CHAPTER 30: Theo
I took both hands and swung the tire iron right a Vinnie’s head. He did get part of his hand in the way and deflected it slightly into only a glancing blow, but I still connected with his head hard enough to carrying him up and off his feet.
When I came to, all I could hear was muffled struggling sounds from far away. I managed to get my ass up off the ground and found that everything hurt. But, when I saw that asshole standing over Piper, holding a gun to her head, I found the strength to move. Running on pure adrenaline, I heaved myself back around the car. I saw the tire iron and decided that it was just what I needed to finish this.
The look of relief on Piper’s face when she saw me standing over them made my spirit leap. Then the look of anger she showed when she kicked Vinnie in the jewels made my blood run cold. I hoped she never found a reason to be that angry with me.
I helped her up, now that Vinnie was on the ground, and she pulled her pants back up. “Do me a favor and stay here, this time?” I said to her. She nodded and I headed off towards Vinnie, who was already trying to lift himself off the floor again.
Vinnie rounded on me, holding a gun, my gun, ahead of him. I was ready, this time, and smacked him on the wrist with the iron, aiming to break it. I don’t know if I did or not, but my gun flew out of his hand.
Unfortunately, my move to disarm him left me completely open. I didn’t think he’d recover as quickly as he did so, when he caught me on the chin with a fast left hook, it drove me down to my knees. The guy hit like a freight train. I dropped the tire iron but, when he threw another punch, I was able to block him and turn his wrist over, trapping his arm between us. It’s a basic aikido technique that uses the attacker’s momentum against them. Now, side on, he couldn’t punch me or release his arm.
Vinnie liked to fight dirty, though. He threw his head into my face again, knocking me back and forcing me to break my grip. Staggering away from him, Piper must have decided she’d had enough. She screamed and launched herself at Vinnie, jumping on his back and trying to punch, kick, and scratch him. I made a grab for the M&P that was still in my boot while he was occupied. Piper’s light weight was ineffectual against his great bulk, though, so before I could actually draw down on Vinnie, he spun and shook her off, hurling her right at me. She crashed into me and I lost my hold on the gun as I was knocked over again. I turned to look for it but suddenly felt a grip like steel around my throat.
I could feel the blood swelling in my head as Vinnie’s thick fingers tightened, threatening to cut off my circulation and my breathing. The strength in his hand was frightening. He raised his other hand, and it had the tire iron in it. He held it high until I lost it in the sun that was now beginning to blaze down upon us. I had both hands on his wrist, trying to wrestle his grip off my neck, but he held fast.
I could see that maniacal look return to his eyes and that gleeful grin that I hadn’t seen leave his face since he found us on the highway. As he prepared to swing down the killing blow onto my skull, a drop of blood from the tear in his ear dripped onto my face. All I could think about, however, was Piper. I told her I’d keep her safe, I gave her hope, I started a war for her, and now I was going to die, leaving her at the mercy of this psychopath. I’d failed her. I loved her and I couldn’t protect her.
A crack like the world ending briefly sounded. That was it, Vinnie had done it. My head was probably smashed open and my brains were spilling out onto the floor. I felt no pain but knew it was only a matter of time before the blood stopped pumping and I closed my eyes forever.
Only, when I saw Vinnie’s face, hovering only inches away from mine, I noticed his eyes had lost their look of insane glee. An edge of confusion was creeping over them and, I noticed, he hadn’t brought the tire iron down on my head. He still held it up, but his arm was starting to look weary.
I saw a patch of red spread out from the left side of his linen jacket, like wine staining a white carpet. He let me go, quite gently, and stood up awkwardly, turning to his left. I followed his eyes to see Piper. She looked hurt and messed up, fresh blood still ran from her swollen lip, her clothes were torn, but there was a magnificent look of defiance on her face and she held my little M&P in her hand. It finally seemed to dawn on Vinnie that he’d been shot and he dropped the iron to put his right hand over the wound. He turned his face back to Piper with a look of disbelief on it.
“Beautiful? how could you?” he spluttered, coughing up some blood. He spat it onto the ground, creating a dark crimson pool to reflect the early morning sunlight.
“Baby,” she growled back firmly, “how could I not?”
He took a step forward and she fired again. I saw the bullet blast right through his chest, sending blood spurting out of his back. He was still standing, though. “That was for Frost and Link,” Piper snapped. She fired again, and Vinnie doubled over as the round hit him in the stomach, this time lodging inside him. He fell to his knees. “That was for April and all the other girls you’ve abused,” she hissed through clenched teeth. He looked up from the blood running out of his belly. “And this,” Piper whispered, “this is for me.” before pulling the trigger once more. The back of Vinnie’s head burst apart like a smashed watermelon, and he finally fell, a neat black hole in the center of his forehead.
I looked back at Piper. She turned to me, the gun falling from her hand, sat down heavily on her ass, and began weeping softly.
I lugged my body over to her and put my arms around her. I felt the wetness of her tears against my neck and the force of the sobs that wracked her body was so great, it shook me as well.
“It’s done, right?” she murmured. “He’s dead? We’re free?”
“It looks that way,” I said to her. I wasn’t sure everything was over, entirely, but it was done and Vinnie was dead. I held her tight for as long as I dared, very aware that the traffic along the I5 was starting to pick up. “Come on,” I said, trying to stand and lift her at the same time. Together we hobbled back to the bike. We had a shit-load of stuff to tell the brothers, back at the bar.