Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Faith screamed at the same time Eliana and Sarah landed on the kitchen floor.
There was nothing Eliana could do with her hands behind her back, so she shifted her behind forward, between her hands. She brought her legs through her bound hands to bring them to the front. Thanks, Mom, for the long arms. Now her hands were in front.
Eliana twisted her torso, swung her elbow at Sarah’s head, and scored a direct hit. Sarah’s head hit the cabinet and she slumped forward. Eliana grabbed for the gun.
Faith got there at the same time.
Their fingers met. Eliana said, “Don’t.”
Eliana snatched the pistol off the floor and scrambled back to stand up, in a spot where she was out of arm’s reach of everyone else in this room. She blew hair out of her face and looked around.
Faith took a step toward her.
Eliana held the gun. “Faith, back off!” What she wanted was an explanation, but there was no time for that right now.
Laptop Guy stared at her.
She said, “Stop the transfer.”
He didn’t move.
Eliana pointed the gun at the ceiling over his shoulder and fired, praying with everything in her that a bullet in the wall between floors wouldn’t hit an innocent person.
Buildings like this had thin walls, and innocent bystanders could easily get hurt.
The bullet might pass through the wall and go outside—but by then it would have lost too much momentum to do any real damage.
“Want me to shoot you as well?”
Muscle Guy got up. “Let’s go. Before the police get here.”
“You dare run!” Sarah roared, pulling herself up using the counter. “I’ll tell the Mother you betrayed us!”
Eliana backed up another step. “All of you, put your hands on your heads. You aren’t going anywhere.
” She lifted her chin, indicating Laptop Guy with the aim of this pistol.
“Give me my phone. Anyone who tries anything gets shot!” She didn’t actually want to kill anyone, but they couldn’t know that, or they’d never do what she told them to do.
“You think you can kill us all?” Sarah sneered. “I’m a Level Four! You can’t kill me.”
Muscle Guy, who had a knot on his forehead, said, “We’ll leave. You don’t have to kill us. We’ll just go!” He backed up toward the door.
“Stop moving!” Eliana shouted.
She had no idea if Faith had been shot or if she was all right. If she looked in that direction, Sarah would run at her. Who knew what on earth Faith was thinking, or what she might do. Eliana was not going to die in a murder-suicide. Not today or any day.
She backed up a couple more steps and glanced over where the other woman had been. Faith wasn’t on the floor over there, and Eliana didn’t see any blood. Had she run? “Faith!”
Sarah just had one continuous smirk.
“Hands on your heads.” She had to pray. Please let the police be right outside, ready to kick the door in. She needed her phone.
All her thoughts seemed to swirl like a tornado in her mind. She couldn’t cling to one long enough to figure out what to do, or what to tell them next.
Sarah gripped the counter with one hand, her knuckles white—the only indication she wasn’t quite as in control of this situation as she wanted Eliana to believe. “You can’t kill us all. That’s why you’re the one who dies.”
Eliana didn’t flinch. “There are enough bullets in this gun for each one of you.”
“You’re gonna be a killer now, after all this time?” Sarah shook her head. “That’s why the Mother wanted you dead. You’ll never give in, no matter what she thinks.”
Eliana didn’t understand what that meant, and there wasn’t time to figure it out. She motioned to the side with the gun and told Sarah, “Go stand with that other guy.”
Sarah started to move, so Eliana stepped to the left and pushed Sarah toward the guy to speed her up, then grabbed for her phone across the counter.
Arms wrapped around her from behind, one across her throat. Panic sparked in her mind like a bolt of lightning. Faith.
“No.” She croaked the word, hardly able to make much of a sound.
The solid press of Faith’s arm across her throat made her want to hurl. She tried to breathe, and her lungs burned.
Sarah grabbed the gun from her hand, twisting Eliana’s fingers painfully in the process. She cried out, Faith’s arm still across her throat. The other woman held her in a tight grip. Determined to—what?—strangle her? Eliana had to get out. Now.
Eliana patted against Faith’s arm, trying to push her away. Let go, let go.
“It’s done.” Laptop Guy shut the lid and scooped up the computer into his arms.
“Once she kills Eliana, we can shoot her and then go.” Sarah backed up toward the door.
Lights flashed at the edges of Eliana’s perception.
She was losing this fight to stay awake, and there wasn’t much she could do but bend forward and try to dislodge the other woman.
She kicked at Faith’s legs. Stumbled back and tried to shove her against whatever was behind them—all to get her to loosen her grip enough for Eliana to gain the upper hand.
Faith’s back hit the counter behind them, and she cried out. Her grip against Eliana’s throat barely loosened.
Muscle Guy looked out the window. “There are cops down there! The street is crawling with ’em!”
“Let’s go!” Laptop Guy ran to the door. The other guy followed him, and they disappeared out of sight. The door slammed shut.
Sarah pointed the gun at Eliana. “Finish it, Faith! Kill her!”
Eliana brought one arm forward, her hands clasped together, and slammed her elbow back into Faith’s side in a last-ditch effort. A second later, she shoved her hand up between her shoulder and Faith’s arm and forced them apart. She pushed hard enough to break the clasp of Faith’s hands.
Bang.
The gunshot eclipsed everything in the room. It sounded like a firework went off in front of Eliana’s face, the flash of light blinding. The concussive sound made her ears ring. Faith’s hold loosened, and she fell to the floor, dragging Eliana down with her.
Faith’s body went limp. Sarah had shot her.
They landed awkwardly on the floor, and Eliana gasped, fire erupting in her hip.
Tears in her eyes. Clawing for breath, but hardly able to pull in enough air to get her thoughts straight.
The world spun around her, and she tried to inhale.
Dragging in more and more air until the spinning stopped and the lights quit flashing behind her eyes.
The apartment door flung open and crashed back against the wall. Thunderous noise followed as cops with heavy boots and gear rushed in. Their yelling morphed into one mass of sound.
Sarah brought the gun up, yelling. Eliana just managed to make out her pointing the gun at the cops before a barrage of gunshots opened up. A second later Sarah’s body quit jerking and she fell to the floor.
Eliana twisted enough to see Faith on the floor near her. She rolled the other woman to her back and saw a gunshot wound in the center of her forehead.
How…
Cops rushed over, and she scrambled back, knocking into one of the chairs. All of them started getting in her face and yelling.
Eliana clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut. Each breath was work to drag in, her throat thick and aching with pain. All she could see behind her eyes was blood, sneering faces, and evil eyes.
Someone touched her hand, and she flinched.
The ties binding her wrists broke. Her mind registered the warm hug of cologne that was purely Carlos. She opened her eyes. Warm brown ones greeted her, worry and relief in his expression.
He tugged down her wrists. “Hey.” The word was soft, like a balm to her seared nerves. “Hey.” He dragged the word out. “It’s okay. You’re safe now.”
Eliana took a breath, but it broke in the middle.
He lowered her hands and looked at her wrists, then dipped his head to look at her neck. “All right, that looks bad. Let’s get you out of here.”
Carlos slid an arm under her knees and another around her back and stood, holding her against his chest.
She clasped the collar of his leather jacket and held on.
“We’re walking out.” He leaned down so his mouth was close to her ear. “Don’t look, okay?”
She buried her head in his neck, huddling closer to the warmth of his skin while he moved through the apartment. She wanted to get her phone and hug it to her as well, to keep it close so no one could plant fake messages on her device, but had no idea where it was.
Carlos carried her to the hall, speaking to other cops while she ignored the world and tried to stay awake. The last thing she wanted to do was pass out and be vulnerable. There had been entirely too much of that today. She needed to stay awake and figure out what that mess of a situation had been.
It was as if he didn’t even notice how much she weighed and it was nothing to walk through a building carrying her.
The elevator doors slid shut, and she lifted her head. They were alone.
“You can put me down,” she told him, her voice hoarse and barely audible.
“Not a chance.”
She stared at his profile, his head pointed forward. Resolution in his jawline.
“There’s an ambulance waiting for us on the street. They’ll take care of you.”
A tear rolled down her cheek, and she didn’t let go of him to swipe it away, just lifted her shoulder and used the material of her shirt to soak up the moisture.
When he stepped outside, the wind buffeted her, making her wonder how she’d managed to lose her jacket in the middle of all that. The bright afternoon light pricked at her eyes as he took her to the open rear doors of an ambulance and finally groaned as he let her down.
“You shouldn’t have carried me that far.” She frowned, holding on to his arms. Trying to get her legs to support her.
“What’s that?” He shook his head. “I can’t hear you.”
Eliana didn’t have a chance to argue with him, not that she had the energy anyway, because an EMT with bright-red hair led her into the ambulance and had her sit on the gurney.
She answered as many questions as she could, giving her basic details and some medical information before she gave up and lay down on the bed in the middle of telling him that she took over-the-counter allergy pills sometimes.
“Lia!” Carlos scrambled into the ambulance and reached out, touching her leg.
She waved a hand without moving. “I’m okay.”
The EMT frowned at her, then glanced at Carlos. She spotted the hole for an earring in his right ear. “Sir, you can ride with us if you’re the next of kin, but no interruptions.”
“I’m her fiancé.”
Eliana’s eyes flared.
Carlos didn’t take it back. The EMT didn’t argue with him or ask any follow-up questions.
An oxygen mask was placed over her mouth and nose. She closed her eyes and heard them talking, and then the vehicle set off.
Still, his words rang in her head. And why not? They were so much better than any of the words she’d heard today. A dream that was far superior to reality, because nothing could go wrong in a dream.