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Eli nervously glanced over his shoulder at Magnus and Carter while he tapped the code into the electronic security door lock. Beads of sweat formed on the pawnshop owner’s brow, which made Magnus wonder if the man was extremely nervous about their deal or if the man had a more sinister plot in mind. Either way, Magnus didn’t trust taking his eyes off this man, and he refused to until the money and gems changed hands. Once they were safely outside the pawnshop, he’d forget about Eli and Vegas forever.
The door lock changed from secured to green. The lock clicked. Eli smiled and pulled the door open.
“Seems everything’s all electronic anymore, eh?” Eli said, stepping into his small office.
“Yep,” Magnus replied.
A small desk was on the far side of the room. Several rusted filing cabinets were behind the desk and were covered with a thin layer of dust.
“I suppose you don’t spend much time back here, do you?” Magnus asked, trying to keep a polite conversation going.
Eli shook his head. “No. I have a young woman that works with me during the morning hours until I arrive at noon. Since I work the rest of the day, I never get a chance to be back here. Someone needs to watch the front for customers.”
“Why not hire more people?” Carter asked, gripping the briefcase handle tightly.
“Less profit and more paperwork to do. Besides, I don’t trust people that much.”
“And your father?” Carter asked.
Eli rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Never around since he married that stripper a few months ago. Always on vacation.”
“It happens sometimes,” Magnus said.
“I guess. I always thought that midlife crisis crap was made up, but hell, you should see the young woman he’s with. He drives a Corvette convertible. His money is the only reason she’s into him. Hell, my stepmom is younger than me.”
“Maybe you should flash money around, too,” Carter said.
“Believe me. I’ve thought about it.”
Eli walked to one of the filing cabinets and knelt at the floor safe. After fidgeting with the combination lock for a few moments, he lifted the small metal top of the safe. A second later a loud click broke the silence. Before Eli stood and turned to aim his gun, Magnus hit him hard enough to send the Eli to the floor. The gun scraped across the grimy tile floor and out of their reach.
With one hand, Magnus grabbed the front of Eli’s jacket and hefted the man off the floor and pinned him hard against the wall. His feet dangled a good twelve inches off the floor.
Eli grimaced as Magnus pressed against the man’s throat. “I had a bad feeling about the two of you. Take what you want, okay? Please don’t kill me.”
Magnus looked back at Carter and nodded toward the open safe. “Carter, count out fifty thousand from the floor safe.”
Carter walked to the safe while Magnus frowned at Eli and shoved harder against the man’s throat. Carter found an empty gym bag and pulled it near the safe.
Magnus glared into Eli’s eyes. “Your bad feeling was that you didn’t pull your gun on us fast enough. All we wanted was the trade. Nothing more.”
“Sorry,” Eli said softly.
Carter placed the bundles of large bills into the gym bag beside his briefcase. “That’s fifty thousand, but I don’t think he deserves the gems.”
Magnus shook his head. “No, a deal’s a deal, no matter how badly greed controls him.”
Eli’s face was nearly purple.
When Magnus eased his grip, Eli said, “I’m sorry. I honestly thought you were going to hold me up, keep the gems, and take the money. Honest. I’ve been robbed many times. Besides, my father’s almost bankrupted us.”
“That you need to work out with him,” Magnus said, pressing Eli against the wall.
Eli nodded nervously.
Magnus released him. The man dropped to the floor and backed against the wall. Magnus took the envelope of MarQuebes and tucked it into Eli’s jacket pocket. He picked up the gun and the gym bag filled with money. Then he nodded toward the door adjacent to the desk.
“Is that a back way out?” Magnus asked.
“Yes.”
Magnus smiled. “We’ll see ourselves out.”
He tossed the gun across the room, and opened the door that led to the quieter alley. Before Magnus stepped outside the door, Carter grabbed the gun, stood over Eli and pointed the gun at the man’s head.
“Carter, what are you doing?” Magnus asked.
In a low, almost hypnotic tone, Carter replied, “We can’t afford to have any witnesses.”
Eli covered his face with both hands. “Please, don’t kill me.”
Tears streamed down the man’s face as he peered through opened fingers. He whimpered like a pathetic spoiled child.
“You were going to rob us, possibly kill us,” Carter said in a hypnotic tone.
“I’m sorry!” Eli shouted. “Okay? Please?”
Carter steadied his aim. His eyes became distant, cold, and black. The cold expression on his face reminded Magnus of the hardened prisoners he had seen in the Texas prison. People like that were heartless and killed for the pure sport of it. He understood Carter had some issues with possible posttraumatic stress after what had happened on Deimos, but he never expected to see this kind of callousness in a man that had once been a medical examiner.
“Carter,” Magnus said. “We have what we came for, so put the gun down.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. He inched the gun closer to Eli’s face. His hands didn’t shake, but from what Magnus knew about Carter, the doctor didn’t know how to use a gun. Or at least that was what Carter had implied on Mars.
“Carter! This man is not Grayson. We got what we came for. Now, let’s go!”
Carter shook his head. “No. Sorry, but I can’t. He’s seen us. He has to die.”
Carter squeezed the trigger, Eli winced and screamed, but the safety prevented the gun from firing. Carter squeezed harder. Still nothing. Magnus lowered his head and charged at Carter like a giant linebacker determined to tackle a quarterback. Magnus hit Carter and lifted him off the floor, and then he landed on top of him. The gun slid even further across the room.
Carter blinked in surprise and groaned, clutching his ribs. “Damn! What was that for?”
“What the hell is wrong with you? We have the money. Now let’s get the hell out of here.”
Magnus rose and yanked Carter to his feet. Carter grabbed the briefcase with one hand while still clutching his ribs. He quickly checked to see that Magnus’ tackle hadn’t jarred the case open. He sighed with relief that the latches had held securely.
Magnus grabbed the money and shook his head in anger as they headed out the door into the alley. His back and arm muscles were pumped with swollen veins. A small growl rumbled in his throat as he stormed ahead of Carter, not looking back. The coming night darkened the alleyway where several dumpsters rested against the rough walls alongside the alleys.
“Wait up!” Carter said, sprinting to catch up.
Magnus huffed. His muscular jaw tightened, but he held his anger back, refusing to answer. His huge hands tightened into thick fists.
“What happened back there?” Carter asked, running around in front of Magnus to stop him.
Magnus shoved him aside.
“You best get away from me, Dr. Carter.”
“Please, Magnus, tell me what I did? Why did you knock me to the floor?”
Magnus glared into Carter’s frightened eyes. The doctor looked completely different than he had inside the pawnshop when he held the gun on Eli. The darkness in his eyes had faded. A childlike innocence looked questionably at Magnus.
“You really don’t know?” Magnus asked.
“Honest. I don’t.”
“Don’t be bullshitting me,” Magnus said in an angered growl.
Carter shook his head in defeat. “I don’t remember anything other than when I counted out the fifty thousand dollars while you were choking Eli.”
“If that’s true, Carter, you need to take part of your share and seek medical help. A good psychological examination would be in your best interest.”
“Okaaay?” Carter said. “Why?”
“You had the gun aimed at Eli’s head and tried to pull the trigger twice. If the safety had not been on, you’d have become a cold blooded killer.”
“Seriously?”
“Hell, yeah. Why would I start lying to you? You need to get your shit together before you go on a killing spree or something, man.”
“You’re right. I need to have a doctor check me out. Things black out on me from time to time.”
“You keep going into some kind of trance.”
“I feel fine though.”
“That’s the danger. You have no forewarning of slipping from your present reality and zoning into whatever crazy state of mind you veer to. Come on. We need to get out of this alley before the shop owner has the cops bust us.”
Carter frowned and looked back over his shoulder. “You think he’d do that?”
Magnus shrugged. “Depends on how pissed he is that you held that gun on him. The best you can hope for is that you scared him too much that he doesn’t want the chance that we’ll ever go back there.”
“We’d best hurry then.”
“That’d be my thinking, too.”
“Thanks, Magnus,” Carter said.
“For what?”
Tears formed in Carter’s eyes. “Thanks for stopping me from killing that man. That’s the last thing I’d ever want to do.”
“I won’t be around much longer to stop you when you shift into a different psychological zone. You’d best get some medical help soon. I’d hate to get the news that you killed Sylvia. She’s been good to you and deserves a better fate.”
“I know. I would never hurt her.”
“And if you ever hurt her, there’ll be no stopping me from finding you and making you pay. Understand?” Magnus held a fierce unyielding stare.
Carter nodded.
“Good. Let’s go.”