So looking at Angel holding a gun? It wasn’t just terrifying. It was tragic. I felt crushed by the horror of what our lives had come to.

My sweet little Angel, looking like a murderer in a pink party dress.

I might say this a lot, but: This was like my worst nightmare. For real this time.

But then it got worse.

Because when Angel lifted the gun, she pointed it at me.

Chapter 65

65

“NOBODY MOVES UNTIL I TELL them to,” Angel said calmly, as if she’d been doing this — or at least watching R-rated Mafia movies after I’d gone to sleep — her whole life.

I must admit, as a tactic the shock factor was super effective. Everyone was frozen with disbelief. For a moment, it was as if we were all on the same team, trying to talk a psycho down from the ledge. Every single one of us wanted that gun out of that child’s hands.

The scary thing was, she didn’t look like a child anymore. She looked very, very focused. And I was very, very focused on the barrel of the gun.

“Put it down,” the guy holding Jeb told her. “You don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Yes, she does,” said Dylan seriously.

“Well, then, what does she think she’s doing?” the woman he had captive asked through clenched teeth.

“Okay, so what happens next is that everyone shuts up and listens to what I have to say,” Angel demanded.

Tell me to shut up, and I speak. “I’m listening, Angel. I

simply cannot wait to hear this one.”

She gave me a look. Listen to me, Max.

“One by one, and only when I say,” Angel began, “the grown-ups will turn around and walk away without hurting us. And if you don’t do it, I’ll pull the trigger. And then what happens?”

“You’ll kill Max,” Fang said hoarsely.

“Right.” Her grip, her arm, didn’t waver. “And you grown-ups know as well as I do that Max is the prize. The only prize that really matters to your boss. You know exactly who I’m talking about. He would be very, very mad if she died and it was your fault, wouldn’t he? That would be very, very bad for you. Wouldn’t it?”

“You wouldn’t kill a member of your own flock. You’d never do it!” the guy whose neck was under my foot cried from the floor.

“Is that what you think?” Angel smiled. “Max, what do you think?”

I only needed to consider for a millisecond. “No question about it,” I said, staring her down. “She would do it.”

“Give us one good reason why we should believe that!” squawked Dylan’s captive.