Looking like Gunther had in every picture I’d ever seen of him–tall, brushcut, and muscular, I didn’t see why Ray would look forward to his appearance.
As Haley stepped through the door, Ray said something, his voice low, and intense.
The white circle that had been painted on the floor flared, making everything outside the circle a shade lighter. Simultaneously, the walls of the room turned reddish, including the open doorway behind Haley. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 6
Ray kept the gun pointed at my mom, but acted as if we were making small talk at the Christmas party.
“So you know I’ve done jobs for the Chicago Outfit, right? I got a job to kill Night Wolf a few years back. Night Wolf had been retired for years by then, and the client was old, so I took it because it sounded like easy money. If he was still alive, he had to be in his 80’s.
Continue reading The Executioner: Part 5
It didn’t take long. The helmet probably adjusted more quickly than my eyes did.
At first I only saw silhouettes, and lines of brightness in the windows where the boards weren’t quite flush.
Instants later, I saw more than I wanted. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 4
Further out from the city of Grand Lake, cottages and big houses dominated the coastline closest to Lake Michigan.
From the state park northward, aside from the houses, the landscape seemed to be all trees.
Sean and the truck disappeared into the bulge of a forested dune near Northshore Drive.
Even in the distance, I could hear a crashing noise.
No explosion though. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 3
Next to me, Rachel said, “Does he really think he’s going to stop Ray by himself?”
I didn’t say anything. I’d pulled up my communicator. They’d given Sean one, and he’d managed not to trash it yet. I clicked, and got a GPS view of the team including Sean’s dot.
He was flying toward the address Gimpius had given us. Continue reading The Executioner: Part 2
It’s a bit of an understatement to say that Sean wouldn’t have been my first choice of companions.
I decided to ignore him, and texted Jaclyn.
Me: Can you check my dad’s office?
Jaclyn: I’ll do it. Should I meet you if he’s okay?
I was about to send her the address, but Rachel said, “What if Ray touches her?” Continue reading The Executioner: Part 1
I didn’t even think about what I’d be hitting. I fired, holding the button down even though I knew it used more power.
I don’t think I panicked, but I can’t say I was thinking clearly.
Being rushed by someone who you know can kill you does that. Continue reading Targets: Part 24
Haley parked the car by the side of the road. As we got out, I couldn’t help but notice who wasn’t there–Jaclyn, Cassie and Julie. And that sucked because Cassie could have chopped them to pieces, Julie could have told them to stop, and had a pretty good chance that they’d listen, and Jaclyn…
Jaclyn could have done something. Physically, she was the only one of us who was in Prime’s army’s league. Plus she was a whole lot faster than any of them.
I couldn’t say that we were doomed, but part of me would have felt better knowing they were with us.
Continue reading Targets: Part 22
Off to our left, bright red beams lanced the ground, and then raked across the building I’d been in. It didn’t look like much–a concrete block with brown, wooden siding on the edge of farmland.
When the beams hit the back of the building, it exploded. I wondered if Travis had hit a gas line or if they had had an armory back there.
Continue reading Targets: Part 21
He lay on the road. Then he pulled himself up, and limped to the side.
He sat down in the front lawn of an old white house that hadn’t been painted in at least twenty years. Most of its paint had flaked off the wood.
With luck, no one lived there. Continue reading Targets: Part 20