Page 54 of Sentinel's Kiss

Beverly blinked at him again, but she shut up and started to get dressed. Sentinel took that time to dump out both purses he found on the table. He separated the car keys and took the money out of the wallets.

“It’s only about a hundred and fifty,” Sentinel said, handing her the cash. “I might be able to get more from the men’s wallets. But at least you have wheels.” He dangled the keys at her. “I’m not sure which cars in the parking lot are theirs, but you’ve got your choice of two.”

“What if someone sees me?”

He was trying not to lose his patience. He didn’t deal with people well, especially people who’d been through a huge trauma. “Look, I’ll walk you out there and direct you out of here. But once you get in that car, lock the doors and drive. Don’t stop until you’re about to run out of gas. Then ditch the car in a mall.” He threw her a box of surgical gloves. “Put these on so you don’t leave any prints on the car.”

“Then what?” she asked.

“Then you’re free. Put this behind you as best as you can. Hell, get therapy. I don’t know.”

“What about them? I can’t let them do this to anyone else.” She pointed in the direction of the hunting lodge.

“That’s where I come in. You’ll read about this in the paper. Now, are you ready to go? I want to go out the window so we don’t track blood all over the place.”

Beverly shuddered and started to cry again.

Shit. He didn’t have the patience for this. Sarah had been right; he was losing his humanity.

He took a deep breath and channeled his sister. “You’ve been very brave, Beverly. Your ordeal is almost over. We just need you to get into that car and drive out of here, and once you’re safe, you can cry to your heart’s content. But we’ve got to go now. Otherwise I might not get to take out Reynolds and those other two bimbos.”

“What about Kim and Dana in the morning?”

“They’re going to find this.” Sentinel gestured with his pistol. “And they’re going to live in fear for a while. And then they’ll pay.”

“Good,” she said, pulling it together.

Sentinel did a quick scan of the party room, but he didn’t see the men’s clothes and he didn’t want to waste time looking for wallets that they could have left back in their rooms at the lodge.

“Let’s go.” They went back into her room and he helped her out the window, making sure she didn’t cut herself on any spare pieces of glass. He followed, landing next to her. She started crying again as they skirted the edge of the lights to get to the parking lot. Her hands were shaking too much for her to work the key fob, so Sentinel did it for her.

A blue four-door sedan flicked its lights and they hurried to it. He opened the door and handed her the keys.

“Follow the road out of here. Turn left and follow the signs to the interstate. You can do that, right?”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“Thank me by forgetting you ever saw me.”

She nodded again.

He closed the car door and gave her a thumbs-up when she locked the doors and turned the key in the ignition. Sentinel watched until her taillights disappeared when she turned out of the driveway.

Pulling out his phone, he crouched behind a car and texted.

8 down. Bird has flown. Going after #1 and 2 others.