Storm's Cage by Mary Stone (uplifting novels .TXT) 📕

the distance, Amelia didn’t miss the way Cliff’s posture stiffened at the remark. “That’s not what I—”

“Save it!” Amelia narrowed her eyes, still looking for that clean shot. “I’m not interested in the excuses you tell yourself for the sick shit you do. Here’s what I’m going to do, Detective. I’m going to go through all your options and tell you how each of them is going to pan out.”

Allworth clenched his jaw. “The way I see it, Agent, I’ve only got one option right now.”

As much as Amelia wanted to tell him what a piece of shit he was, his tone had turned dangerous. There was no doubt in her mind that he would shoot Natasha if he decided he had no other way out of the apartment.

“I’m not going to prison.” He pulled Natasha up a little straighter.

Now that the daze from the blow to her head had worn off, the first inklings of sheer terror made their way to Natasha’s wide eyes.

I’m not going to prison.

Those were the same words Alton Dalessio had uttered in the basement of the Kankakee County warehouse. Right before Amelia had shot him in the chest.

If Cliff Allworth made good on his promise to kill Natasha, and if Floyd succumbed to his injuries, Amelia would be left with only a single witness to the day’s events.

Joseph. Again.

The taste on her tongue turned bitter, but she ignored the mounting trepidation. She was more worried about Natasha’s kid becoming an orphan than she was about her fellow agent blackmailing her.

“There are two of us and one of you. So, you think that if you shoot her, we’ll kill you, right?” Amelia glared at him hard. “You think that we’ll end it all for you, so you don’t have to sit in a courtroom and face up to what you’ve done? So you don’t have to share a cell with a guy who’ll do to you what you did to all those little girls? Is that what you think?”

Amelia swore she could hear Cliff’s teeth grind together.

She didn’t give him time for a rebuttal. “No, Detective. Here’s the thing, and I want you to listen to this part very carefully. If you shoot her, I won’t kill you. I’ll take you down, but I won’t kill you. I’ll hit you in your shoulder, sever one of the nerves that’s letting you keep your grip on that weapon. While you’re still screaming, my partner and I will haul your ass out of here and make sure you stay alive. And when you get to prison, I will personally make sure you’re kept in gen-pop. No protective custody for you.”

The color drained from Cliff’s face. “You won’t…you can’t do that. They’d kill me in prison, they’d…they’d…”

She bit her tongue to keep a slew of four-letter words at bay. “They’d what? They’d make you their bitch?” She let out a derisive snort. “Yeah, they sure will. And none of the guards will do a damn thing about it. That’s how you’ll spend the rest of your miserable life. Locked in a cage with a man who’ll use you like a cheap napkin until he gets sick of you and slits your throat. That’s how you’ll die. Facedown in a pool of your own blood.”

As the room lapsed into silence, the faint wail of a siren drifted in through an open window.

Joseph frowned. “Someone in the building must’ve called the cops. You’d better make your decision fast, Allworth. Otherwise, your brothers in blue will make it for you.”

Afternoon sunlight caught the sheen of sweat on Cliff’s forehead as he looked to the window. “What happens if I listen to you…if I drop my weapon? What then? How will that be any different?”

Amelia could feel Joseph’s gaze on the side of her face, and she took her cue. “You worked with the Leóne family in Kankakee County, and you worked with them before then. That’s not a question. We know you did. You are going to prison, but you get to choose what that’s going to be like. Drop your weapon, and I’ll set you up to testify for the U.S. Attorney. If you give us information to use against the Leónes, you’ll go into witness protection. Probably to a Supermax prison in Colorado or California under a new identity.”

Cliff flexed his grip on the handgun as the siren grew louder. “You’re sure? If I drop my weapon, you’re sure that’s what’ll happen?”

Amelia nodded. “Yes.”

Not that you deserve it.

She kept the second part to herself.

Maybe Cliff didn’t deserve to live out the rest of his days in relative safety, but Natasha’s daughter deserved to see her mother again. Floyd deserved better than an agonizing death on the dining room floor of a traitor’s apartment.

“Okay.” With a deep breath, Cliff pulled the wood and steel handgun away from Natasha’s head. Stepping away from the detective, he leaned forward to set his weapon atop the table.

Amelia followed each motion with her Glock. She didn’t permit her glare to waver until Cliff stuck both hands high in the air.

Joseph tucked his service weapon back in his suit jacket before he retrieved a pair of silver handcuffs. As he made his way to Cliff, Natasha rushed around the table to kneel beside her fallen partner.

The wail of sirens had reached a crescendo, and the first red and blue lights flashed against the drywall. Lowering her aim to the floor, Amelia allowed herself to relax as Joseph pinned Cliff Allworth’s arms behind his back.

This nightmare had ended, but another was right around the corner.

26

Leaning back in his office chair, Joseph drummed the fingers of one hand against the tabletop. The rays of light that spilled into the conference room had turned a dark shade of gold, and within the hour, the sun would finish its descent below the horizon.

The setting sun seemed appropriate as Joseph watched Amelia erase the names and dates that littered the whiteboard. Their time working so closely together was about