Eye of the Sh*t Storm by Jackson Ford (most romantic novels .txt) 📕

around in her mouth, tasting it. “There’s gonna be a lotta scary dudes coming for you after this. I’m not even talking about the government, although you’d best believe they’ll be hunting too. I’m talking about every soldier in every hood in LA, every gangster, every shooter, every contact I got. I’m putting the word out. They’re gonna be coming for your ass.”

The woman ignores her. Barely even looks at her. “Where’s Teagan?”

“She couldn’t come,” Nic says.

“She’s here somewhere, isn’t she? I do hope she understands what will happen if the pressure on my trigger finger changes. It would be a shame if she sprung a trap, only to kill her colleague.” She raises her voice. “Come on out, Teagan.”

“She’s not here,” Annie says, through gritted teeth. “She…” But it’s as if she can’t get the words out. She snaps her mouth shut, hands balled into fists.

She’s not lying. Reggie can tell. Teagan really isn’t here. Reggie feels a mix of hurt and pride – hurt that Teagan didn’t come anyway, and pride and relief that she was smart enough to stay away.

“There’s a homeless camp,” Nic says. “Upriver from where you left the…” He clears his throat. “The chair. Regina’s chair. There’s a flood coming, in the storm drain, and Teagan’s helping get people out.”

This time, the woman does laugh. “Is that right, Teagan?” she says loudly, as if hoping her voice will carry to wherever the girl is hiding. “Wherever you are, it’s best if you stay there. I see anything moving in a way it shouldn’t, and…” She raises the bomb trigger, holding it high.

The steak knife. Reggie still has it, tucked into her pocket – her special knife, with the rings on the handle to slip her fingers into. If she could just…

Just what? She doesn’t dare stab the woman, doesn’t dare do anything that would make that trigger finger squeeze. Especially not now, with the others so close.

“Come on, Leo,” the woman says.

Leo doesn’t move. He’s not looking at the woman. Instead, he’s looking at the figure he called the Zigzag Man. As Reggie watches, the boy starts to shake his head back and forth, slowly at first, then faster and faster. “I don’t wanna.”

“Yes you do,” the woman tells him. Reggie has never wanted to hit someone so badly. From the look on Annie’s face, she isn’t the only one.

Leo bows his head, wiping at his eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t wanna,” he says, the words coming out in a rush. “I know I said I’d go but I don’t wanna be with the Zigzag Man, please don’t make me go!”

He reaches for Nic, who scoops him up in a hug. Reggie has never seen a man look so wretched.

The woman mutters something, which sounds to Reggie like the word Pathetic. “Leo,” she says. “Come here. Now.”

“He’s scared,” Annie spits at her. “Can’t you see that?”

For a second, a different expression flickers across the woman’s face. One that might be something approaching concern. But it’s gone almost as soon it appears, replaced by steel-hard resolve. “Last chance,” the woman says, raising the bomb trigger.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Nic puts Leo down.

The boy doesn’t want to let go. He keeps stealing glances at the Zigzag Man, and Reggie can’t help but do the same. The man is lost in his own world.

Nic and Annie both talk quietly to Leo. Both of them crouch down, holding his hands. They too seem to be in their own world… and all Reggie can do is silently watch, fuming, hating how helpless she is. Hating that she’s a bargaining chip.

She expects the woman to get more and more impatient, but surprisingly, she stays silent. Why wouldn’t she? She’s won.

She’s won.

And eventually, Leo turns around. He still crying, but his mouth is set in a thin line now. He’s not looking at the Zigzag Man, just at the woman with the bomb trigger. Nic watches as Leo starts to walk, shaking his head. Neither he nor Annie move.

The woman must have a vehicle nearby – how else would she have gotten Reggie to the park? By the time Annie and Nic get Reggie off the explosives and give chase, both she and Leo will be long gone.

And then…

More dead. Maybe thousands more. Hundreds of thousands. Leo forced to use his ability to help carve out a new world.

Reggie’s hand is in her pocket now, fingers slotting into the holes of the specially designed handle on the steak knife. Except: what good will it do? Even if she gets the knife out in time, and even if she stabs the woman, what on earth would it accomplish?

The woman might squeeze the bomb trigger, or drop it entirely. If it were just the two of them, Reggie might consider doing it – pretty hard to carve out a new world if you’re vaporised. But it’s not just them. It’s Leo, who is way too close to the bomb.

And Reggie cannot murder a child.

They planned to do so before, when Matthew Schenke was on course to set off the Cascadia fault line and kill millions. Taking him out seemed like their only option. But Matthew was a sociopath, and he knew exactly what he was doing. Leo doesn’t deserve this, any of it, and Reggie isn’t prepared to take his life.

“That’s it,” the woman murmurs. “Come on.”

“Leo.” The desperation and despair in Annie’s voice cuts Reggie’s heart in two. “We’ll find you, OK? We’re not gonna stop looking, no matter what. We’ll get you out, just… just stay strong, you hear me?”

Leo looks as if he wants to say something, but he just nods. Never stopping his slow, steady walk.

“We’ll find your dad,” Nic is saying. “We’ll tell him you’re OK.”

Reggie happens to be looking at the woman right then, and the oddest thing happens. The woman’s expression changes. It goes from cold control to absolute shock, just for a microsecond. Then it’s as if the woman gets a hold of herself,