I raised my service pistol fast, pushed Binx out of the way, aimed at Soneji, and shouted, “Drop your weapon now or I’ll shoot!”
To my surprise, Soneji let go the gun. It fell to the floor with a clatter. He raised his hands, studying me calmly and with great interest.
“Facedown on the floor!” I shouted. “Hands behind your back!”
Soneji started to follow my orders before Binx hit my gun hand with both her fists. The blow knocked me off balance, and my gun discharged just as a spotlight went on from above the paintings, blinding me.
There was a shot.
Then all the lights died, leaving me disoriented, and blinking at dazzling blue
spots that danced before my eyes. Knowing I was vulnerable, I threw myself to the floor, expecting another shot at any moment.
It was a trap. The whole thing was a trap, and I’d just walked into…
The spots cleared.
Soneji was gone. So was Binx. And Soneji’s nickel-plated pistol.
I held my position, and peered around, noticing for the first time a metal table covered in cans of paint and paintbrushes. And then those alcoves all around the room. They were low-roofed and dark with shadows.
Soneji and Binx could easily have slid into one of them. And what? Escaped? Or were they just waiting for me to make a move?
I had no answers, and stayed where I was, listening, looking.
Nothing moved. And there was zero sound.
But I could feel him there. Soneji. Listening for me. Looking for me.
I felt severely agitated at those ideas, almost wired before an irrational, all-consuming rage erupted inside me. Standard protocol was gone, burned up. All my training was gone, too, consumed by the flames of wanting to take Gary Soneji down. Now and for good.
I lurched to my feet and ran hard at the nearest alcove on the opposite wall. Every nerve expected a shot, but there was none. I got to the protection of the alcove, gasping, gun up, seeing the remnants of machine tools.
But no Soneji.
“I’ve got backup, Gary,” I shouted. “They’re surrounding the place!”
No response. Were they gone?
I dodged out of the alcove and moved fast along the wall to the next anteroom, the one directly beneath the painting of the exhumation. At first I saw only large rolls of canvas laid on sawhorses and tables made of plywood.
Then, in the deepest shadows of the alcove, and in my peripheral vision, I caught a flash of movement. I spun left to see Soneji stooping forward on the balls of his feet as he took two halting steps, and straightened up.
His mouth opened as if in anticipation of some long-awaited pleasure. His gun hand started to rise.
I shot him twice, the deafening reports making my ears buzz and ring like they’d been boxed hard. Gary Soneji jerked twice, and screamed like a woman before staggering and falling from sight.
Chapter 29
My heart boomed in my chest, but my brain sighed with relief.
Soneji was hit hard. He was crying, dying there on the canvas-room floor where I couldn’t see him.
My pistol still up, I took an uncertain step toward Soneji, and another. A third and fourth step and I saw him lying there, no gun in his hand or around him, looking at me with a piteous expression.
In a high, whimpering voice, he said, “Why did you shoot me? Why me?”
Before I could answer, Soneji went into a coughing fit that turned wet and choking. Then blood streamed from his lips, his eyes started to dull, and the life went out of him with a last hard breath.