“Before we start, drop your gun and slide it over to me. I’ve already configured the IED to explode. The more time you waste, the less time you’ll have to defuse it.”
Georgia complied. Ruth hooked her cell phone onto the waistband of her jeans, picked up the gun, and aimed it at Vanna and Charlie.
“How long?” Georgia managed to rasp. She was so furious her throat had thickened and she could barely talk.
“It wouldn’t be any fun if I told you that, would it?” Ruth replied with the same pleasant smile. It was then that Georgia realized Ruth was not just an evil person bent on revenge, but an insane psychopath. She had to be stopped.
Georgia cleared her throat. Her voice strengthened. “Ruth, I know what you did, and why you did it. Don’t make it worse for yourself. Let Vanna and Charlie go, and I’ll stay.”
“No way,” Ruth snarled. She glanced at Vanna. “Don’t make a move, sister. By the way”—Ruth turned back to Georgia—“this one is more advanced than the one I built for the demonstration. I can set it off by remote control. Live and learn, right?” She laughed, a complete reversal of her irritation five seconds ago. “Well, to be honest, I had a little help.” Ruth was highly unstable. How had Georgia missed that?
But that was for later. Now she tried to figure out how to take her down, but without some sort of distraction, she couldn’t come up with a strategy. Keep her talking, she thought, until something happened. Maybe Charlie would throw up. Maybe the phone would ring. Maybe pigs would fly.
“Why me, Ruth? I haven’t done anything to hurt you.”
“But you will. You know too much. It’s time.”
“You killed Beef Jerky, didn’t you?”
“Now, that’s an interesting question.” Her smile widened. “I might have had something to do with it, although, to be honest, the people he worked for wanted to take care of him themselves.”
“You know about the Prairie Rats?”
“The ones that run Jerky and used Scott as their triggerman? The rich conservative white men who own oil companies, fracking businesses, the entire pharmaceutical and food industries, and have their own secret political group? Yeah, I know about them.”
“Are you working with them now? How can you? Their beliefs are the polar opposite of yours.”
“I know. They’re reprehensible. But there is something to be said about the enemy of your enemy . . . You gotta be flexible, you know?” She paused. “And I owe them.”
That Ruth could maintain her composure in the face of such treachery was bewildering. “What do you mean you owe them?”
Ruth shrugged. “I was losing control with Beef Jerky. He was afraid I’d change my mind. It was important for him to get both Dena and Jarvis out of the way. He came to my place and threatened to kill me unless I went through with everything.” She giggled. “He didn’t know me very well, did he?”
“No, he didn’t,” Georgia said. She took a step forward. Maybe she could get her gun back. Or the cell phone. “But I do. Ruth, we can work this out. I can help you. Put the gun down and defuse the bomb.”
“Stop right there, Davis.” She swung the gun from Vanna and aimed it at Georgia. “See, that was Jerky’s big mistake. I knew he was trying to convince Jarvis to kill me along with Dena at the demonstration. So I convinced Jarvis right back. And I won. He loved me,” she said. “Of course, he shot me in the ass instead of the shoulder like we planned, but I’m still here and he isn’t.”
Love? Georgia thought. Is that what Ruth called her relationship with Jarvis? A relationship built on deception, manipulation, and murder? It was an effort to keep her mouth shut.
“Afterwards his employers weren’t real happy with Jerky screwing it up. He’d been sloppy. Ran his mouth at the Barracks too much. I agreed. And so . . . presto! No more Jerky.”
Charlie was in full meltdown now, screaming and so red in the face Georgia feared he might have another seizure. Vanna was in tears, too, and squeaked in a terrified high-pitched tone, “Baby, calm down, it’s gonna be okay.” Which made Charlie shriek even louder. “He needs his bottle,” Vanna pleaded.
“You know, if the baby doesn’t stop crying, Ruth,” Georgia said, “someone will come down to see why. My neighbors are pretty concerned when they hear a baby cry too long.”
Ruth swung the gun back to Charlie. “Not if I shoot the brat first.”
“No!” Vanna roared. She tried to shield Charlie by settling him on the sofa and sitting in front of him. “Not my baby.”
“Get back where you were, sister,” Ruth scowled. “Right this minute or I’ll shoot you first and then your baby.”
Vanna scuttled back to her original position and picked up Charlie.
“That’s better.” She patted the cell phone hooked to her waistband. “So the P-Rats came to me after Jerky was gone and told me there was just one more thing I had to do for them, and then we’d be even.”
“Why me?”
“You’ve been a problem for us. I knew that the minute you came to my apartment. Sniffing around. Waiting for me to say something incriminating. You thought you were so smart. But now…well…you just wouldn’t give up.”
“You don’t think another explosion is going to lead them right back to you?”
“We have contingency plans.”
“Sure. And their contingency will be to blame it all on you. The revolutionary who craved power. Who wanted to subvert the entire government. They may even find a way to connect you to Russia.”
Ruth blinked. “You’re crazy.” Did a seed of doubt creep into her voice? “It’s in our interests to work together. Mutually aligned objectives. For now. In fact, the Tat boys helped me with the electronics of this little baby.” She gestured to the pipe bomb. “I mean, who better than a couple of vets, right?” She flashed Georgia a patronizing smile. “It’s a business arrangement. We all have something on each other.” She checked the time on the cell. “Time for me to get going. So. Remember, after I leave, you should start saying your farewells to each other.” She grinned. “You just never know when things are gonna go boom.”
“Ruth, there’s something you don’t know. And you should.”
“Sure. What’s that, Davis?” She didn’t look the least bit interested.
“The Prairie Rats were hired to go after Dena’s father. They’ve been trying to—”
The front door to the apartment swung open, cutting off Georgia’s words. There in the doorway stood JoBeth with a suitcase. “I just wanted to say— Hey, what’s going on?” She glanced around, spotted Ruth with the gun. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing to my girls?”
Ruth whirled around and aimed the gun at JoBeth. Georgia dived at Ruth, hoping to take her down before she could get off a shot. But before she could wrestle Ruth to the floor, the gun went off. JoBeth crumpled. Georgia belted Ruth in the gut. Ruth dropped the gun. Vanna seized it. Georgia grabbed Ruth around her chest and arms, immobilizing her. Ruth clawed at Georgia, then at herself, trying to free herself and grab the cell from her waistband. But Georgia threw her to the floor and jumped on her back, pinning Ruth with her weight.
“Vanna, get my cuffs from the top of my bureau. Then give me the gun, take Charlie, and run like hell to the end of the block. Call the police when you’re safe.”