When the preacher grabbed my hand, I locked the other over his wrist the way a professional wrestler sets his opponent up for a devastating finisher. Marshall reared back and kicked Cory Eli in the ball sack like he meant for the pigskin to sail fifty-five yards for a game clincher. Before Randy Jessup could turn and see why Cory hollered, I gave his arm a jerk.

9.

There was nothing graceful in the way the preacher fell. He somersaulted ass over elbows and hit the concrete floor with the kind of thump that hurts everybody watching. I kicked him in the mouth before he could get himself together. His head snapped to the side, and a red streak smeared across the floor. Andy aimed her shotgun at me and yelled, “Don’t you hurt him again!”

I yanked Randy Jessup from the floor so I could play peek-a-boo with the buckshot.

“You let Brother Randy go right now, Mackenzie.” Andy knew my mama is the only person I let call me by my full name, and she only did so when she was mad enough to drown puppies.

“Put the gun down, Andy, or I’ll make sure Brother Jessup meets God with a hole in his chest.”

Andy wasn’t sure what to do but couldn’t take her eyes away from whatever commotion Marshall caused. The side-by-side shotgun barrels dropped, and she blurted out, “Don’t, Deddy, don’t.”

Harper grunted and fell into the hole next to me. Marshall stood around the corner from Andy and aimed Harper’s shotgun at her head. “Put that gun down, Andy. I ain’t never cared for you like my brother did. Won’t bother me none to shoot you.”

Andy’s brain popped like the time I dared Marshall to stick a fork in the power socket. She aimed the gun all around like she was scribbling signals in the air, looking back and forth between Randy Jessup and my brother. Marshall wasn’t lying about blowing her head off, and I was about to have to tell her again to put the gun down, but the preacher cut me off like he was the only one she’d listen to.

“Sister Andrea,” he cleared his throat and spit blood at my feet, “put the gun down like he’s telling you to. They won’t hurt us no worse than they already have. The Lord’s spoken to me.”

“You must not have been tuned in to the Lord too good if you didn’t see none of this coming, huh, preacher?” Marshall asked.

“Second Corinthians tell us Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, brother,” Randy Jessup answered, “but don’t you worry. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, and He will have his justice.”

Andy aimed the shotgun at Marshall once the Eli brothers came back down to earth and stood with all the speed of a blowup doll. Marshall said, “Andy, I’m giving you ’til the count of three to put that fucking gun down, or I’m gone shoot your deddy along with everybody else in here.”