The easy route wasn’t going to be an option here.
She couldn’t shoot. She couldn’t just stand here without breaking the status quo; Thomas Lacey needed medical attention.
There was only one thing she could do.
Laura slowly lowered her gun until it was pointing at the floor.
“What are you doing?” Bronston asked, a moment of panic in his voice. It was almost funny. The fact that he wasn’t about to get shot was worrying him.
“Ed, you don’t need to keep the mask on. I know who you are.” Laura’s tone was weary. She wanted to try to capture some kind of rapport with him, build it up like they had a special relationship. He clearly thought they did.
There was a moment of silence. Then, keeping the knife where it was, Ed reached up and pulled the mask off his face in one smooth movement. His skin was red, imprinted with patterns from the inside of the mask all the way from his high forehead to his square chin. His dark eyes didn’t move from her.
“So, you figured it out.”
“I knew it was you as soon as I saw you’d been released.” Laura gave him a wry, lopsided smile. “Listen, Ed, it’s over, you know? I’m not the only one who figured it out. Even if you get away from here, the FBI is going to be after you. It’s time to stop.”
“I don’t think so,” Ed said, a sneer breaking across his face. “Not when I have you right where I want you.”
Laura felt a bead of sweat drip down her spine, even as she tried to stay outwardly calm. It was one thing to know that he was targeting her. But hearing him admit it made it all the more real.
There was a gasp; Ed and Laura both looked down to see Thomas Lacey’s eyes flying open. He was breathing, taking ragged and rapid inhales through a rough throat.
“Don’t move,” Ed snapped immediately, pressing the blade against Thomas’s throat until the man stiffened and stopped moving. He continued to gasp for breath, his wide eyes fixed right on Ed.
“Let him go,” Laura said. “You’ll still get what you want. We’ll make a deal.”
Ed’s narrowed eyes shot back toward her. “What deal?”
“If you cut his throat, I’ll shoot to kill. You’ve been watching me. You know I’m a good shot.” Laura paused, letting that sink in. “If you let him go, I’ll put the gun down. It’ll just be you and me. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Revenge? This isn’t about him at all.”
“Pl-please,” Thomas wheezed, his voice barely understandable, but Ed hissed and pressed the knife against his throat hard enough that a drop of scarlet ran from the tip of the blade.
“I’m not stupid,” Ed snapped. “If I let him go, you’ll shoot me anyway. You put the gun down first.”
Laura opened her mouth to tell him that she couldn’t, that it wasn’t smart, but a stab of pain ricocheted through her head and—
Ed’s face changed before she had a chance to react. He sliced through Thomas’s throat and ducked at the same time, and when Laura fired, she missed. He sprang up again before she had a chance to recover from the recoil, whirling around, pointing it at him—but it was too late—he was close enough to knock her hand upward and bury the shot in the ceiling—the knife was at her chest—
Laura blinked, sweat running freely d
own her back now and beading on her forehead. The visions were coming so fast she barely had time to prepare. If she didn’t get this right, she was going to die anyway. She and Thomas both.
“All right,” she said, cautiously, moving slow. She didn’t want to startle Ed, and she didn’t want to miss the warning of another vision. But as she slowly crouched to the floor and let go of her gun, nothing happened.
When she stood again, her hands raised by her sides to show that she wasn’t holding anything else, Ed’s grip on Thomas loosened. He moved the knife away slowly, leaving Thomas free, whimpering in his chair.
“Now kick the gun over to me,” Ed said.
Laura didn’t need a vision to tell her that Ed was still close enough to stab Thomas if she didn’t comply. She drew back her foot, making eye contact with the young man. “Run,” she told him, as she gently scooted the gun across the ground toward Ed.
He planted one boot on top of it, watching with the knife outstretched as Thomas struggled to his feet and then darted past Laura, down the hall. Though he was still fighting to get enough breath, it must have been adrenaline powering him. He was gone in a moment, leaving them alone together.
“Well, well,” Ed said, grinning. He leaned down to pick up the gun with his spare hand. “Isn’t this—”
Laura didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. The second his eyes were off her, she sprang, leaping toward him with her arms outstretched. She tackled him to the floor, rolling with the momentum and ending up under him, then on top again. Ed grunted with the impact, then growled low in his throat, his gritted teeth bared as he tried to throw Laura off him to the side.
She kept hold of his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his waist, using his momentum to keep the roll going. They both hit the side of a coffee table, crying out with the impact, and rolled back. Laura’s back connected with the floor and stayed there.