Chapter 55

chapter

fifty-five

Gage glanced down at Nia as she lay beneath him on the bench seat of the booth. Her arms covered her head, and glass decorated her hair. Otherwise, she appeared unharmed.

“Are you okay?” he rushed.

Nia blinked several times before nodding. “Yes . . . I think so. I think I’m okay.”

Tires squealed outside.

Then a moment of silence passed.

He finally raised his head again.

The gunman was gone.

Sirens already sounded in the distance.

They should be out of danger.

Gage rose, shaking off some stray shards of glass.

Then he glanced across the table to where Brittany was seated. He needed to make sure she was okay also.

But one look at her slouched body, and he knew she wasn’t .

Blood bloomed on the pink, short-sleeved shirt she wore, and her eyes appeared still and lifeless.

Nia raised her head, and her gaze went to Brittany. “No . . .”

Gage rose and put a finger to Brittany’s neck just in case. But his fears were confirmed.

The woman was dead.

Had someone targeted her just because they were afraid she would talk too much?

There was a good chance that was true.

He glanced around the rest of the room. Everyone else seemed shaken but okay.

Those guys had either followed Brittany or Gage and Nia. But he’d put his bets on Brittany.

But now these guys might fear what Brittany had told them.

They might try to get to Nia and himself next.

He grabbed her hand. “We need to get out of here.”

She glanced outside as blue lights flashed in the distance. “But shouldn’t we stay until the police?—”

“It’s not safe,” Gage told her. “Those guys could come back. They might shoot us next time.”

Her eyes widened with fear, but she nodded.

Gage tugged her toward the back of the building.

They’d deal with this mess later. No doubt there were security cameras. Someone might be able to identify them. The police would want to chat, to see if they had any involvement.

But right now, staying alive was more important.

Gage rushed out a back door and into a dark alley .

Holding Nia’s hand, he ran down the alley toward the street.

They reached the sidewalk, but it was more crowded than he’d expected. People had stopped to stare after what had just happened.

Making a split-second decision, Gage ran in the opposite direction with Nia.

His gut told him there was more to come. That these gunmen would be looking for them.

As they reached another street, a car squealed nearby.

“Gage?” Nia sounded breathless.

“We’ve got to run faster.”

There was no time to get back to their car. Besides, by now first responders had probably surrounded it.

“Where are we going to go?” Nia asked between gasps of breath.

That was an excellent question.

But the best thing they could do right now was to keep moving.

Movement is life, Gage mused.

So whatever they did, they couldn’t stop.

Fear pulsed through Nia.

She couldn’t get Brittany out of her mind. The blood on her chest. The lifeless look in her eyes.

How could someone have done this?

How could they have killed Rob?

Why were people so evil ?

She wasn’t naive. But she never wanted to become accustomed to the horrors taking place around her either, to think those things were normal.

Gage pulled her beside another building, and they ran as fast as they could.

Nia glanced behind her as she heard a car approaching.

The car pulled up beside them.

Another barrage of bullets flew toward them. The shots nicked the asphalt at their feet.

But they hadn’t been hit. Not yet.

Did these guys want her dead after all?

“This way!” Gage pulled her down another alley and around a corner.

They continued to weave between buildings.

Would they really lose the gunmen this way?

Nia would have to rely on Gage’s expertise on the matter.

The next alley they ran down ended at a brick wall, and Gage muttered beneath his breath.

Then they turned and glanced at the street.

A car appeared there.

It was them. Nia was certain of it.

“We’ve got to move!” Gage jerked her back toward the street—toward the gunmen.

What was he doing?

He paused by a fire escape next to an old, condemned apartment building. It appeared as if construction had started on the place to revitalize it .

But right now, it looked like a death trap with its broken windows and graffiti painted on the brick walls.

Nia’s eyes widened as she realized what they were about to do.

She’d only seen things like this on movies and TV shows. She never thought she would experience this in real life.

The staircase lowered with a loud clank. Then Gage pulled her up a flight of steps.

As they climbed, footsteps rushed toward them. Men grunted.

Another bullet flew, pinging on the metal fire escape.

Nia muffled a scream.

At the first platform, Gage turned to an old window and shoved at the pane.

To Nia’s surprise, it opened.

They climbed into an old apartment that looked like it hadn’t been touched in years—other than by hoodlums up to no good.

Beyond the shadows of the room, the building was dark.

Danger loomed both behind them and in front of them.

What were they going to do now?

Panic raced through her.

“Gage, please tell me you have a plan.”