Page 21 of The Pretenders of Copper County
I pulled Chris to my other side so I could aim.Before taking the shots, I leaned to whisper, “As soon as I say, run like hell to the passenger side, and get on the floor. Understand?”
He nodded jerkily. “But can you please t-take this back?” He held the gun with two careful fingers, like the cobra might bite.
“Don’t you wanna keep it for protection?”
“Good gosh no,” he said firmly. “No way.”
I had no time to consider why a Fromadgio was so uncomfortable with a weapon. I tucked the gun in my waistband and squeezed his hand before letting go and aiming at the rain barrel.
My first shot didn’t give me quite the result I’d wanted, but water did begin hissing as it spit upward from the hole in the lower portion of the barrel. One guy turned toward the sound just as my second shot hit its mark higher up the barrel and sent a hissing stream arcing toward the side of the house. Thankfully, this one managed to hit the metal of a nearby gutter, making a loud, metallic sound.
I gave Chris a shove, and he started running for the car a split second before I did. His door was still halfway open as I threw my bag over the seat, slammed the car into reverse, and sped backward.
“Chris!” someone yelled. “Don’t go with him! Jump, for fuck’s sake!”
From the corner of my eye, I saw Chris freeze, shock and indecision on his face.
As my car fishtailed out onto the street, I shifted into drive and stomped on the gas pedal, swerving a little to try and help the door close. “Don’t eventhinkabout jumping,” I shouted, reaching for Chris’s wrist to hold on to him. “They’ll kill you.”
“I won’t.” His voice was small and scared. “Was thatKenny yelling? Do you think he believed me when I told him I’d been kidnapped? Was he trying to save me?”
“No,” I said. “A bunch of guys with guns got out of a Toyota not long before the shooting started. Kenny’s guys with guns took positions in the windows and returned fire.”
“Kenny has guys with guns?” Chris cried. “No way! He…”
“Please,” I said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Tell me how you’re positive he’s a good person.”
I took several turns on our way out of town in case any of the men had been able to get in a vehicle quickly enough to follow us. Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone behind us as we finally turned onto I-90, heading west.
At some point, I realized I was still holding Chris’s hand. What had started off as my making sure he didn’t bail had become… what, exactly? Comfort? Low-tech handcuffs?
I quickly let go and stretched my fingers before curling them around the steering wheel. “You, uh… you okay down there?”
“What? Oh. Yes. Totally. Fine.” He seemed to realize he was still crouched on the floor and belatedly hoisted himself into his seat. “You know, the more I think about it, I think it had to be Kenny trying to help me back there. That’s why no one was actually shooting directly at us. It wasreallysweet of him even if, you know, violence is never the answer.”
I glanced sideways at him. Was he for real?
“Oh, dang!” He froze in the act of buckling his seat belt. “Reed, if the police come, do you think they’ll look closely at Kenny’s grandmother’s garden? He mentioned they have more plants back there than they’re supposed to.”
“Why am I not surprised?” I snorted. “Yeah, Chris.I think that’s the least of what they’ll be looking at Kenny for, but definitely that, too.”
He sighed. “This is what’s wrong with the world, you know. Why put limits on how many plants a person can grow? Like, what if you wanted zucchiniandpeppersandtomatoes, enough for the whole neighborhood? What if you wanted to make sure there were some pretty flowers to attract your pollinators to make sure your vegetables flourish? It doesn’t seem fair, does it?”
I opened my mouth, then shut it again. “You’re… Is that… Are you joking?” I demanded. “Please tell me you realize that Kenny was talking aboutmarijuanaplants. As in, he’s probably selling whatever he’s not smoking? Blink twice if you are an actual inhabitant of this planet.”
“Marijuana,” Chris breathed, blinking significantly more than twice. His glasses slid down his nose, and he shoved them up impatiently. “Are you sure?”
Despite everything… maybebecauseof everything… I found myself fighting the urge to laugh. “Positive. Maybe you need to rethink your idea of what a criminal looks like, hmm?”
“So, then…” He wrinkled his nose in thought. “Was it the police shooting at him? You know, forthedrugs?”
I resisted the urge to punch myself in the face. “No, because the police don’t wear masks or drive rusted-out Toyota Corollas. Also, they generally don’t open fire on private residences in the middle of the night, no matter how muchzucchinia person might be growing.” I glanced at him again. “They called your name, Chris. Twice. I’m guessing they were looking for you, but Kenny somehow intercepted them. Maybe he assumed that if gunmen showed up in his neighborhood, they were looking for him. Maybe he didn’t have time to think at all and just started shooting back.”
He swallowed hard. “Or.Or. They were calling for someone else. A Christina or a Christopher or a… a Chrysanthemum. You have no idea how many Chrises there are in the world, Reed. Billions, probably. Common as dirt.”
Any lingering amusement I might have evaporated in the flash-fire heat of the anger that washed over me. Was fear causing his denial? Was he simply so committed to his act that he refused to give it up? Was he truly the sweetest human in the world and incapable of seeing the danger he was in? It didn’t fucking matter. Because unless he recognized the danger he was in, he wouldn’t let me protect him.
“Haven’t you fired a gun before?” I asked suddenly, needing to know how the man could both recognize a nine mil and have no clue how to hold one.
