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He was trying to take a few steps back and his face wassetting quite hard. He was angry now. And as she watched him, his right handslowly dropped to the side, where a cracked two-by-four was propped against thewall.
“We need you to come with us,” Derik said. “We’ll have achat down at the office and—”
“No,” Black said. There was a moment of hesitation andthen, as if he’d just suddenly made the decision to do so, he brought thecracked two-by-four up.
It caught Derik by surprise. He brought his arm up, but Morganknew it would be too late to block the board from slamming into the side of hishead. And even if he did keep it from hitting his head, the blow would probablycrack his wrist apart.
Thinking quickly and acting reflexively, Morgan doled outa fast and hard right-handed jab. She aimed low, blasting Black in the ribs.The blow caused him to stumble and release the board before it hit Derik’s head.It fell, barely striking Derik in the leg.
Black wheeled around in pain and surprise. He opened hismouth in an angry sneer, intending to say something. But Morgan didn’t give himthe chance. She blasted that same right-handed jab out, this time clipping himin the jaw.
She regretted it the moment she’d made contact. Evenafter a decade in prison where she’d somehow only managed to participate inthree fights, she knew this was too much, that this was over the line.
“Christ, Morgan…” Derik said. “Take it easy.”
She took a guilty step back as Black fell back, his eyesdreamy and almost closing. When he fell the side of his head struck theplatform of the saw and he went out like a light.
Morgan was shocked at just how quickly she’d resorted toviolence. But then again, it was something she’d learned in prison…somethingshe’d quickly had to adapt to. And after just three visible fights among theinmates those first two years, she’d been left alone.
Plus, she saw a bit of awe in Derik’s eyes as he lookedback and forth between her and Marcus Black. And even as he leaned down to helpthe man to his feet and apply handcuffs, Morgan was pretty sure he was bitingback a smile. Yes, he was absolutely worried about what she’d done, but she sawthe smirk hiding in his worry, too.
Morgan wasn’t quite as entertained, though. Those puncheshad come out of nowhere and she knew the one to his ribs had been much harderthan she anticipated. If she was going to truly make a go of helping the bureaubring in the Seven Signs Killer, she was going to have to get herself undercontrol.
“You good?” Derik asked as he eyed her with skepticism.
“Yeah,” she said, looking at her hands as if she didn’tquite trust them. “Sorry…I just…”
But she didn’t know how to finish the statement. All shecould do was follow Derik out of the store as he escorted a handcuffed MarcusBlack to the front door.
CHAPTER FIVE
He’d kept up with news of Morgan Cross. He’d beenvigilant about it, keeping up with the memos and news stories.
His man on the inside had told him when she was gettingout of prison, and he’d wanted to make sure she was welcomed back to the worldof the free warmly.
So he’d started again just a few days before her release.And it felt so good…like he’d never stopped. His work was coming to completion,and he had so much inspiration and energy stored up from the past ten yearsthat he had no doubt it was going to end with the kind of bang people would betalking about for decades.
It almost made it worth the ten-year pause.
Not that he was doing it for the attention. No…he wasdoing it because the world needed to be woken up. They needed to see theirflaws and live in fear of their wretched sinful nature.
The Seven Signs were such a pure picture of what lifecould be. Paradise. A place of miracles and wonders. He was simply trying tohelp them see that.
And next was the healing of the blind man. In a way,Morgan Cross’s time away had helped him prepare for this. Because blind peopletended to have so much assistance, he’d had to plan very carefully for thissign. It had taken years to find the right candidate and then several months ofvery careful stakeouts and stalking to get the soon-to-be victim’s schedulejust right.
He was watching the blind man now while sitting on thesteps of a neighboring building, pretending to read a book. He watched as theblind man stepped out of an Uber in front of his apartment building. He usedhis cane to tap his way to the ramp that bypassed the stairs of the apartmentbuilding. He really was a very brave and adept man.
It was actually a shame he had to die.
He checked his watch. The blind man’s helper would bethere in ten minutes, and then leave an hour later. From there, he’d have a twelve-hourwindow before a woman he thought was the man’s mother would come by.
And that was plenty of time to do what needed to be done.He could take his time with it. He could make it special.
He hoped Morgan Cross would appreciate it.
He also hoped that in the end, whichever way this allcame to a close, she’d be able to appreciate how he’d come to frame her…howshehad gone to prison while he’d gone free.
It made him giddy with excitement…and more anxious thanever to kill again.
