Page 117 of The Accomplice
He drew his knees up, into a crouching position.
Lake raised his right hand. He was holding Bloch’s back-up piece. A Glock. He aimed it at Peltier.
Moving fast, Kate swept up the steel bar from the floor. She raised it above her head, stepped forward, in front of Lake, and using all her strength she brought that steel down on top of Peltier.
As it curved toward him, he raised his gun, pointed it at Bloch and Eddie just as the bar made contact with his arm between the wrist and the elbow. The impact was savage. His forearm bent in two, the gun shot into the ceiling and fell from his grip to the concrete floor as he howled in agony.
Peltier turned and saw Kate.
The sight of her made him fall back onto his side, his face a perfect picture of shock and confusion.
Kate bent down and picked up Peltier’s gun, pointed it at him.
‘Kate, no !’ screamed Bloch.
Her finger was on the trigger, and the pistol shook in her hands. Her body flooded with anger and adrenaline at the sight of Peltier. The man who was going to burn her alive. The man who tortured her in that pit with the gas and the darkness.
Eddie and Bloch ran toward her, stopped a few feet away.
‘Kate, put down the gun,’ said Eddie.
‘No,’ she said. ‘He was going to kill me. He’s evil. He should die right now. Right here.’
Lake stepped in close. She could feel him beside her.
His voice was soft and full of sorrow.
‘You don’t want to do this,’ he said.
‘I do,’ said Kate, gritting her teeth.
She heard the sirens getting close now. The cars that came with those sirens were pulling up outside.
‘Trust me. I’ve been down this road. I know what it’s like. You pull that trigger and you’re changed, forever. You’ll always see his face as it is now. Afraid and in pain. You’ll see it every night before you go to sleep. It’ll be waiting for you in the morning, first thing when you wake up. That face will haunt you forever. You don’t need that. You don’t need that man in your head.’
And he reached out, gently.
Tears stung the red, inflamed rims of her eyes. Her chest heaved. Lake’s hands touched her own, and with great care, he held onto them. Until the sobs came bursting from her chest, and she relented, and let Lake have the gun.
Kate stepped back.
Lake turned toward the Sandman. His face was passive. There was no anger there. No judgment. No emotion whatsoever.
He pointed Peltier’s own gun at him and said, ‘Kate’s better than me. She’s going to be just fine. I’ll be fine too. Because you killed my friend, and one more face in the dark won’t make any difference to me.’
Kate covered her ears at the sound of the shots. They were rapid. Muzzle flash flaring from the barrel. It didn’t even sound like multiple shots. They were so quick, so close together, it just sounded like one long roll of thunder as Peltier’s chest burst with small, scattered eruptions of blood until all was still and his dead eyes gazed up at the ceiling.
The door to the depot burst open and Bill Seong, followed by a dozen agents, ran inside shouting instructions.
Then he saw Peltier, dead on the floor.
‘What happened ? Lake ? Why is my suspect dead, Lake ? You did it again. Didn’t you. You mother—’
‘He saved us all,’ said Eddie.
Seong turned to him, gave him a skeptical look.
‘Peltier was going to kill us, Lake wrestled with him, and Peltier’s gun went off. Lake saved everyone in this building. That’s how it went down.’
