“Sorry Margot,” Brantley said as he swung the gun her way.
Chapter 9
Margot stepped back and put her hands up. She looked toward the SUV where she’d foolishly left her purse with all her weapons inside. It didn’t matter much though since he’d got the drop on her before she had figured out what was going on.
“You’re pretty smart but not quite smart enough,” Brantley told her.
“If I hadn’t figured this out, would you be pointing that gun at me?”
“No, this was going to happen regardless. I was just curious if you could actually put it all together.”
“You don’t want to do this. People know we’re out here together.”
“Do they? They know you were headed this way, but they don’t know you got here. You never went inside the substation.”
“My car is there.”
“By the time they get around to looking for you, it won’t be.”
“The motel clerk saw us together.”
“You mean the same guy who didn’t hear this nine-millimeter pistol putting a bullet in Randy’s brain? That old boy is on the payroll. He ain’t going to remember shit.”
“I’m not the only one who knows those are GPS coordinates.”
“Yeah? Who else knows?”
Margot hadn’t told anyone and wouldn’t have told him if she did. So instead, she asked, “Why?”
“Sorry Margot, you don’t get the details. All I can say is, someone presented a ‘lead or gold’ situation to me a while back and I took the gold. Once they’ve got you, they don’t ever let you go.”
They both heard a vehicle coming their way.
Brantley turned for just a split second, but it was enough time for Margot to close the gap. She grabbed his arm as he pulled the trigger. She pushed his arm away just enough that the slug went out into the desert instead of into her face.
Brantley was bigger and stronger, but Margot was faster, and she had taken him by surprise. She bent his wrist back as she kicked him right behind the knee. When his leg buckled, Margot swept his feet out from under him with another kick.
He landed on his back and Margot went to the ground with him. She locked her legs around his neck and squeezed while she brought one arm up under his elbow. With her other hand, she pushed down on his wrist. As his wrist and elbow moved in an unnatural direction, he let go of the gun.
If this were a mixed martial arts fight in the octagon, he should have been tapping out to avoid having Margot break his arm. However, this was taking place in the desert on top of Randy’s unmarked grave, so Margot kept pulling down on his wrist as she pushed against his elbow.
Brantley twisted and got enough leverage to lift Margot up off the ground. He slammed her down and, despite her best efforts, she felt her grip loosen. Brantley slammed her down again and this time he was able to free himself.
Margot got to her feet first and tried to punch Brantley in the throat, but he dipped his chin enough that she hit him in the jaw instead. The punch might have hurt her hand more than it did his face.
He threw a punch and Margot got a hand up to block it, but it was like blocking a tree trunk. She took the blow mostly on her forearms, but it was still enough to knock her backward. While Margot was trying to regain her balance, Brantley kicked her in the chest, knocking her to the sand.
Brantley went over and picked up his pistol while Margot was trying to regain the wind he had knocked out of her. She rolled to her feet and got a good look at the wrong end of Brantley’s pistol.
“Put it down, asshole,” someone said from behind them.
They both looked to see Shaw standing there with a thirty-eight revolver aimed at Brantley’s chest.
“You do know I’m a deputy sheriff in the process of making an arrest?” Brantley said to him.
“Yeah? Well, we can talk about that with your boss.”
“That’s fine with me, but you need to quit pointing that gun my direction.”