Chapter One Hundred Ten

Marcus’s face bounced off the floor as the Gladiator picked him up like a rag doll and slammed him to the hardwood of the dining room. A second later, his brother’s face slammed down beside his own. Ackerman didn’t even put up a fight.

“You could’ve just let her kill him,” Marcus said.

“I thought we were anti-murder now. I can’t keep up with your ever-shifting views of right and wrong. Besides, what do you think the hellhounds would be trained to do if both Gladstone brothers were to expire?”

The sound of two more thump pings echoed through the dining hall. The two bullets embedded themselves into the floor between Marcus and Ackerman’s heads, sending an eruption of splinters into the air.

The Gladiator stood over them and said, “No more talking. Or my next shots are in your skulls.”

Ackerman snorted. “Please. What’s going to happen to your crowning achievement if you kill us now? Executing defenseless opponents doesn’t seem to be your style.”

The Gladiator drove the butt of his pistol down hard into the small of Ackerman’s back. His brother merely grinned and blew the big man a kiss.

Marcus asked, “Can you see the girl?”

“Yes, she took a round in the shoulder. She’s alive for now. I think she passed out from the shock.”

“You really think that if she had shot Gladstone, then the dogs would have gone wild?”

“That’s what I would have trained them to do.”

“But you’ve got that weird animal magnetism. Couldn’t you have put the whammy on them? Like the Crocodile Dundee, hypnotizing thing?”

Ackerman said, “I’m not familiar with the reference, but I understand your meaning. Against one, of course. Against two, probably. But against a whole pack, not likely.”

Two more bullets erupted into the floor, and the Gladiator screamed down into their faces, “I may not want to kill the two of you right at this very moment, but don’t worry, it’s coming. And if you don’t shut up, I’ll kill one of the girls. Are we clear?”

~~*~~