Ray swung around. “You won’t?” he said fiercely. “Jasper, what do you mean you won’t? He’ll kill Jem.”
Jasper shook his head. “No, he won’t.”
Ray inclined his head in Tony’s direction. “He’s not giving me any reason to believe he won’t.”
Jasper calmly raised his gun at Tony again while Ray desperately tried to decipher his plan. A split second later he figured it out, as Jasper swerved the gun and fired before Tony could react, other than to falter and let go of the nearly missed Jem while he gripped his now wounded forearm.
Ray was furious and scared and then furious again. “You trusted your aim that much!” he said to Jasper, grabbing a shaking Jem and pulling her away from Tony, who was cursing at the widening stain on his shirt.
“Are you all right?” Ray asked Jem, gripping her arms and staring into her terrified eyes.
She was too scared to say anything, and her teeth were chattering so fiercely that coherent sentences wouldn’t have made their way out anyway. Ray smoothed her hair back, kissed her forehead, and then held her at arm’s length a moment and gave her a slight reassuring smile. Then he swerved at Tony, who had slowly risen, gripping his bleeding arm. Ray lunged at him and drove him into the column behind him, his fist gripping his collar. “What is wrong with you? What did I ever do to you?” Ray’s bad ear was popping, and red spots were blurring his vision of Tony’s suddenly terrified face. When he didn’t respond, Ray tightened his hold. “What?”
“Ray, please,” Jem’s voice entreated from behind. “It’s not worth it.”
Ray saw Tony’s eyes flicker toward his dropped gun. Ray kept his grip. “Jemima, pick up the gun.” Tony’s eyes flashed the first true fear Ray had seen in them.
Jem made to do as instructed while Ray loosened his grip on Tony, but Tony was faster. He threw Ray behind him, lunged at Jem, wrestled the gun out of her hand, and drove the butt into the side of her head. Ray dashed in Jem’s direction while Tony made for Jasper, who found himself with a blade at his neck before he could raise the gun held loosely in his hand. “Constable Forth here was so worried you might commit my murder, he let his guard down a moment.” Tony pressed harder. “And you’re still determined to see me hang, Ray?”
“Shut up!” Ray yelled. “Jemima.” Ray dropped in front of her and ran his eyes over her face. He followed the movement of her hand to the back of her neck, and his fingers came away red. The blood drained from his face.
“It’s okay,” she said woozily but more clearly than her bleary eyes. “He didn’t hit me that hard.” She inclined her head toward Jasper. “Ray, you have to help Jasper.”
Ray picked up the gun Tony had discarded, slowly rose, and turned.
Tony’s knife nicked Jasper, and Ray saw a drop of blood. “I left the gun there, Ray, because I know it’s useless to you now. You’ll never kill me. We’re family, aren’t we? You think Viola would ever speak to you again if you did? Look at you. You want to. I hurt your wife, I am driving this weapon farther into your friend’s neck, and yet… you can’t do it. You hate me, and you still can’t do it. For Viola you can’t do it.”
Ray’s heart twisted at Vi’s name, even as his hand closed around the cold metal in his hand.
“We stand at Armageddon, and we battle for the Lord!” Roosevelt shouted with finality, triggering an explosion of applause from the crowd.
Oh, good! Merinda thought. That has to be the end of his spiel. This Roosevelt fellow had no lack of words as he expounded on every promise. This adventure buzzed through her and made the world seem brighter in kaleidoscope colors, and while she wanted the insufferable man to cease droning on, she didn’t want it all to end. The sparks and the fireworks, the heart-clutching feeling that the world could turn in an instant and she would be pulled in its vortex. And Benny. Of course, Benny.
She looked about her, and there was David Ross, as planned, the slightest flick of a match and… But a tall figure now stood before him before Merinda could move or even think through the noise of the crowd. They clapped and clapped for Roosevelt. No one would hear the sudden pop of gunfire as the two men wrestled near the exit. And yet, from her vantage point, Merinda knew that Jonathan had pulled the trigger. Ross squirmed and she gasped—undetected by the throng and the noise around her.
Benny was watching the same commotion, his face paling at his simultaneous realization. Jonathan was swift, and they disappeared out the doorway.
Benny looked to Merinda, and they shoved their way through the ovation and in the direction of the bomb still tucked behind the podium. Benny wriggled out of his vest and wrapped it up while Merinda looked left and right. They made for the doorway.
Once outside, in a damp alleyway overrun with garbage and mice, they gingerly set the bomb on the ground.
“Well, that could have been a disaster,” Merinda panted.