Page 109 of Risky Obsession
She hurled her case at me and as she zipped up her jacket, thuds pounded on the door.
She gasped.
“Come on.” I dropped her bag outside and grabbed her arm to help her over the ledge. “Move. Move.”
“I’m not going without you.” Her eyes drilled into me with a mix of fear and determination.
“I’m coming.” I pulled on my sneakers and climbed over the windowsill with her.
The frigid wind swirled around us and with my teeth clenched, I jumped to a large branch. Leaves shuddered as I scrambled to get hold.
Gunshots thundered beyond our bedroom door.
“Fuck.” Gripping a higher branch, I moved along to give her room. I held my hand toward her. “Tory, move!”
She jumped across the distance, landing lightly on her feet. A loud crack echoed above me, and the branch I was clinging to snapped off, and I just about fell as I said, “Go. Go.”
Dodging and weaving, we scurried downward with the branches creaking beneath our weight. Tory’s agility impressed the hell out of me. She leaped onto the ground, and as I jumped to her side, gunfire erupted above us, showering us in bark.
Although her eyes showed her fear, she sprinted to her bag.
I grabbed my duffle, and we ran toward the lush gardens.
Our breaths were ragged and urgent as we aimed for a low hedge circling a moss-covered fountain.
Gunfire pierced the night air, wild and erratic.
“Get cover!” Tory dragged me down behind the hedge with her. “We need to get out of here.”
In the moonlight, her eyes simmered with rage.
The arm of the angel in the fountain exploded, and we both flinched.
“We need to get to our car. Let’s go.” Hunching over, she scooped her suitcase into her arms and took off like a gazelle.
We raced through the serpentine garden paths and with gunfire echoing behind us, we left the cover of the hedge and ran toward the line of trees that marked the parking lot.
We were ten feet from the rows of parked cars when panic clawed at my chest. “Tory. I don’t have the keys. The bellhop took them.”
She darted around the back of a minivan, and I joined her.
“Shit. What do we do?” Her chest heaved.
Two gunshots boomed from inside the building. These weren’t wild and desperate like the previous ones. These were controlled. Lethal.
“I think he’s executing witnesses,” I said.
Tory’s face washed to deathly pale. “We need to get out of here.”
Her tone was surprisingly calm.
“Check the cars. Maybe someone left their keys.” I reached for herhand, and when she winced, I realized I’d grabbed her injured one. “Where’s your brace?”
“Back there. But I’m okay.” She squeezed my palm as if proving it to herself.
So brave. So amazing.
The glow from the interior of a car stood out from others. I inched higher to see who was inside.