Page 96 of The Stipulation
The seconds stretch out. The tension thickens the air like concrete. Sheldon doesn’t respond immediately. He’s calculating. Listening. Considering.
Then the door bursts open in a violent crash. The air vibrates with the impact. Red and blue light floods the warehouse through broken windows. The police are here. Finally.
Sheldon reacts instinctively. The gun snaps up. He fires.
I barely have time to move. My body reacts before my brain does. I step in front of Jo. The shot misses us by inches, shattering a crate to my left. Wood splinters, dust explodes into the air. My ears ring.
Sheldon freezes for a heartbeat, his eyes wide, as the reality hits him. He’s surrounded. Cornered. His plan is collapsing. And then he does the last thing I would have predicted. He smiles. A strange, crooked smile.
The police shout for him to put his gun down or they’ll shoot.
“You and that dumb whore don’t get to win this one,” he crows.
Then he turns the gun on himself, pushing the barrel into his mouth. He pulls the trigger, and I hear the incredible sound of the gunshot echo off the bare concrete floors. He collapses. Cold. Dead. A splatter of red and grey stains the floor behind him.
I don’t move immediately. I can’t. I have never seen a man die like that. It is a shock. A terrible, terrible shock. My chest heaves, adrenaline surging through me, and my heart slams inside my ribcage. Jo’s arms wrap around my back suddenly, holding on like her life depends on it, which, in a sense, it did. Her touch snaps me out of my shock, and I turn around and hold her tightly.
“It’s ok,” I murmur into her hair, trying to calm her trembling body as much as mine. “You’re safe. You’re ok. I’ve got you.”
Her shoulders shake against me, silent sobs ripping through her. I hold her tighter, feeling every beat of her fear, every second of terror she endured.
The police shout commands, their bodies swarming around checking for a second gunman. My mind finally allows itself to exhale.
She is alive.
She is here.
She is safe.
And it’s over.
Chapter
Forty
AXEL
Being in a cop car feels unreal. It was only six or seven hours ago that we were in the warehouse, fighting for our lives. Now I’m squeezed into the back seat with Jo beside me, the city rushing past the window in a blur of neon and headlights. I will have to go and collect my car tomorrow; the police said I didn’t look to be in any fit state to drive myself anywhere earlier, and I think that was a good call.
My hands are still shaking from the adrenaline that still keeps flooding my system, even though every instinct tells me that we’re now safe.
“Are you ok?” I ask Jo again.
“I’m fine,” she says. Her voice sounds tired and spaced out.
I turn to her, trying to catch her eye through the window reflection. “Are you sure? Because …”
“I’m fine, Axel. Stop worrying. And don’t ever jump in front of me again. Seriously.”
My chest tightens. “I’ll always put your life before my own. Always. I don’t care what it costs me.”
She swallows and looks at me, then she looks away, letting the silence settle between us. I don’t press her. I just glance out of the window at the city sliding past, the lights glinting off the rain-slicked streets. My mind replays the warehouse scene over and over again: Sheldon’s cold, dead eyes, the gun in his hand, that strange smile, Sheldon’s brain and blood splattered on the rough concrete. I wonder again, what had gone through his mind when he smiled at me like that? It was almost peaceful. Acceptance, but it was also beautiful. The thought makes me shudder. I know I will remember that smile ‘til the day I die.
But for now, all that matters is that she’s safe.
It’s been hours since the police whisked me off to give a statement. Jo went to the hospital first, just to be checked over. It was confirmed that there was nothing seriously wrong, just the cut on her temple and stress. But seeing her finally walk into the police station afterwards, upright and alert, was like a weight lifting off my chest. I could finally breathe again, even if it was only a little bit.
I hail a cab and climb in.
