Page 15 of Point of Contact

She nodded. "Okay."

Reed seemed satisfied with her answer, giving her a single nod before turning away.

It took everything she had not to grab him. She didn't want him to leave her. Didn't want to be on her own for a single second right now. She understood it was safer if he went to get the car on his own, but what if something happened to him? What if he got hurt or captured and she was left—

But before Reed could step away, the whole world shook. The sky lit up as the ground seemed to rock under her feet. She stumbled, latching onto Reed, trying to keep her balance as the shrubbery barricading them in shuddered in a sudden stiff and unrelenting breeze. Her ears were ringing. Her heart was racing. Bits of hot metal rained down, sticking in her hair and to her skin.

Reed's lips moved as he tried to shove her in the opposite direction, but she couldn't hear a word he was saying. He pushed harder, but for some reason her body wouldn't move. Nothing seemed to be working right.

She pressed both hands to the sides of her head, trying to block out everything that was happening. It was too much.

And then the world shifted again, flipping upside down as it once more began to shake, making her dizzy and nauseous and terrified.

She squeezed her eyes shut, covering her face as she tried to ride out the disorientating sensations. After a few seconds, the scrape of branches was gone, replaced by a sense of freefalling that was almost worse. The ringing in her ears started to quiet, but was replaced by equally horrifying sounds. People were screaming. Alarms were going off. There was chaos all around as guests poured from the hotel, spilling out into the debris covered parking lot that sat at an odd angle.

Odd, because she was currently upside down. Reed had thrown her over his shoulder, hands gripping her thighs as he raced away from the hotel and whatever the fuck just happened there.

He moved so quickly, making it across the parking lot and behind the privacy fence separating it from the swampy area just beside it. But he still didn't slow down. He kept moving, feet splashing through knee-high water as he crossed an area that was most definitely inhabited by alligators.

She wanted to warn him, but her voice didn't work when she opened her mouth. No sound came out.

So she just held on for dear life, praying that she didn't escape two attempts on her life just to be eaten by a giant lizard.

Her stomach rolled as Reed changed directions, switching up his trajectory, socked feet continuing to move through the stinky, murky water as he headed for an area of higher grass and trees. He carried her straight into it, continuing on a few more yards before finally moving up onto the bank and setting her on her feet.

She gripped his shoulders as the world spun again and spots danced in front of her eyes. "I feel sick."

Reed grabbed the back of her neck, bending her forward. "Deep breaths. In through your nose, out your mouth." He was practically holding her up at this point as she tried to reorient herself to the world around them.

A world that was dark and scary and smelled like shit.

She braced both hands against her knees, pulling in gulps of the shit-stinking air even though it was the last thing she wanted in her body. "What the fuck happened?"

Reed slowly angled her upright. "It doesn't seem like anyone wanted us taking my car anywhere."

She squeezed her eyes closed as everything started to blur, fighting nausea and dizziness as her brain picked its way through the past few minutes. The intense brightness. The sudden ringing in her ears. The way everything seemed to move and shake just like it had earlier in the day. "Was there an explosion?"

"Don't worry about it. Just keep breathing." Reed's hand rested on her back, steady and solid. "We aren’t going to get anywhere if you can't stand upright."

They couldn't get anywhere? It was almost laughable. "Where are we going to go?"

They couldn't go to her house. It was gone. They couldn’t go back to the hotel. Whoever blew up Reed's car was most likely crawling all around the place, hoping to find her.

Hoping to finish what they started.

She pulled in another slow, stinky breath before opening her eyes to find Reed watching her closely, his expression pinched in something that almost seemed like concern. But that couldn't be it. She probably just didn't recognize what that emotion actually looked like since it was never directed at her.

"Seems like they really want to kill me."

Reed's jaw worked from side to side before he finally admitted, "It does seem like that."

The urge to cry again was strong, but she fought it. She wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of making her break her no crying rule twice in one day. "I don't have anything now." Courtney wiped both hands over her face, sinking down into the despair that had been hot on her heels all day. "All the money I could get my hands on is in that hotel room."

There was no way she could go to her storage units now. If they found her at the hotel they could find her anywhere. The realization dug hopelessness deep into her chest.

She’d lost nearly everything in the explosion at her own house, but somehow it made her feel better to know she was capable of continuing on anyway. Able to do whatever it took to survive.

But maybe she wasn't. Maybe there was no escaping this. Maybe she really would end up being taken down for someone else's bad behavior. Someone who was supposed to put her above everything else. Someone who was supposed to put her life above his own.

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