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Back Day of Atonement Save as PDF
Chapters (41)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. PART ONE
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. PART TWO
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. PART THREE
  35. 29
  36. 30
  37. About the Author
  38. PraiseFAYE KELLERMANDAY OF ATONEMENT
  39. Also by Faye Kellerman
  40. Copyright
  41. About the Publisher

The sirens shrieked, then stopped. How long had it been? Three minutes? Maybe less?

Thank God Rina had heard him.

Rina.

All he wanted was to hold her. Please God, let him be able to hold her.

He tried to breathe. It hurt. It hurt bad. At least he felt something. That was good. Goddamn, that was good.

His gun, Rina’s gun. Both lay quietly at his side. He had emptied his Beretta but Rina’s gun was still loaded.

With heroic effort, he gripped the butt of Rina’s .38, lifted his head and faced left, knowing he had pushed Hersh’s body in that direction. He raised his right arm. Even moving his good arm caused pain to sear through his body. He was seeing double, but that was good enough.

But the shakes. He was trembling so fiercely, he couldn’t support his head. It fell back down.

He didn’t give up. Like a mesmerized genie harkening to its master, he forced his hand upward. With all the strength he could amass, he aimed the gun a few inches from Hersh’s head and fired. The force of impact at such close range caused the body to jerk.

Noam started screaming again.

Fuck ’im, Decker thought. Let him scream. He emptied the chamber into Hersh’s head.

PART THREE

Tshuvah—Repentance

29

Initially, it was Peter’s physical convalescence that worried Rina. But after it became clear he was out of mortal danger and on the road to recovery, she became increasingly concerned about his psychological welfare. Immediately after he was stabilized, Peter seemed to be functioning pretty well. He was in obvious pain, but his arm and shoulder had a good range of mobility.

On the emotional level, Rina knew he was keeping it all inside—refusing to discuss any details of the ordeal with her, with Marge or Mike, with the doctors or even with the psychologist sent out by the department. If anybody wanted to know anything, Peter had said, just look it up in his report.

The paperwork was mountainous, the questions by his superior officers repetitive and insistent, but Peter fielded them well, wrote reports until his fingers swelled, until Rina insisted he stop.

The bulk of his labors went to securing Noam’s release—a necessary diversion. As long as Peter concentrated on Noam, he was able to forget about his own problems. And there was a slew of work to be done on that front.