Page 20 of Fear the Reaper
I took peeks at Reaper as Molly’s words filled my head. Could I ever be so brave? Could I shake off the fear of another Roger and just—what? Ask him out?
“We’re here.”
“Um—no, the house is up there.”
“We’re stopping here because we don’t want to draw attention.”
The dashboard crackled, and Molly’s voice filled the interior. “There’s another entrance to the condo. I’ll pull in there.” She sounded all business.
“Good. I’ll give you the all clear once we have Estelle,” Reaper said.
I glanced back to see Molly making the right turn along a side street. If my memory served me right I could have sworn that was a one-way street. Ignoring the worry, I watched as Reaper turned off the ignition and leaned back in his seat. He pulled out a cell and pressed it to his ear.
“Montana—who’d you send?” Reaper asked. “Let him know I’m here. Thanks.”
After about a minute, he reached for the door handle. “Let’s go.”
With a deep breath, I scrambled from the SUV and hurried to catch up to Reaper as he glanced both ways. He reached back for my hand and without thinking, I gave it to him. I jogged to keep up with his long strides and soon we were in the lobby of the elegant building. The elevator arrived quickly and as we stepped in, someone hollered for us to hold the door. When I reached to do it, Reaper took my hand away and hit the button to close the door.
“We’re trying to limit the amount of people we interact with,” he said.
“Right.”
I hit the button to would take us to the twentieth floor and sooner than I would have liked, the elevator’s doors were opening again. Reaper stepped out first.
“Left.”
He took my hand again and we hurried along until we were able to knock on the main door to the suit. It took some time before Estelle opened up but when she did, it was to shove past Reaper and barrel into me for a hug.
“Where’s Mare?” I asked.
“I don’t mean to be an ass,” Reaper said before Estelle could reply. “But can we leave the questions and reunion until we can get you safe?”
I frowned at him. “Grab your bags.”
Estelle disappeared into the apartment again and soon returned with a Gucci carry-on bag and her purse. “It’s a good thing Mary is away right now,” Estelle muttered.
But I wasn’t really paying attention.
Once more Reaper turned toward the elevator but stopped and pressed a finger to his temple.
“Damn it!” He growled. “We can’t use the elevator. We have company.”
“What?” I asked. “How?”
“They’ve been watching Estelle.” Reaper shoved opened the doors toward the stairs and we scampered down the steps. It was going to be hell on my muscles, but I’d rather be in some pain than dead.
Taking Estelle’s bag, we bounded down as many flights of stairs as we could before Reaper, eased opened the door on the eighth floor and stuck his head in.
“Hey!” Someone hollered.
“Go!” Reaper yelled to us. “Down the stairs!”
The loud boom of a gunshot followed by the bullet clanging off something on the other side of the door pushed me into action. Estelle screamed but after a bomb, it seemed I was a pro at this. I took her hand and yanked her after me.
“What’s going on?” Estelle asked.
“Questions, later!” I barked. “Run, now!”
