Page 42 of A Seed Of Peril

“Give her to me,” I ordered Angelo, sounding a hair harsher than intended. Katrina climbed over from the back and clung to me for dear life, burying her face in my blouse. I shushed her, wrapping my arms around her as she maneuvered to wrap her legs as best she could around me and my seat. “It’s okay,” I reassured her—and myself, for that matter. “It’ll be okay.”

“What the fuck,” Anthony said, sounding as if he were, too, fighting to comprehend the situation that unfolded.

The images overtook me. The cars. The passengers. Things were clearing. I saw men. Men in suits. The bandanas. The steel barrels. They aimed at us. They fucking shot at us!

“A man,” I muttered.

“What?” Anthony asked.

“It was a man. Men. Many, many men.”

“We know they were men. What else?” Angelo impatiently dug.

I blinked away tears, focusing on rubbing Katrina’s back and the road ahead. We were coming up on stores and restaurants. People. Safety.

“He… They…” I swallowed. “They wore rags on their faces. And sunglasses.”

“Did anyone get a make and model of anything? Plates?” Angelo wondered.

“I got the plate for the black car but none of the others,” Anthony said. “Goddamnit,” he gritted out.

“It was black. All of it. It sat low to the ground.” I looked at Anthony, Angelo, and then back at Anthony, the light bulb going off in my head. “Lada! It spelled L-A-D-A under the grill. No plate.”

“That’s good,” Angelo said encouragingly.

“A Lada…” Anthony pondered to himself, saying the name once again. “What the fuck is that?”

“Sounds foreign,” Angelo guessed.

We pulled into the parking lot of a busy restaurant, driving around to the back. People stared.

My phone rang. It sounded far away.Shit, where was my phone!?

“That’s Dominic,” I assumed. “It has to be.” I couldn’t see my phone. It rang again. I needed to find my phone and answer it. He was probably so scared.

Angelo handed me his phone, his contact list pulled up. I dialed Dino’s number, ringing twice.

“Lil! Holy shit, are you guys alright?” There was rustling on his end, and then Dominic’s voice cut through, his panic heartbreakingly clear.

“Where are you?”

My voice was shaky when I replied, “At a restaurant.”

“Wild Willy’s Steaks,” Anthony answered loudly.

“Are you hurt?” Dominic asked, a tense edge to his tone.

“No. We’re not hurt.”

“We’re close, just?—”

I interrupted Dominic. “They tried to kill us.” I shook hard, my voice small. “Where are you?” I whined, wanting nothing more than to be trapped in his arms.

“Almost there,”Dominic reminded me, softening his tone. “Just hang on.”His words soothed me a little.

Both Katrina’s and my cries were pacified. She sniffed, snot running from her nose, which she wiped with her sleeve.

“I love you,” I told him.

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