The Eleventh Hour #5
Without another word spoken I ran from the apartment, headed down the elevator and emerged on to the sidewalk out front. I couldn’t see Adam anywhere.
Fate.
If I was meant to stop this, I’d know what direction to go in.
I’d pick one and it would lead me to him.
Hesitating only a moment longer, I turned left and hurried along the sidewalk.
After a minute, I took off my heels, threw them to the side and ran along in my bare feet until I finally heard something.
“Stupid,” a voice said. “You are so fucking stupid, Adam. For a woman? You’d ruin your entire life for some meaningless woman?”
“Just shoot me and get it over with, Harris,” Adam replied. “I know you want to.”
“Your uncle would be disappointed in you. Always so perfect in his eyes.”
“What the hell do you care?”
“What do I care? That nepotism earned you the perks I should be getting. It’s not fair.”
I flattened my back against the side of the building and sneaked a peek into the alleyway.
“Tell me where she is,” Harris said.
“Where who is?”
“Your little artist bitch from the past. Despite our quarrel right now, this can still be fixed. I just need to put a bullet between her eyes and everything’s the way it should be.”
“And if I don’t tell you a damn thing?”
“Then that’s going to be a problem.”
“Did you look in the Books beyond Sophie’s listing today?” Adam asked. “Did you look at the Book for here? Right now, twenty years later to the day from when she was supposed to die?”
“Why would I bother with that?” Harris asked.
“Because,” I said, stepping out from the shadows, “it has your name listed.”
He shifted the gun to point it in my direction.
Adam turned to stare at me with shock. Did he really think I was going to stay out of this just because he’d planted me in that safe house in the sky like Rapunzel?
“You shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“And yet here I am. The walking dead.”
“I like that you’ve finally accepted your fate,” Harris said. “Now come closer so we can finish this.”
“No.” Adam pulled out his own gun and pointed it at Harris. “Let’s not.”
“So I shoot her and you shoot me?” Harris asked. “Is that how this is going to play out?”
“Not exactly what I’d had in mind,” Adam said. “So I warn you not to even think about pulling that trigger.”
Harris didn’t flinch. “The thing is, I don’t believe her. My name wasn’t in the Book. Not a chance.”
“But it was,” Adam said evenly. “It was right under mine.”
That surprised Harris. His eyes widened and he swung the gun back around towards Adam as if feeling threatened for the first time that night. On bare feet, and by instinct alone, I ran. A split second after Adam had fired his gun, I threw all my weight at him to push him out of the line of fire.
Adam’s bullet hit Harris in the chest.
Harris’s bullet ripped into Adam’s shoulder.
Harris dropped his gun, touched his chest in shock, and fell forwards. His eyes open and unblinking.
I fell to the ground next to Adam. He wrapped his good arm around my chest and pulled me back behind some trash cans.
He swore, grimacing in pain. “Sophie, what have you done?”
I checked him for more serious injury, but there was none. “A bullet in the shoulder can’t be pleasant,” I said, “and you’re bleeding like crazy, but it didn’t hit your heart.’’
“What the hell did you think you were doing coming here and putting yourself at risk like that?”
“Saving your life,” I replied. “Giving fate the finger. Losing my really expensive – and now apparently vintage – shoes. Not necessarily in that order.”
“So that’s all it takes to change fate?”
“I don’t know, I’m kind of new at this sort of thing. Was Harris’s name in the Book? Because I was totally bluffing.”
“No, it wasn’t,” he said. “I was bluffing too.”
“Great minds think alike. But he’s dead?”
“Pretty sure. I’m a really good shot.”
“Bragger.” I almost smiled but I wasn’t nearly ready to feel relieved yet. “But the fact that somebody not fated to die tonight ended up dead – that’s probably a good indication that we changed things, right?”
He pointed at his shoulder wound. “I got shot. Just not in the heart.”
“Serves you right for taking off on me like that.”
He looked at me incredulously. “Why would you follow me and put yourself at risk after you were safe with Gloria?”
I looked at him sternly. “Do you know how hard it is to find a decent boyfriend in New York City? It was hard enough in 2009, let alone 2029. A girl’s got to fight for what she wants, you know.”
He smiled but it was edged in pain. “And what you want is me?”
I stroked the dark hair off his forehead. “I’m thinking I just might.”
Adam looked worried. “They’ll be after me now. Just like they’ll be after you. My uncle won’t make an exception for me. I broke the rules in a big way.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’ll be watching out for each other. We’ll both stay at Gloria’s for a while until we figure out what to do next.”
Adam kissed me, but he looked very serious afterwards. He held my face gently between his hands.
“We may have changed the future by both of us staying alive tonight. Forever.”
I smiled at him, then brushed my lips against his. “I’m kind of counting on it,” I said.