Page 63 of Shadow of Death
He nodded, but she wasn’t sure he looked happy. “I am really well trained. And besides, I’ve had your guidance.”
“If only my guidance could keep people alive,” Hunter said. “You’re good. I know it. Go for it.”
“Ah, but guidance does keep people alive,” Amy murmured, pushing him back lightly. Then she rang the doorbell. There was no answer. She rang it again, and again, and again. Then she banged on the door.
“Carey! Carey, open this door! I know you’re there! Oh, my God, are you okay? I’m going to call the police! I’m going to break the door down! I’ve got to see you!” she cried.
As she expected, the door opened. Carey was not standing there.
No one was.
She didn’t wait, she pressed it inward. But she didn’t step in.
“Carey! I’m going to call the police!”
An arm slipped out from the side of the doorframe, reached for her, grabbed her by the elbow, and pulled her inside.
It was the man captured on Gleason’s camera. He was wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his forehead, a jacket, and a scarf that was still pulled high around his neck. He had light brown hair and eyes, and was old enough to maybe have graduated high school.
He held her with his right hand; his left hand was gripped around a stun gun.
“Hey!” Amy protested. “I’m not here to hurt Carey, I swear. I just want to see her. You must be George. She told me she was dating a new guy.”
“George?” he said, and then he shook his head. “Right. I’m George. Carey isn’t here right now. She ran to the store. But you need to come in. You can wait.”
He held her elbow. And the stun gun was close. Too close.
She smiled as she drew her own weapon, breaking from him and aiming her Glock at him. “No, George, you’re going to show me where Carey is. Right now. And she’d best be okay.”
“No!” he screamed the word like a child. Then a look of panic came over him. “Shoot me, shoot me, shoot me, do it!” he shrieked.
By then, Hunter had stepped in behind her and then past her, grabbed the man by the arm and wrenched the stun gun from him. The man started to fight, but he was no match for Hunter. He was whimpering as Hunter cuffed him. Then he started shrieking again.
“Kill me, kill me, kill me! I have failed in my mission. Kill me!”
Amy hoped that meant Carey was still alive.
“Where’s Carey?” she asked him.
She glanced at Hunter who gave her a nod and stepped closer to the man. There were tears in his eyes.
“I failed. I...failed. I... “
“I’ll get the cops in. We’ll find her,” Hunter said as he stepped outside to wave to the officers and then walked back into the house to look toward the back and the kitchen.
The man fell to his knees, sobbing. “Kill me, kill me!”
Four police officers filed into the house. Amy waved them forward and said, “Please, find Carey.”
“On it,” one said, and they walked on by.
Carey looked at the young man, broken, silent now, but with tears streaming down his face.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Amy said, kneeling to look into his eyes.
He looked at her, his expression both sad and slightly wild as he rushed to explain, “I was supposed to save her soul! I was supposed to...and now I’ll have to die, but now I’ve sinned. I’ve failed to carry out my command, and...”
He broke off and then he looked at Amy with desperation in his eyes. “Don’t you understand? If you take my life, it will be so much better.”
