Page 67 of Kilo's Edge

“They’re fine.”

“How did you know where I was?”

“Been watching you since this morning,” he said with a sneer. “Imagine my luck when I found out the girl Kruzman was searching for had landed in my city.”

“So you didn’t tell him about me before this?”

He scoffed. “No. That was my partner. Got himself killed on duty a few months ago.”

The silence was thick and I swallowed hard. My gut was telling me that his partner made the mistake of telling this man about Kruzman. About me. And that his partner’s death washisfault, not an accident. Fear skittered down my spine. “Are you going to kill me?”

“Kruzman doesn’t want you dead.” He glared over at me. “But if you try anything, I’ll pop you between the eyes and he’ll just have to make do with a body. Got it?”

“Got it,” I whispered. I wanted so badly to draw my weapon and shoot him. But that was hard to do sitting down, and if he died, he’d wreck. Considering how fast he was driving, I wasn’t sure how I’d fare in that situation. It was better to wait until he stopped the car. And there was the fact that I’d never so much as slapped a man. Could I shoot him?

“Give me your phone.”

Digging into my pocket, I handed it over to him. I gasped when he rolled down the window and tossed it out. “Hey!”

“You won’t be needing that,” he growled.

Asshole.

I sat back, trying to pay attention to where he was taking me. I wasn’t familiar with this part of the city, but I did my best to memorize street names. That would come in handy later when I escaped. There was no way I was letting him take me to Kruzman. I’d do whatever I had to in order to get away.

He pulled up to a house and I wasted no time. As soon as the car slowed enough, I wrenched open my door and ran. I didn’t look back. I was too scared to, but it didn’t seem like I got very far before I heard footsteps pounding behind me. Screaming bloody murder, I looked around, desperate to find somewhere to go. Someone to help me. No one was around. I ran past a houseand down into a wash behind it. This suburb was on the outer edge of the city and the desert lay beyond. There were a few mesquite trees, but I wasn’t going to be able to hide from him.

Reaching behind me, I flicked the button on my holster and drew out my gun. I spun, holding it out, ready to fire. My breaths were coming so fast I was worried I might pass out. The fear that I may not be able to pull the trigger was buried beneath a mountain of panic. He’d pushed me to my limits and I was willing to do anything to protect myself. The fact that Kilo had spent so much time showing me how to shoot gave me confidence. I managed to get one shot off before he slammed into me, taking us both to the ground.

“You stupid bitch!” he roared in my ear.

Everything was muffled anyway from the sound of the gun firing. I didn’t know if I’d hit him, but he was on top of me and I could barely breathe, let alone move. Pain exploded in my face. Now my ears were ringing and my vision was blurry. He’d punched me. I’d never been hit before, but somehow it hurt almost the exact amount I’d always imagined it would—a lot. I was grateful he hadn’t managed to hit me with a full swing since we were on the ground. If he had, I wasn’t sure I'd be able to hold onto consciousness. As it was, my head was spinning.

I kicked my legs, trying to buck him off me, but he weighed too much. My arms were pinned beneath him, but I had to keep fighting. Giving up meant death. If not from him, then from Kruzman, so I struggled with every ounce of strength I had. It was disheartening that he didn’t seem to notice or care. He was poking at his left shoulder. It gave me a sense of grim satisfaction to see that I’d shot him.

Too bad it was down a bit. I wouldn’t even feel bad for shooting him through his black heart. Not anymore. He’d drained any compassion or empathy I might have had for him the moment he’d hurt Roger.

I managed to wiggle enough that I got my right hand loose. My gun was nowhere to be seen. I’d lost my grip on it when he’d tackled me. He was distracted with his wound, and he’d counted me out. I was going to show him why that was a big mistake. I might not be as strong as him, but I was scrappy, and I was desperate. Reaching up, I gouged my thumb into the bullet wound on his shoulder.

His scream of pain and rage was like music to my ears. I had no idea how bloodthirsty I would become in the face of death, but I wasn’t about to stop. I jabbed my thumb into the hole as hard as I could, trying not to think about the feel of it. The textures, the blood... I held back a gag.

As soon as he jerked away from me, I was on my feet. I staggered as I started running, shaking my head to try to clear my vision. Everything hurt, but I forced my body to move. I’d run track in high school, so my body quickly flowed into the motion it knew so well. Though the sand bled away some of my speed, I wasn’t stopping. Nothing would keep me from getting away from this man. At least that was what I hoped.

I scrambled up the side of the wash. The houses came into view. I was so close. If I could get back to his car, maybe I could get away from him. Hide out until this was all over.

Hands grabbed me and the sky arced through my vision as we tumbled backward into the wash again. “No!” I gasped, trying to twist so that I could land away from him. I had just enough time to see the ground rushing toward me before I hit and the world went dark.

CHAPTER 28

Kilo

Ileaned my head back against the door and watched as my brothers joked and scrolled through their phones. Relay was asleep. That fucker could fall asleep anytime, anywhere. Code was looking around, grinning. He was excited for this to all go down. Too bad he didn’t know what was going to happen or he wouldn’t be so happy about his part to play in tonight’s deception. I chuckled to myself.

“What?” Overdrive asked. He was sitting along the wall, under the window. Time was passing too damn slowly. We both wanted this to happen, now.

“Just picturing Code’s face when you give him what you brought.”

Overdrive chuckled this time. “Maybe I should go get that for him.” He shoved to his feet, shooting Code a wicked grin as he walked past and into the dining room.

---