Chapter 19 - The Starlite StandoffDavid didn't slow down. He drove the Jeep straight off the highway, launching over the drainage ditch and crashing through the wooden fence surrounding the diner's rear parking lot.
We slammed on the brakes, the Jeep sliding sideways to a violent halt just as Evelyn’s mercenaries piled out of their vehicles in the front.
"Stay in the car," I ordered Taylor, leaving her zip-tied to the door handle.
David and I sprinted toward the back kitchen door. I kicked it open, bursting into the diner with my weapon raised.
The diner was pandemonium. Truckers were diving under tables, plates shattering on the floor.
"Daddy!"
I spun toward the sound. Lily was huddled behind the front counter, crying, her hands covering her ears. Standing directly in front of her, wielding a massive, double-barreled shotgun, was Betty the waitress.
"Get back!" Betty screamed, aiming the shotgun at the front doors.
The glass doors of the diner shattered inward as two of Evelyn’s mercenaries kicked them open. But they didn't raise their rifles. Their phones were buzzing frantically with alerts about the FBI raids and their frozen bank accounts. They looked at Betty’s shotgun, then at David and me advancing with our weapons drawn.
"It's over!" I roared at the mercenaries. "You're not getting paid! She's bankrupt! Walk away now, and you don't go to federal prison!"
The mercenaries exchanged a look. The lead man lowered his rifle, cursed loudly, and turned around, walking right back out the door. The others followed. They were killers for hire, and the paycheck had just bounced.
But Evelyn Vance didn't walk away.
She stepped through the shattered doorway, her pristine coat covered in dust, her eyes wild and bloodshot. She held a silver, pearl-handled revolver, aiming it directly at my face.
"You ruined everything," Evelyn hissed, her voice vibrating with pure, unadulterated madness. "Generations of power. Decades of legacy. Destroyed by a worthless, dirt-under-his-fingernails carpenter!"
"It was never yours, Evelyn," I said, stepping in front of the counter, shielding Lily with my body. "It belonged to her. And I'm taking it back."
"If I can't have it," Evelyn screamed, cocking the hammer of the revolver, "no one will!"
She shifted her aim, pointing the gun past me, directly at the counter where Lily was hiding.
BANG.
The gunshot was deafening in the small diner.
But it wasn't Evelyn's gun that fired.
Evelyn staggered backward, dropping her silver revolver. She looked down at her chest in absolute shock, watching a dark red stain spread rapidly across her pristine white coat.
She swayed for a moment, her eyes rolling back into her head, before collapsing backward onto the checkered linoleum floor.
I turned around.
David was standing beside me, his Glock smoking in his hand. He didn't say a word. He just lowered his weapon and engaged the safety.
Behind the counter, Lily slowly stood up. She looked at me, her big hazel eyes wide with fear, tears streaming down her face.
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I dropped my gun, fell to my knees, and pulled my daughter into my arms, burying my face in her shoulder.
"I've got you, baby," I sobbed, holding her tighter than I ever had before. "I've got you. It's over. You're safe."
