The man rammed his elbow into Decker’s kidney, causing him to collapse against the wall, his features screwed up in pain. Then he hit him across the face with his pistol.
“Okay, okay, no more questions!” cried out Jamison. She tried to help Decker, but the man pushed her back.
Decker finally righted himself and, still listing to one side, moved s
lowly toward the door. The man opened it and they all passed through.
The man said in a low voice, “We meet anyone along the way, you say nothing. You so much as cough, I’ll shoot you both right here. Understand?”
Jamison said quickly, “We understand.”
They walked down the stairs and the man held the door open for them. He led them to a black sedan.
“Get in the driver’s seat,” he said to Jamison.
He put Decker in the passenger seat and then climbed into the rear seat, his gun trained on Decker. He handed Jamison the car keys and then slipped on his seat belt. “Drive. I’ll tell you where to go.”
They drove off.
The man gave directions and Jamison turned down one street after another.
“Left here,” he said.
She turned into an alley and drove to the end. There was no outlet.
Decker peered out the window. The area was blighted and the two buildings on either side of them looked burned out and abandoned.
“Out,” said the man to Jamison.
She climbed out of the car.
“Open his door,” said the man.
Jamison opened the passenger door and helped Decker out.
The man used his pistol to point to the left. “In there. Through the doorway.”
Decker had to duck to avoid hitting his head on the low doorway. Inside it was dark, cold, and clammy.
“We can’t see,” said Jamison as she moved slowly forward, her hands out in front of her.
A light came on. The man was holding a flashlight in his left hand.
“Down the steps over there.”
Decker turned and said, “Look, your beef is with me, not her. She walks, I give you no trouble.”
The man shook his head and pointed his gun muzzle in Decker’s face. “Down the steps over there.”
Decker glanced at Jamison, turned, and led the way down the stairs.
The room below was littered with debris—beer cans, used condoms, and animal feces.
Jamison wrinkled her nose up at the sight of all this. She stepped forward until her path was blocked by a wall. She turned around and looked at the man.
Decker came to stand in front of her, his big body between her and the gunman.
The man shone his light on them, even as Decker turned around and his gaze dipped to Jamison’s waist.
He then looked up at her questioningly.
She slowly nodded.
“Turn around,” barked the man. “And move away from her.”
Decker followed these instructions and stepped to the side, closest to the stair leading up out of the room.
The man set the light down on a pile of boxes so that it was pointing outward and illuminating the room partially. It was then that he opened his hood and slipped it off his head.
He pointed his gun at her.
She stumbled back and fell.
The next second Alvarez was lifted off his feet. His small body sailed across the width of the room and he slammed into the brick wall. He slid down the wall, slumped to the floor, sat up for an instant, touched the wound in his chest, and glanced at Decker, who’d blindsided him.
“Y-you, a-assho—”
He slumped over dead before he could finish.