Lupi 09 - Mortal Ties

a
good
idea.”
    Beth’s laugh was damp and shaky. “That’s it. That’s it. I didn’t want him there, and
     I was giving him a hard time, and he—he still threw himself in front of that gun!”
    The shooter had carried a .22, and Murray had been trained by Benedict. He knew rounds
     from a .22 weren’t likely to go through him and hit Beth, so he’d jumped the perp.
     The two of them had tumbled down a flight of stairs, coming to a stop with one of
     them passed out, the other one dead.
    The official version might say that the perp had probablybroken his neck falling down those stairs, but Lily knew better. Lupi didn’t like
     to leave threats cluttering up the landscape if they expected to be dead or unconscious
     shortly, and they were ungodly fast. Murray had broken the man’s neck the instant
     they collided. “And in a week or so Murray will be strutting around—”
    “A week?” Beth said, eyes widening. “I know they heal fast, but—a week?”
    “He might not be back to normal, but he’ll certainly be up and around and thinking
     he’s pretty hot stuff. And we’ll let him, because he is. He saved you. But Beth…”
     Lily smoothed her sister’s hair. “You saved him, too. Probably yourself as well, but
     definitely Murray. When you repelled the second attacker it gave Patrick the seconds
     he needed to take out the third guy before he could put more bullets in Murray.”
    Patrick had been outside. He’d given a sharp whistle to warn Murray of suspicious
     strangers entering the building, but procedure was for him to remain on post unless
     summoned—which Murray had done, but Patrick wouldn’t have gotten there in time to
     save Murray if Beth hadn’t been able to stop the man who’d grabbed her.
    “I didn’t repel him,” Beth said flatly. “I flipped him, and he went sailing over the
     railing. He fell straight down. Lily, he made the most horrible noise when he hit.
     It wasn’t loud, but it…I keep hearing it.”
    Lily nodded. Beth would remember that sound all her life.
    “I feel horrible when I think about it, and I can’t stop thinking about it, and I’m
     not at all sorry I did it, and that doesn’t make sense! And even though I hope that
     man doesn’t die, that’s really all about me. I don’t want to have killed someone.
     So I hope he doesn’t die, but not because I really want him to live.”
    “Do you think you’re supposed to?”
    “I don’t know. I don’t know anything.”
    “You do. You think you’re all uprooted, but plenty of you is still rooted nice and
     deep. You just can’t see that for allthe debris.” And that clearly had sailed right past Beth, judging by the confusion
     on her face. “You think we could sit down for a few minutes?”
    “Sit down? Okay, but that doesn’t…okay.”
    “Come on.” Lily tugged her over to the chairs and they both sat. “Now. You know that
     I’ve killed.”
    Beth nodded solemnly. “But you’re a cop. That…it was a line-of-duty thing, right?”
    “Do you think cops get a moral pass on killing?” Lily shook her head. “Never mind.
     I’m not good at putting words to this, but the way it seems to me, everyone is born
     capable of killing others. That’s hardwired in us the same as loving babies and craving
     sugary foods. But killing is more dangerous than a sweet tooth, isn’t it? So it gets
     a pretty universal thumbs-down in human cultures everywhere. That’s necessary and
     important, but it’s also true that we need for some people to be able to kill, under
     some circumstances. Cops, once in a while. Soldiers. People like you who get caught
     in a kill-or-be-killed situation. Problem is, we don’t give them much to go on except
     stupid shoot ’em up movies where the good guys blast away at the bad guys and everyone
     cheers. If you think the bad guys aren’t really people, you don’t have to worry about
     the whole thou-shalt-not-kill bit, do you? So you call them by some name that sets
     them outside the realm of real people—they’re gooks or weers or whores and…and I just
     gave you way too much philosophical shit when that isn’t what you need at all, is
     it?”
    “Probably I’ll want the philosophical shit later,” Beth said apologetically.
    A muffled sound that might have been a chuckle came from the chair across the room,
     reminding Lily they weren’t alone. When she glanced over her shoulder, Tony looked
     apologetic, too. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to