Page 171 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

When he saw the sign for Melrose Avenue, he felt a dash of hope. Simon’s gallery was on that street, and he remembered seeing a big shopping mall with a huge parking garage not too far from it.

He took the turn and immediately regretted it. There waseven more traffic here, and the only way he could keep moving was to weave back and forth across the center line.

Movement in the corner of his eye caused him to jerk his head to the left. The motorcycle was just outside his window, the gun in Phillip’s hand pointed at Petry’s head. Petry slammed the accelerator to the floor.

The crack of the gun caused him to jerk on the wheel, and his car slammed into the side of a city bus. As he pulled away, he heard a dullpop, followed by theflap-flap-flapof a shredded tire.

“No, no, no!”

He tried speeding up, but the ruined front tire pulled the car to the right.

He looked ahead for somewhere he could ditch and run. But there was nowhere, not even a—

A sign on a building ahead caught his attention.

Duchamp Gallery L.A.

He wasn’t going to make it to the parking garage, but at least he could exact some revenge.

The wheel sparked off the asphalt as he kept the BMW moving. When he came abreast of the gallery, he whipped the car toward it. The few people inside ran out of the way just before Petry crashed through the glass wall across the entrance.

The airbag punched him in the face, so he didn’t see the window display fly into a wall or the two easels that somersaulted over the car. But he did feel the impact of the BMW crashing into the back wall and coming to a sudden halt.

He sat there, stunned, as the airbag deflated. For a moment, everything was silent. Then he heard the rumble of a motor.

Petry’s eyes went wide at the sight of Phillip pulling up next to him.

He scrambled over the center console to get out on the passenger side, but the door had been damaged and wouldn’t move.

He tried to spin around to punch the glass out with his feet, but there wasn’t enough room.

Phillip hammered the driver’s-side window with the butt of his gun until it fractured. He pushed the glass out of the way and smiled.

“Hello, Mr. Petry.”

Chapter 53

Stone and Dino jumped out of the Audi, ran to the gap in the shattered entrance, then peered inside.

The BMW had smashed against the back wall, collapsing a portion of the divider into the employees-only area beyond. The driver’s door hung open, and a few feet from it stood the motorcycle. Neither Petry nor Phillip were present, but Stone could hear muffled voices coming from deeper in the building.

Teddy pulled up in his Porsche and hurried to join them.

“Dino, go around to the parking area in the back,” Stone said. “Teddy and I will try to flush them out.”

“Try not to get shot,” Dino said.

“Top of my to-do list,” Stone said.

Stone and Teddy crept carefully into the gallery.

The wall that concealed the entrance to the back room wasteetering but still intact. Stone gestured that he would go in that direction and for Teddy to approach the hole in the wall.

Keeping low, Stone moved to the wall, then checked around the edge. The short passageway was empty. He stepped quickly into it.

“Five million right now if you let me walk away,” Petry pleaded. “I can do the transfer right here.”

Phillip snorted.

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