All heads in the barn turned toward the sound of the gunshot. A worried look formed on Armstrong’s face.
Step immediately thought of Bones. He’d nearly forgotten all about the skinny menace.
“This party’s getting a little out of hand,” Boss said.
“Who’s out there?” Step asked.
“Nothing to concern yourself with,” Armstrong said nervously. “My partner’s just taking care of a little business.”
“What business?” Step asked.
“Your friend,” Dani said. “The girl…”
Step turned his gun on Armstrong.
“Hold on!” Boss shouted. “Just stop!” The volume of his voice almost rattled the rafters.
Step’s body stiffened as he started to lose all sense of himself.
“There is still a deal on the table that turns us all out of here on our merry ways,” Boss said.
“I ain’t interested in no deals without Bones,” Step said.
“Who the fuck is Bones?” Boss asked. He rolled his eyes when he realized who Step was referring to. “That whore you fuck? The one that was beat near dead in that run-down house?” He shook his head in disgust. “She’s here?”
“She better be,” Step said.
“What the shit, Step? You really are a fuckup. I send you up here to do a closeout and you bring a date?”
“It ain’t like that.”
“I don’t give a shit what it’s like. She’s a kink in the mix we don’t need, and I ain’t gonna concern myself about her. She’ll be dead in three months anyway. If Armstrong’s partner took her out, he did her a goddamned favor.”
Step started to lose strength in his knees. The thought of Bones being dead scrambled every thought in his head. Not because he loved her or needed her in his life, but because she was another man’s daughter. If Bones was dead, another father had failed like he had failed his own daughter.
Boss softened his tone. “Let’s get on with this and get out of here, Step. You got a chance to save that little girl down there. That’s what you want, right? That ain’t happening if you fire that gun and blow us all to shit.”
“What little girl?” a fragile voice asked from the barn entrance.
Bones stood in the open doorway holding the state police officer’s gun with her finger as far from the trigger as she could get it.
“Holy shit,” Boss said.
Step held back a smile.
“My partner. Where is he?” Armstrong asked.
Bones looked at her with tired eyes. “Shot him. By accident.”
“You killed him?” Armstrong growled.
Bones shook her head. “He ain’t dead. Got him with buckshot. He might be blind.”
Boss clapped. “There, it’s all worked out so far. Ain’t nobody dead…no one that anyone gives a shit about, anyway. So, let’s get on with the deal.” He stepped toward the tunnel. “Let me go down there and get Kenny and the girl out of there.”
“You move another inch and I’ll shoot the shit out of you,” Step said.
“Then you go,” Boss said, “or the cop lady. I don’t give a fuck who, let’s just get this over with.”
“Not Deputy Savage,” Armstrong said. “She don’t leave my sight.”
Step scanned every face before turning to Bones. “I need you to do something. You do it right, and I’ll give you your stuff.”