Page 24 of Hunted

“This is getting tedious,” White whined in his irritating voice. “I have methods for extracting information, you know. It won’t be pleasant.”

Lexi didn’t know if the gun was loaded. She didn’t know anything about guns, except that you were supposed to pull the hammer back before firing. Only this one didn’t seem to have a hammer. They had a safety switch though, didn’t they? She felt around for such a switch and moved it. If she waited much longer, she’d pass out from lack of oxygen. This episode was the worst one yet. Her heart was beating so fast there was no space in between the beats. The barrel of the gun jerked in time with her racing heart as she pointed it at White.

“It’s a shame. A waste of a good man. But you understand, I don’t need you to lead me to the formula when I have Ms. Stoltz. And she’ll be much more pleasant compan?—”

She squeezed the trigger.

Romano’s first thought when the shot exploded in his ears was that White had shot him. It took only an instant to realize that wasn’t the case. White swore aloud, jumped backward, and swung his gun barrel toward Lexi, who still knelt on the ground.

Romano brought his fists down on White’s gun hand, and the weapon dropped to the ground. White never missed a beat. He lunged away, running for all he was worth, around the building and toward the black van at the other end of the parking lot.

He wanted to go after him. To kill him. To make him pay. He reached down to Lexi, yanking the Ruger from her cold, trembling hands.

He made the mistake of glancing at her as he did it, though, and then he paused. The red haze of his hatred faded enough so he could see her hunched on the cold pavement, holding her chest with one hand and gasping for breath. Her eyes were wide and swimming.

He heard the van door slide open. Damn. No doubt White had other weapons in there. He crouched down, spotted the pill bottle, which had rolled out of the bag, grabbed it and rapidly shoved a pill between her lips.

He stuck the gun into his jeans, bent to grip her under the arms and helped her to her feet. Their supplies were scattered and there was no time to gather them all. He grabbed the duffel as he opened the car door and slung it into the back seat. “Get in, Lexi. Quick!”

She crouched and snatched something else off the ground, then scrambled across the front seat into the passenger side.

Romano dove behind the wheel. The van was already coming toward them. He jammed the car into gear, spun the tires and they sped out of the parking lot and into traffic.

All the while, one hand was elbow deep in the console. He found what he wanted, a little cocktail for his pal, Mr. White. He anchored the bottle between his thighs, worked a lighter from his jeans pocket, flicked the flame to life and touched it to the cloth. Then he chucked the Molotov cocktail right out the back, through the missing rear windshield. It smashed onto the pavement and exploded. Cars skidded every which way, and traffic came to a complete halt.

“God, you’ll kill someone!”

“Just light and noise, and it served its purpose.” He nodded at the van, which was blocked by other vehicles due to the chaos he’d caused.

Then he changed lanes and passed everything ahead of him. But even when the mess was far behind, he didn’t let up on his speed. He wasn’t taking any more chances with White. He couldn’t afford to make another mistake.

Some miles later, finally confident of their escape, he glanced over at Lexi. She sat still, her pupils still dilated, her face flush with color. Her panting had eased, so apparently that pill had kicked in.

His photo was on her lap. Wendy and the boys, smiling and beautiful. All he had left of them, really.

A horn blew, and he jerked his attention back to the highway and swerved into his own lane, but his mind was going back over their escape. She’d grabbed something off the pavement before scrambling into the car. His photo. Why?

He looked at her again, keeping one eye on his driving this time. She was shaken up, that was for sure. “You okay?”

Her answer was a vague nod. She licked her lips. “Did … did I hurt him?”

“White?” The question surprised him.

“Did I hurt him?”

“You missed by a mile, Lexi. But you got our asses out of a tight spot, That was quick thinking. You did all right back there, for a rookie.”

She closed her eyes, lowered her head. “I went into arrhythmia and almost passed out.”

“You kept your head and used your wits. Not too many people I know could have done that with a killer a foot away and a heart racing out of control.”

“I was looking for my pills. I found the gun by mistake.”

Romano frowned, wondering why she was so determined not to take any credit. “Did you fire it by mistake, too?”

“No.”

“No. You didn’t save my photo by mistake either, did you?”

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