Cut to the Bone(99)

“All set,” he hollered. “Just give the word.”

Jason turned to Covington. “Last chance, Governor. Let my people go.”

Covington’s eyes were huge, his breathing shallow. He stared at Jason, then the anteroom, then Emily, whose eyes were equally wide. “I . . . I . . . just . . . all right, I’ll-”

“Don’t, Governor,” Emily said quietly. “You can’t give in to terrorists. It’s not like they’d let us go anyway.”

Jason beamed. “Well, aren’t you the little Sherlock Holmes?”

Then, to Marty.

“She’s right, of course. I would have let her go if you didn’t love her. Unfortunately for her, you do. Which is why I set all this in motion - the twelve murders, the Riverwalk stabbing, stealing the fuel truck, blowing up her house.”

“To get me,” Marty said.

Jason nodded. “You had every intention of watching my brother die. So instead you’ll watch your beloved woman die. Then we’ll all watch your governor die.”

“How? You barbecuing him? Or slitting his throat?” Marty said, stretching hard to keep Jason talking. Cross’s voice tone said he needed every second he could get to launch his rescue.

“The latter,” Jason said. “He’s the last witness from 1966, so he has to die. Besides, he killed an innocent man in Earl Monroe. Covington’s press releases say those who kill innocents must pay for it in blood. This is his chance for the justice he so freely dispenses to others.”

“Like you give a damn about justice.”

“Correct. I don’t. I care only about my brother. We were so close growing up we were practically one person. That never changed, even when we forged our separate ways in the world. Then you arrested him.”

“I’d do it again in a second,” Marty said. “Your brother isn’t fit to live in decent society. No wonder you disowned him.”

Jason glared. “Corey understood why I did that. He knew I needed distance in order to create Leonard Hill and carry out this plan. He understood I’d be back.”

“The Trent boys,” Corey shouted. “Together forever.”

Jason beamed. “Now we’ll take care of the man who threatened all that. You. By electrocuting Emily, then dispatching Wayne through my terrible swift sword. Right, Corey?”

“Right, Bowie.”

“That’s the first thing my brother ever called me,” Jason said with immense fondness. “Bowie. He had trouble pronouncing Jason when he first learned to talk. He saw some TV actor talk about using a Bowie knife, and that’s what he started calling me. I adopted it as my middle name.”

He looked through the anteroom window. “I’ll count down from ten. You push the mop handle at zero. As soon as Emily’s fingernails poke through her palms, I’ll slit Covington’s throat. So we can watch them die together. Every execution needs its witnesses.”

“Plenty of us to watch yours, freak,” Marty said. “Aren’t you afraid of dying?”

“Everyone dies,” Jason said. “It’s the grandeur of a man’s accomplishment that counts. Mine is the grandest of all - saving my brother’s life. Isn’t that right, Governor?”

No answer.

“Very well,” Jason said. “Ten . . . nine . . . eight . . .”

Annie clicked her radio twice. Guardsmen detonated the high explosives on the basement’s ceiling, which was also the floor of the witness room and execution chamber. Concrete clapped like thunder in a bottle. Dust boiled. Chairs upended. Witnesses screamed. The floor cracked in six places, dropped eight inches. The door frame squealed out of shape.

Annie’s demo man swept the door clear with the second ignition.

“Go, go, go,” Annie barked, bounding into the chamber and putting six bullets in Jason. His eyes rolled up, and he flopped like a rag doll.

Opening Covington’s neck as he went.

“Medic,” she said, pointing. Two jumped on the governor as blood stained his white-blond hair.

Marty raced to the electric chair.

“I’m gonna get you out,” he said, unbuckling the first leather strap. The process was too slow. He pulled Emily’s combat knife from her pocket and began sawing.

“Hurry,” she begged, clamping hard on her emotions to keep from freaking.

SWATs converged on the anteroom.

The second strap split open.

Corey Trent spit blood and teeth as he pulled himself to hands and knees. The earthquake knocked him to the back of the anteroom and almost unconscious. Almost.

Ram teams battered the anteroom door. The steel dented but the locks didn’t yield.