Split Second (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 1)

“I was doing my job. I had no choice. You didn’t see your father’s expression that day. But I did. You know what he looked like? Do you really want to know?”

She looked at him, tears in her eyes, and slowly nodded.

“He looked surprised, Kate. Surprised. At first I thought it was the shock of actually killing someone. But then I realized he was surprised because Morse hadn’t pulled his gun and fired. Morse was standing right near me. They’d made a pact. Your father was actually looking at him. It was right then he knew he’d been deceived.”

Morse called out, “Last chance, Kate. Either shoot them or I will.”

King looked at her with pleading eyes. “Kate, you can’t do it. You can’t. I’m telling you the truth. You know I am. Whatever lies he’s fed to you, you’re not a killer, and he can’t make you be one.”

“Now!” screamed Morse.

Instead, Kate started to lower her gun. Suddenly the door to the room crashed open. This distracted Kate for a moment, and King grabbed the velvet rope, swung it up and knocked the gun out of her hands. She screamed and fell back.

King shouted at Bruno, “Run! Out the door!”

Bruno turned and raced toward the exit where Michelle was just coming through.

The lights came fully on and blinded them all momentarily. Michelle saw it before anyone else did. She screamed and launched herself. “Bruno, down!” she yelled.

The gun fired. Michelle lunged in front of the candidate, and the slug hit her in the chest.

King pointed his pistol in the direction of the shot and fired. That’s when he discovered Morse had never intended on giving him a chance. His gun was loaded with blanks.

King screamed out, “Michelle!”

She wasn’t moving, even as Bruno fled out the door. And then the lights went out again, pitching them into darkness.

CHAPTER

74

KING CROUCHED in the dark, frantically searching for something. Then the lights came back on, although at a lower level of brightness. He sensed something behind him and whirled. Sidney Morse was standing there pointing his gun.

“I knew she didn’t have the guts for it,” said Morse, flicking his pistol in Kate’s direction where the young woman still lay on the floor. “Not like your father!” He swept his hand around the room. “I gave you a grand stage on which to perform, Kate. I scripted you perfectly; this was the great finale. Your mother would have given a dazzling performance. You failed miserably.”

King helped Kate up and then stood between her and Morse.

“A human shield again, Sean, eh,” said Morse, smiling. “It seems to be your miserable lot in life.”

“Bruno got away, and so help me I’ll kill you for shooting Michelle.”

Morse eyed him confidently. “Bruno will never leave the Fairmount alive. As for Maxwell, her luck ran out. At least she went down in the line of fire. What more could a Secret Service agent ask for?”

He turned his attention to Kate. “Now, you asked a question. Why all this now? I’ll tell you. This is no more about John Bruno than it was about Clyde Ritter.” He pointed his gun at Kate. “Eight years ago it was about your father. Today it’s all about you, dear, sweet Kate.”

Her chest heaving and tears streaming down her face, she said, “Me?”

Morse laughed. “You really are a fool, just like your father.” He eyed King. “You said that Regina rejected me because she didn’t love me, she didn’t want the magic. That was only partially true. I believe that she did love me, but she couldn’t go back onstage after Arnold died, she couldn’t become my star once more, because someone else needed her more.” He looked back at Kate. “You. Your mother couldn’t leave you. You needed her, she told me. You were her life. How incredibly wrong she was. What was a single, pathetic teenager to a legendary career on Broadway, a life with me?”

“That’s because a man like you can’t understand real love,” said King. “And how can you blame Kate for that? She knew nothing about it.”

“I can blame her for any reason I want!” Morse screamed. “And on top of that, when Regina wanted to marry this Jorst idiot, Kate was all for it. Oh, yes, I had my spies. She wanted a man just like her father. That alone is enough to justify her death. But there’s more. I’ve followed your career, Kate. And you grew up just like your miserable father with all your pathetic protesting, marching and being such a noble do-gooder. It was déjà vu. I had killed Arnold, but there he was again: come back to life like the Hydra.” Morse’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the young woman. He said more calmly, “Your father ruined my life by keeping the woman I needed, the woman I deserved, away from me. And then you took up the banner after he died. But for you, Regina would have been mine.”

“I can’t believe my mother ever would have loved someone like you,” Kate said defiantly. “I can’t believe I ever trusted you.”

“Well, I’m quite an actor myself, dear Kate. And you were so gullible. When Bruno announced his candidacy, I immediately thought of you. What a stroke of good fortune. Here was the very man who’d prosecuted your father for a crime I’d set him up for, running for the same office as the man your father had gunned down. It was perfect. The idea for the entire reenactment came to me instantly. And so I came to you, gave you the whole sad story about your poor father, and you bought every syllable of it.”

Kate started toward him but King held her back.