Wolf's Deal: A Nick Lupo Novella (The Nick Lupo Series) by W.D. Gagliani Page B

destiny,
then he had to listen to what the universe was telling him. But first he had to
get close to her.
    If he’d sat
down to think about it, he might have hesitated and most likely rejected his
own his own evolving plan, and the moment would have passed.
    But he
didn’t sit down to think about it.
    He had to
act now.
    He was right
behind the cop, actually closer than he had even realized, and he sped up his pace
and widened his stride until he reached the stall door just as the cop inside
was closing it, rattling the latch.
    The Archer
had his stun gun in hand and when the cop whirled about in the stall, his body
was blocked by The Archer’s and the stun gun went to the guy’s neck and he took
the zap, vibrating like a cartoon character until his eyes rolled up in their
sockets. The Archer kept it up and when the current finally stopped the cop
sagged to the tiled floor like a sack of flour. Half unconscious, fingers
trembling and eyelids fluttering, the cop was helpless.
    Now The
Archer had a problem. What to do? His instinct was to slit the cop’s throat,
but the blood would be too copious. It would splash all over his clothes,
defeating his purpose. This was why he liked the crossbow – it was almost
impersonal, yet still somehow intimate.
    The cop was
still out but twitching, so The Archer closed and latched the stall door and
hunched over the body, pinching the nose shut with one hand, and bringing his
weight to bear on the man’s mouth with the other, cutting off his air until he
came to and started to struggle, his eyes exploding open so the whites were
visible all the way around the pupils. The cop struggled feebly, but The
Archer’s weight and position effectively kept him trapped against the floor
tiles, the toilet, and the lower flange of the privacy wall until the air ran
out, he struggled once more, a last weak effort, and he lost consciousness.
    The Archer
continued to wait, pressing down with all his strength, until he felt life
leaving the cop’s feeble body. Then the cop’s bladder loosened and the sharp
ammonia smell of urine twitched The Archer’s nostrils. A couple tense minutes
more to make sure, and then he manhandled the limp body and propped it onto the
toilet, the head lolling obscenely onto the plastic toilet paper dispenser.
    It was
almost like his first kill and he appreciated the sense of coming full circle.
    The Archer
quickly relieved the dead cop of what he needed, then locked the flimsy door
and rolled out of the stall under the privacy wall before the urine puddle
widened.
    Still no one
had entered the restroom, which confirmed that The Archer was merely fulfilling
his destiny.
    Called to a higher purpose .
    Perhaps he
was destined to punish the tribes for their callous treatment of people like him . Who did they think they were,
playing God with the lives of so many? He had to force the rage down, before it
could bubble up again.
    Moments
later he was out on the casino floor, extra weight in his pockets and a feeling
of infinite power.
    It was
almost mystical in nature.
    But he
couldn’t find her. She had moved, or left, and he wandered up and down the
noisy aisles, panic beginning to creep into his mind and poisoning his newfound
feeling of power.
    Damn it! Where had
she disappeared to? Anytime now somebody would find the dead cop, and then the
resulting lockdown would snag him. If they found the cop’s stuff on him, his
end wouldn’t be the blaze of glory he sought. It would be the universe laughing
at him, rather than granting him that infinite power he had just felt.
    Have to resolve this now , he thought, his eyes roving frantically.
    And, in
fact, when he spotted his target he knew he was indeed destined to follow this
path, though it was different yet again from the way it had begun.
    Who was he to question his destiny?

 
 
    JESSIE

 
    She watched
her money double on the one machine, and having seen other people do this, she
hit the Cash Out button and