her nose and mouth. She tries to hold her breath but he gave her a quick blow to the abdomen, causing her to suck in a deep euthanizing breath. A devilish smile creeps across his face as he whispers in her ear, “We’ll talk when you wake up.” Her vision gets blurry as she loses consciousness, “If you wake up…….”