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“Kennedy, I want you to get behind me.” It was the first time Dominic had spoken directly to her since he entered the room.
Brian shook his head. “No. She shouldn’t do that.”
“Kennedy, do it.” Dominic’s voice was authoritative, no longer soothing and calm but laden with emotion. “Get behind me. Right now.”
Brian aimed the gun at Dominic. “I said she shouldn’t do that.”
“Now listen.” Dominic held out one hand in a conciliatory gesture. “She doesn’t have anything to do with any of this. She’s just a girl who was at the wrong place at the wrong time ...”
His words echoed mirthlessly in Kennedy’s terrified mind. Wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah, story of her life.
Dominic was staring at her again. Addressing her directly. “He’s not gonna shoot me, Kennedy. Now you come this way and get behind me.”
Even from where she stood several feet away, Kennedy could feel the heat of Brian’s growing anger. Dominic was wrong. He wasn’t thinking clearly. All he was doing was making a crazy man strapped with explosives even more agitated.
Shut up, Dominic. She wished telepathy really worked.
“The girl stays where she is.” Brian’s voice trembled. Shakier than it had been throughout this entire engagement. Dominic didn’t know who he was dealing with. Didn’t know what this man was capable of.
“Kennedy,” he barked again. “Come here and get behind me.”
The hand that held Brian’s gun shook violently.
Kennedy’s limbs refused to move. Her ears rushed with the sound of her pounding pulse.
Dominic took a step forward. “Listen, Brian, I know you love your son. That’s what makes you such a good father for him.”
Kennedy wondered how he could get the words out without wincing.
“So what I want you to do right now is think about Timothy. Think about how much he needs you. This isn’t about his treatment anymore. This isn’t about what medicine he is or isn’t going to take. This is about your son needing to know his dad is one of the good guys. How is Timothy going to feel if he grows up and learns you killed yourself and a whole bunch of innocent people? How will that make Timothy feel?”
“He won’t have a chance to grow up if I don’t do what I’ve got to do.” Brian’s voice trembled just as much as the gun in his hand, which was still aimed at Dominic’s chest.
“Listen.” Dominic’s tone grew more authoritative as he spoke. “What you’re about to do, it’s not going to help your son at all. It’s just going to take away his father. What if Timothy learns how many other people you killed, too? What will he think about you then?”
“He’ll think he had a father who did what he had to do when he was faced with an impossible test.”
Kennedy’s lungs took in oxygen a few puny milliliters at a time.
“You and I both know that’s not how he’s going to see it.” Dominic took a step forward. “So why don’t you put that gun down ...”
“Not gonna happen.”
“I really think you might want to ...” Dominic began.
“I really think you might want to shut up.” Brian poised his finger on the trigger.
Kennedy braced herself, her only hope that Brian was so distraught it would throw off his aim.
“You don’t want to do this.” Dominic’s voice betrayed no fear. Kennedy wished he could lend her some of his confidence. He hadn’t looked at her in several minutes. It was as if he were in some sort of mental zone and was deliberately ignoring her. Maybe that made it easier for him. Pretend he was in a room with a nameless victim, an anonymous bystander, not his own girlfriend.
Kennedy tried to control her breath. Please, God, don’t let him die.
With his free hand, Brian pulled a cell phone out of his pocket. “I press one button, we all get blown to bits, got it?”
Dominic nodded. “Ok. I hear you. I understand. Don’t you think you’ll feel better once you give that phone to me?” He reached his hand out and took a step forward.
No! Kennedy wanted to yell the word, but she was afraid any sudden sound would startle Brian into detonating his explosive vest. She cringed. Tried to look away. Tried to brace herself for the fatal blast she knew was coming.
“Get back.” Brian’s voice rose in pitch. Didn’t Dominic see how worked-up he was getting? How desperate?
“Ok.” Dominic held up both hands. “All right. I’m sorry. I’ll stand here by the door. Will that make you feel better?”
Kennedy imagined her body turning into a small ball. Like an armadillo that could wrap itself up in its own personal, bomb-proof armor. She thought about the closet behind her. If she could get to it, somehow get up to that crawl space ...
But she couldn’t leave Dominic here. Not alone. Any sudden move would spell death for them both. She still wasn’t sure if Dominic was the man she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. Up until now, she’d figured she could take months or even years to figure that out. She certainly never expected them both to die together a few short months into their relationship at the hand of a deranged explosives engineer.
Brian still held the cell phone in his hand. At least while he was focused on it, he wasn’t aiming the gun at Dominic’s chest, but that was only a small comfort considering the fact that if he detonated that bomb, Kennedy, Dominic, and anyone unfortunate enough to be in the proximity of the explosion would die.
I didn’t even get to say good-bye to my parents. Kennedy’s body had stopped trembling. She leaned against the wall, unable to stand on her own. Unable to take in the horror that surrounded her. Her mind had wrapped itself up into some sort of emotional cocoon. She wasn’t scared. She couldn’t describe what it was she felt. Like her brain was filtering out the raw horror of the situation, only allowing tiny bits and pieces of realization to settle into her being a few seconds at a time. Even though she appreciated the mental numbness compared to the paralyzing weight of panic, she felt her body was too sluggish to know what to do if the chance came to react. Her body was maxed out on adrenaline. The fight or flight response wouldn’t work. Not right now. She’d sooner pass out from weakness than find a way to save herself.
She had to get her mind more alert, but to do that, she had to admit the terror. Welcome the devastating horror that would crash through her psyche like the tsunami in Deep Impact if she let even the slightest trace of fear slip past her emotional barriers.
Brian’s cell phone trembled in his hand. “You’re both my witnesses that I’m doing this for my son.”
“There are other ways, you know.” Dominic took a step forward.
Brian was so focused on his phone he didn’t seem to notice.
“Your son can have a comfortable life. You’ll have other chances to show him how much you love him.”
Brian shook his head. “This is my test. I can’t fail.”
Dominic took another step. “I know you feel helpless. I know you feel desperate and lost. I would too. But blowing yourself up, that’s only going to create a lot more problems for your family, don’t you think?”
“I don’t care.” He holstered his gun. Five minutes ago, the gesture would have brought a flood of relief crashing through Kennedy’s system. Now she realized how tame a single pistol looked compared to a homemade explosive vest.
How far would the blast radius extend? How many people would die? How many more would be injured?
How would the authorities tell her parents about Kennedy’s death?
She’d never gotten the chance to introduce them to her boyfriend.
A hollow chasm radiated out from the pit of her gut, ripping that emotional armor she’d erected into tiny shreds. She didn’t want to die. Didn’t want her last vision on earth to be Dominic’s calm face right before the two of them were blown apart by the force of a violent explosion.
How did a detonation kill you exactly? Was it all the shrapnel slicing through your body’s vital organs? Or was it the energy itself? Would it be hot? Would she feel it at all? Would she even know she was about to die? Or would she simply blink and find herself in heaven? It was too late to wonder now. She’d find out soon enough. She’d expected so much more out of her life. Out of her relationship with Dominic.
He’d never kissed her yet, at least not for real.
She wasn’t ready to go.
What about Willow? Her roommate was so new to the faith. Had so much growing to do. Kennedy wanted to be there for that. To witness God finish what he’d started in her.
Dominic’s voice was tense but it didn’t quiver. “Listen to me, Brian. You’re going to feel a whole lot better when you give me that phone, all right?”
“You want the phone, do you?” Brian’s tone was deathly calm.
No! Kennedy’s whole spirit screamed out as Brian’s fingers tensed around his cell.
“Kennedy, get down!”
Dominic’s panicked cry was drowned out by the horrific eruption that burst in her ears and the terror that exploded all around her.