Well, fuck this shit. He still had cash in his personal account. It wasn’t fifty million, but it would have to be enough. He lifted the gun and pointed it at Pastor’s head.

The old man’s eyes widened, but then he smiled. “You won’t. You can’t.”

“Watch me. Say goodbye, Pastor.” He pulled the trigger, firing right between the eyes. Then he sat, watching the shock on Pastor’s face. The betrayal. Then . . . nothing.

Pastor was dead.

And I’m free.

Euphoria had him pushing to his feet, but his legs wobbled like rubber and he dropped back to his knees, hard. Fuck. He stared at his hands. He was shaking. This is bullshit. I am not weak. I am not going to let you win, old man.

DJ shoved to his feet, bracing himself against the Explorer while he locked his knees and waited for the shakes to pass. Then he spat on Pastor’s body. “I’ll show you weak, old man.”

But damn, he was tired. And he still needed to dispose of the bodies. He was going to have to drag him to the ravine. No, I’ll make Barkley drag him. Then he’d shoot her, too.

He walked to Kowalski’s Jeep and opened the back door. “Did you miss—”

He closed his eyes for a few seconds. Enough to regain control of his rage.

Liza Barkley was gone.

TWAIN, CALIFORNIA

TUESDAY, MAY 30, 4:25 P.M.

Liza had to stop running. The terrain had become too treacherous. One wrong step forward, one loose rock, and she’d plunge a hundred feet into the ravine. She could go back the way she’d come, but she’d surely run into DJ, and then what?

The rock face on the other side of the road was sheer. She might have been able to climb it, but that would have left her exposed. Her scrubs were dark blue. She’d have been the perfect target.

But DJ would be coming after her and she didn’t know when Tom would arrive.

I’m on my own. She took inventory of her resources. She had the blade. She was strong, while DJ favored his left shoulder. She had the advantage of cover, for now.

She didn’t have the strength to best DJ on a purely physical level. Even injured, he was stronger than she was. She’d been trained in hand-to-hand combat, but he might have been, too.

And he had a gun.

So, basically, she had a blade, no major injuries, and the advantage of being hidden in a thin copse of trees. He had a gun and she was trapped against the edge of a damn ravine. Not amazing odds.

She really wished she’d learned how to hot-wire cars. She’d be safe. Safer, at least.

Anytime now would be good, Tom.

She heard DJ’s footsteps on the paved road before she saw him through the trees. She crouched low, using the cover of a bush that was no taller than her hip. She prepared to spring at him before he saw her, but he ran right by her. She silently exhaled. She could run back the way she’d come and steal Kowalski’s Jeep, assuming he had the keys in his pocket.