Chapter 117 Section 20

The scream came from Beth.Despite the roar of flames in the burning cabin, Decker heard the disturbing sound behind him.At the edge of the clearing, the rustle of bushes and the snapping of branches were the sounds of struggle. Beth screamed again.Then someone yelled again, what seemed to be Decker's name.Not Beth.The voice was weird, deep, hoarse, and distorted.The voice called out a few more words, which seemed to be Decker's name again.Now Decker was absolutely sure that the gruff voice belonged to Renata.Wary of the shooter in the dark bushes ahead of him, Decker ventured a glance behind him, confirming what he feared the most.He saw a tall, slender and sexy woman in a black bodysuit with boyishly short hair.Now, she was standing in the clearing holding Beth, her left arm was around Beth's throat, and a pistol was raised in her right hand, with the barrel resting on Beth's right temple.

Renata. Even from thirty yards away, Decker could clearly see the anger in her dark eyes.Her left arm squeezed Beth's throat so tightly that Beth's features were all distorted, her mouth was opened wide, and she had a grimace, panting hard.Beth grabbed Renata's arm and tried to break free, but injuries to her right leg and shoulder left her weak and unsteady.In fact, her right leg was dragging on the ground.Renata strangled her neck, and she was almost hanging there, threatening to be strangled at any moment. "Decker!" Renata yelled, in a voice so rough and hoarse that Decker had trouble understanding her, "Drop your gun! Throw it over here! Throw it right now! Or I'll kill you!" she!"

Despair froze him. "Throw it down!" Renata yelled hoarsely, "Throw it down now!" When Renata cocked the hammer, Decker couldn't hesitate any longer.Though the fire roared, he thought he heard only one sound—the click of the hammer being drawn back.Of course, it was impossible to hear, Renata was too far away.But in Decker's imagination, the sound was so real, it terrified him, as if the gun had been aimed at his own head. "No! Wait!" Decker yelled. "If you want her to live, do as I tell you!" Although Beth was strangled, she managed to squeeze out a few words. "Steve, save yourself!"

"Damn it, shut up!" Renata's arm tightened around Beth's throat.Beth's face contorted even more, her eyes popped out, and her face grew darker.Renata yelled at Decker, "Drop the gun or I won't have to shoot! I'll break her neck! I'll paralyze her for the rest of her life!" Uncomfortably aware that there was another shooter in the woods behind him, Decker counted his chances of shooting Renata.With a pistol?In the firelight?30 yards away?When my chest was heaving violently and my hands were shaking uncontrollably?impossible.Even if Decker tried to do that, as soon as he aimed the gun, Renata would be on the alert and pull the trigger, blowing Beth's brains out.

"You have three seconds!" Renata yelled. "One! Two!" Decker saw Renata's right arm move.He imagined her finger on the trigger. "Wait!" he called again. "Come out immediately!" "I'll be right out!" Although the fire from the cabin warmed Decker's right side, he felt a chill between his shoulder blades as he thought of the shooter in the woods who would turn his gun on him after he emerged from the shadow of the pines. . He raised his hands. "Drop the gun!" Renata yelled, in a voice that sounded like something was stuck in her throat.

Decker did as he did, and the pistol landed on the wooded floor.He moved closer, feeling his legs tremble, and waited in horror for the shooter to knock him down with a single shot from behind.But it was better to die myself than to watch Beth die.He didn't want to live anymore without her. He raised his hands high, walked to the edge of the slope leading to the open space, and slowly descended sideways.Passing his car, he saw the bodies of the two men who had been knocked down by the bomb in front of the house.He walked up to Renata and stopped. "Look, you bastard," Renata snarled, pointing at the two bodies, "look what she's done. Look at this." Her once-beautiful face contorted with rage, becoming It's hideous. "Look what you've done!" She lifted her chin so that in the light of the cabin fire Decker could see the gunshot scar on Renata's front neck near the throat.It was rumpled and ugly. "There's a bigger scar behind!"

Decker could barely hear her.His brain was working eagerly to decipher her words. "You killed my brothers! What do you think I should do to you?" Decker didn't know how to answer. "Should I put a hole in your throat? Should I put a hole in her throat? Where's my money?" "In that carrying case." "Where's the damn carrying bag? I saw you enter the cabin with the bag when I passed the trail." Decker nodded. "I left my bag there." He glanced at the burning cabin. "You didn't take it out?" "No." "You left your bag in there?"

"That's what I just said." "My $1 million?" "Get rid of the thousands I spent on the gun." "you are lying." Decker glanced in the direction of the flames again, trying to prolong the conversation. "I'm afraid you are wrong." "Then show the evidence," Renata snapped. "What are you talking about? How can I produce evidence?" "Give me the money." "what?" "Go in and give me the money." "In the fire? I have no chance." "You want to talk about how you got your chance? It's the only chance you're ever going to get. Go into the cabin and get...get...out...with my money."

The flames blazed fiercely. "No," Decker said. "Then I'll let her go in and get it." Renata dragged Beth across the clearing to the steps leading to the cabin.At the same moment she called into the dark woods behind the burning cabin: "Pietro! Come down! Watch him!" Beth's eyelids quivered.Her hands no longer struggled to pull Renata's arm away.Her face was horrifying to watch, her body went limp, the pressure on her neck was so intense she lost consciousness. "Pietro!" Renata yanked Beth up the few log steps. "Where are you? I told you to come down!"

The flames rose higher and engulfed the entire cabin, filling the room with billowing smoke and blinding crimson fire. Renata dragged Beth all the way to the top of the steps, stopped by the fierce heat.She released the arm from Beth's neck and stood her upright, about to throw her into the fire. Decker couldn't help himself any longer.Although he knew he was going to be shot, he ran to the steps in a rage, desperate to help Beth. "Pietro!" Decker rushed up the first step. "Shoot him, Pietro!" Decker was halfway through. Renata shoved Beth into the fire while turning to aim at Decker.

No sooner had the barrel of her gun been aimed at Decker's face than a hand came up behind her and slammed down on the pistol.The hand belonged to Beth, who had only pretended to be unconscious.After Renata pushed her out, she lurched into the fire, staggered back a step, turned, and slammed into Renata hard.The split second before Renata pulled the trigger, she inserted her thumb between the pistol's hammer and firing pin, and the hammer popped out forcefully, sinking into Beth's flesh.Beth's unexpected bump knocked Renata off balance and the two women tumbled down the steps together.They rolled, wrestled, bumped, smashed into Decker and tumbled with him. They stopped at the bottom of the steps, and all three writhed on the ground.Beth's thumb was still caught under the hammer of the pistol.She tried hard to pull the gun out of Renata's hand, but there was not enough strength.And Renata yanked the gun away, tearing Beth's thumb.Decker lay flat on the ground, his arms pinned under the two women, unable to move when Renata pointed the gun at him.Beth flinched anxiously, rolled over Decker suddenly, grabbed the pistol, and yanked it wide. The explosives in a kettle were detonated, and the roar of the explosion came from the other side of the clearing. The ground trembled, and another explosion, this time a little closer, created a crater.The third explosion was in the middle of the clearing, and the shock wave sent Beth and Renata backwards.The location of the fourth explosion came a little further from the middle, and Decker was deafened by the shock.Someone was blowing up those jugs one by one, sweeping the place with explosions. Smoke floated around Decker.He was overwhelmed with shock, and it took him a while to recover from the shock and violent explosion.He rolled frantically through the smoke to find Beth, to help her.But he is not fast enough.Through the smoke he heard one shot, two, three.He yelled and rushed forward, and heard a fourth, fifth, and sixth.The gunshots were right in front of him.Seventh tone.Eighth tone.A gust of wind blew away the smoke, and when Decker heard the ninth shot, he threw himself on the writhing Renata and Beth.The two looked as if they were hugging each other. "Beth!" The tenth shot was fired. Furious, Decker lunges at Renata and pulls her away, ready to break her arm for her to let go of the gun, ready to smash her ribs to punish her for Beth's murder.But the dead body in his hands, the many bloody holes in Renata's body, made him realize that he was dead wrong.It wasn't Renata who shot, it was Beth.