Page 37 of Trusted Instinct
With that in mind, Auralia had to keep checking in with her own gut to make sure that Doli’s poorly developed survival muscles weren’t influencing Auralia’s personal choices.
After the sniper’s bullet rang out, they filmed the scene. Doli pointed at the running politicians. It would be stupid to run after them. They were the target, and it didn’t look like the gunman was a sure shot. The politicians would jump into their cars and roar off to regroup in private. It was better to stay and film the crowd.
That was the plan up until the point when Doli swiveled toward the horizon. She leaned down to grab up her camera bag, yelling, “Now!” and took off at a sprint.
Auralia was tight on her heels.
They were moving as fast as they could. Their movement spurred others to their feet.
In crouched postures, parents wrapped their bodies around their children or snatched the poor kids off their feet as they hustled off the field; they all seemed to get the message that if the war reporters were racing for the parking lot, they’d better be hustling there, too.
The first drips of rain tapped Auralia’s forehead and nose. “Do you feel that?”
“Run between the drops,” Doli called out. “I’ve told you this.”
“I’m not made of sugar. A few drips of rain aren’t going to make me melt.”
“But it will turn this parking lot into a slip and slide. We need to be in our car first.”
They were clear of the crowd, and their feet were moving fast. Working where they did, Doli and Auralia took their fitness seriously. They needed to be able to outrun anything deadly heading their way. This race to the car was second nature.
The shouts were growing louder, and without turning around, Auralia could feel the heave of bones and flesh. In her mind, she played a game that she used to spur herself along on a lonely, boring run and pretended they were zombies. If they caught her, she’d be a goner. It was enough to kick her adrenaline into power mode. “Go. Go. Go.” She put her hands on Doli’s shoulders and spun her toward the car.
Right now, as she and Doli raced after the three suits and the two women they dragged with them, Auralia sensed that the shooter had accomplished his goals by shutting Morrison up.
And that was unfortunate.
The two families thing—wow. That was surprising.
It certainly hadn’t shown up in any of her interviews or research dives. Had he used an alias with vital stats? Apart from hacking, in the computer age, how was an altered birth certificate possible?
But in this moment, the bigger question was: Who would try to interrupt?
The second wife? She might have someone up in a hunting blind taking a shot. Her brothers? Was there a life insurance policy that would make whatever the court awarded seem like a pittance?
It could be someone having a vigilante outburst, getting Morrison for his scam.
It could be a disaffected young white male who fell down an algorithmic rabbit hole and became a nihilist looking for chaos.
Hell, Morrison himself could have had someone up there taking a shot to garner sympathy in the court of public opinion before the judge heard his case.
If it bleeds, it leads.
In Auralia’s mind, the shooter was trying to get everyone’s attention, maybe make Morrison pee down his leg. If that was an assassin’s shot, the guy was either drunk or high. It was either a terrible damned shot, or someone was making a point by blowing up that sound system.
Until someone—thank god—shut it down, the high, shrill resonance coming from the speakers had echoed around the dell and set the fillings in Auralia’s teeth into a sour vibration that she’d never experienced before.
“Whelp. We can always count on Gator to send a girl the right kind of gift.” Doli knocked on her bullet-resistant vest.
“He’s married.” Auralia fobbed her car locks open as they came within sight. “You need to find someone else.”
“I know this will surprise you,” Doli said, rounding to the passenger side of the car. “Finding a psychic hero demi-god like Creed or your brother is not an easy task.”
Auralia ducked into the driver’s seat and slammed the door shut. “Doli, were you using your wide lens?”
“I tried to catch where the guy was shooting from.” They dragged their safety belts across their chests and clicked them into place. “It was farther away than we would normally guess from the crack of gunfire. Given the wind blowing the sound in from the west, I think that’s why it sounded so close because the dell amplified it.”
“Bingo. My thoughts exactly,” Auralia pressed the engine button but waited to pull out as two black SUVs raced toward the road. Auralia had shifted to drive and was ready to spin tires. The hordes had revved their engines. Get out now or get stuck in the mass confusion.
