“Yeah, baby. I know. No, you can’t come over here. My cousin wouldn’t like it. Okay, I’ll talk to him.”
Alex didn’t have to be a mind reader to tell what the conversation was about.
Willie called out to his cousin on the couch. From this angle, all he could see was the top of his cousin’s head and the TV playing in the background.
When he got no response, he called out louder, “Julio.”
Behind him, Alex said, “He’s not going to answer you.”
She couldn’t hide her smile when Willie flinched and spun around to see the barrel of a gun right in his face.
Willie said, “I guess you’re not here to pay me.”
“Do you really think you earned anything?”
Now Willie focused on the gun for a moment. He said, “Is that my revolver?”
“It is.”
While keeping the snub-nosed revolver pointed at Willie’s face, she used her left hand to pat down his waistband. She felt a gun hidden in his belt and pulled free a Taurus 9mm pistol.
She placed the revolver on the kitchen counter and pointed the newly acquired semiautomatic pistol at Willie’s head.
She backed him up past the couch so he could get a good look at his cousin.
Willie just stared at him.
Alex said, “A single gunshot in this neighborhood doesn’t draw any attention. I doubt your neighbors like you enough to call the cops if they heard a problem anyway.”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“Who’s going to catch me? The police? They’ll be glad you’re gone.”
Willie shook his head and said, “I knew you were trouble the first time I saw you. Who looks like you and then decides to kill people for a living? You’ve got something very wrong with you, lady.”
“The fact that you found it easier to kill me than the person I paid you to kill makes me question your judgment.”
“And what were we supposed to do about you killing Cesar in the hospital?”
“Which is why I have to do this today. I guarantee your friends on your crew will know exactly what happened.”
Willie nodded. “I can see your point. Perhaps we were out of line. Maybe we can work something out.”
Alex knew it would be easier if she were able to position him before she pulled the trigger. She needed him to move more to his right so he was in front of the couch, as though he and his cousin had had an argument face-to-face.
That was her mistake. She didn’t have her full focus on the killer in front of her. Instead she was thinking ahead.
As Willie shuffled away from her, he paused at the low coffee table between them.
Willie said, “Let me say one thing.”
As Alex said, “What’s that?” Willie kicked the coffee table hard into her shins, distracting her and making her lose her balance. He sprang across the space between them and wrapped a strong hand around her wrist so she couldn’t point the gun anywhere but straight up.
Most people would struggle against the power of his grip and try to get the hand free. Alex had too much training and experience for that. She lifted her knee and caught Willie on the thigh, making him step back.
He was strong and tough and jerked her along with him. Then he twisted, and they both tumbled onto the couch.
Alex found herself sandwiched between the dead man and the man trying to kill her.