Chapter 4 - Badges and Lies
Adrian slammed Mara behind a stone planter as the detective fired. The bullet tore through the space where her chest had been.
People screamed and ducked. Adrian struck the detective's wrist, sent the gun skidding, then drove a knee into his ribs. The two uniforms backed away instead of helping.
“Get his badge number,” Adrian shouted to Lucian.
Lucian was already taking pictures. “I'd rather get his face.”
Mara crawled toward the ambulance, heart beating so hard she could hear it. Sophie was gone. So was the paramedic who'd taken her.
“Oh, no.”
She ran back. “Sophie disappeared.”
Adrian looked from the empty ambulance to the guards at the gate. “We need to leave.”
“We can't just abandon a kid.”
“We're not. We're trying to stay alive long enough to find her.”
Lucian tossed Adrian a set of car keys. “My sedan. Rear exit.”
“You coming?” Adrian asked.
“No. Someone needs to find out who's wearing police badges tonight.”
For one second, the brothers looked less like enemies and more like boys who had learned the same childhood lesson: trust no one at home.
Adrian pulled Mara into the car. He drove like he had an appointment with the devil and no intention of being late.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“A place my family doesn't own.”
“Does one exist?”
“Barely.”
On the interstate, two black SUVs merged behind them. Adrian tested a lane change; both followed.
“You recognize them?” Mara asked.
“I recognize the approach.”
He exited without signaling. The first SUV followed. The second took the shoulder and accelerated. Headlights filled Mara's window.
“Hold on.”
Adrian braked sharply, turned across an empty gas station lot, and sent the trailing SUV into a row of trash cans. The second vehicle stopped dead in the intersection. Its passenger leaned out with a rifle.
Mara ducked. Glass exploded behind them.
Adrian floored it through an open car wash, water hammering the windshield like hail. They shot out the other side and disappeared down a dark service road.
Only when the highway was behind them did Mara breathe.
Her phone buzzed. Unknown number. A photograph appeared: Sophie asleep in the back seat of a car. Beneath it, one sentence.
May you like
BRING THE KEY ALONE, OR THE GIRL DOESN'T WAKE UP.
THE LAST DANCE AT BLACKTHORN HALL •
