Free Vengeful Bounty by Jillian Kidd

twitching.
    â€œTwo,” I said.
    Then, without warning, he released the fistful of hair he held Leigh by and threw her onto the ground. He lunged at me. I shifted my aim at the last minute and blasted him in the shoulder. It was enough to make him cry out and drop the knife.
    While he was down, I slid on my brass knuckles and punched his face upward. He flew back and onto the coffee table. The force of the blow numbed my arm, and it tingled in bittersweet pain. Blood poured from his nose. I threw the brass knuckles at his crotch, and he winced from the hit. Then I stood over him, aiming the gun at his throat.
    â€œGet up,” I said. “You’re coming with me.”
    But he still didn’t get it. With a wild scream, he kicked at my hands, and my gun went flying. I backed up, and he scrambled to his feet, hurling his body after my weapon that had landed on the floor by the couch. Faster than he could grab it, I pulled out my bullet-firing pistol from the back of my pants and shot him in the back of the knee.
    This time he went down and stayed down, grabbing at the profusely bleeding wound and wailing.
    Leigh started to cry.
    â€œMommy?” Sammy said from the doorway.
    I didn’t want to look at her. I knew the horrible memory of this broken room of violence would stay with her for the rest of her life. She didn’t deserve it. But at least she was safe now. Blood squirted from Jared’s nose. The cauterized wound in his shoulder smoked. His knee dripped crimson.
    Shaking my head, I muttered, “You pathetic waste of life. You’re not even human.”
    Then I jerked the mini tranquilizer dart from my boot and stuck it in Jared’s neck. He collapsed face down on the ruined carpet.
    Taking a moment to catch my breath and let the anger in me die down, I turned. Leigh cradled her daughter in her arms. Both had tears running down their cheeks. I stood, my chest heaving, the gun in my hand shaking.
    â€œIt’s okay, honey,” Leigh said in a hoarse whisper, rocking Sammy back and forth. “It’s going to be okay.”
    â€œI need to get my car and load him up to take him to the police station,” I said, steadying my trembling body. “He’s out.” I breathed in deeply and let it out. “He won’t move.”
    â€œDon’t leave us in here with him!” Leigh whispered, sniffing back the fluids that had begun to run down her nose. “Please!”
    â€œOh, I won’t,” I said, crouching down to hug both girls. “I’m going to call Mrs. Newton. She’ll fetch my car. She told me if I caught him close enough to the neighborhood that I had to let her help take him in. Hard to say no to Mrs. Newton.”
    Leigh coughed and laughed at the same time.
    â€œYou mean that ugly old schoolteacher lady?” Sammy said, rubbing at her leaking nose.
    â€œYeah,” I said, smiling. “That very one.”

7
    Mrs. Newton and I left the police station, me with a relief that can best be described as the feeling of having taken out a bag of rank garbage. The street lamps in the nearly empty parking lot shone brightly as we walked away from the sturdy white building that now housed Jared Doyle. He’d gotten blood on the seat of my Honda, but I’d deal with that later. It was too late in the evening to think about cleaning. The night air was warm, still. When I looked up to the sky through the glare of city lights, it was an array of pinprick light patterns against a velvety dark violet backdrop.
    We got in my car, and I started to drive her home, when she asked, “You hungry?”
    â€œA little,” I said, turning to her for a moment as I pulled away from the police station. “Why?”
    â€œYou look famished.” She furrowed her brow as if talking about a grave matter. “We’d better get some food in you.”
    â€œOh, no, Mrs. Newton. I need to get you home so you can get some sleep.