“Agreed,” Ethan and I said at the same time.
We knew that whoever was stalking Adrianne was a loner, that he might be socially awkward or snapped out of reality in some way. He seemed to have concocted some kind of story in his own mind about who Adrianne even was, and his relationship to her. In his mind, she really was Dr. Falconi, but whatever his delusion was, it didn’t matter. We weren’t going to lose her.
“We need a plan, Merc,” Callan said in my ear. “Foster’s closest.”
I agreed wholeheartedly. “He doesn't know we’re here... his focus is entirely on Adrianne. If she can distract him long enough, we can rush him.”
“I’ll quit the movie,” Adrianne said, more loudly now and a touch more hysterical. She was losing it, and I couldn’t blame her. There was no way to mentally prepare for something like this, and I knew later that my heart would hurt that she had to experience it at all. But for now, I just wanted to keep her alive. That was priority number one. “I’ll do what you want, but I cannot go with you.”
Steven shook his head, aggressive and angry, but that gun was still pointing at the ground. “You look like her,” he said. “You have to be her for me. I’llmakeyou be her.”
“You wanted me to quit,” she said, reminding him of the words he’d sent in that letter. “I’ll do that—”
“Get up,” he said again. “That’s what you need to do. Get up, and I’ll let you apologize to me personally for what you’ve done.”
“Merc, I don’t like this. He’s going to grab her,” Callan said. “We need to move. The police are coming too slowly.”
I agreed. “In a restaurant this size, he could take out at least six people with that gun in his hand,” I said. “Let’s not get to that point.”
“Okay,” Ethan said and swore. “Fuck it. Okay, we move in on my signal.”
I reached under the table and drew my Kahr from its holster, keeping it down by my side so that it was out of sight. I stood as quietly from my seat as I was able and started a roundabout approach that kept me out of his line of sight.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Callan start forward as well. His Glock was in his hands, and he wasn’t trying to hide it. He brought the gun up and trained it on Steven, ready and waiting for the signal to fire. Although I couldn’t see Ethan, I knew that he was doing the same, getting into position for a take-down.
Steven was red-faced now, waving his non-gun hand back and forth as he ranted. “Dr. Falconi is asacredwoman,” he raged. “She doles out justice and kindness to the world, and she wouldneverspread her legs like a common streetwalker. She loved Dr. Rutledge. She vowed to never love again when she lost him... but she could have loved me. Shewouldhave loved me.” He snarled at her. “Butyoutrampled all over that love. You spat on it!”
“Go, go, go,” Ethan said, and we moved into a strike position. There were shrieks from the other customers. They hit the deck and covered their heads with their arms. Steven realized that we were coming for him and screamed, wordless and angry, and he raised the gun and pointed it in Adrianne’s face.
“No!” Callan bellowed, and as Ethan and I threw ourselves on Adrianne, Callan threw his whole body into Steven. Although Steven was bigger, Callan had solid muscle and skill. He led with his shoulder and rammed it into Steven’s abdomen, knocking the air out of his lungs.
There was the sound of a gunshot as they tumbled backward, and Adrianne shrieked from beneath me. She pushed at me, tried to get me to move, but I shook my head. “Until we get the all-clear, you’re not going anywhere.”
My tone was harsh, but she stopped fighting me. “Tell me he’s all right,” she said, and her voice was thick with tears. “Tell me he’s alive.”
Now that she was out of the line of fire, Ethan climbed to his feet. His gun was still out and pointed. “Cal?”
“Get him off me!” Callan demanded, and I heard Adrianne suck in a shuddery breath.
Ethan toed Steven, who didn’t react, and then he reached out a hand and pulled Callan to his feet. “He hit his head hard when he went down,” Callan said. “He’ll have a headache when he wakes up.” He put a foot on the gun that Steven had let go of and kicked it over to Ethan, who picked it up and emptied it completely.
Now that the gun was gone, I got up, cautiously, and reached down to help Adrianne to stand. “Are you okay?” I asked. Although in shock, she nodded.
“Is it over?” she asked numbly.
The sounds of sirens pierced through the din, and I nearly laughed.Too little, too late, I thought. Except for the clean-up and cart-off. “It’s over,” Ethan assured her.
Callan coughed and clutched at his abdomen. I saw red spreading across his shirt. “Cal?” I asked.
He winced. “He clipped me,” he said. “It’s no big deal.”
“You were shot?” Adrianne panicked and grabbed at him, pulling the shirt up so that she could see. There was a gash and burn, like the gun had gone off between them. Like he’d said, it was only a flesh wound. It didn’t look like the bullet had done more than graze him. But tears rained down her cheeks.
“Callan.” She grabbed at some napkins on the nearest table and began pressing them into the wound to staunch the bleeding.
He put a hand over hers. “I’m fine, Princess,” he said. “It hurts, but I’m fine.”
She glared at him. “Bleeding isnotfine.”