Page 94 of His to Burn
My jaw dropped. I looked at him and saw the spark of amusement in his eyes.
“Jerk.” I let out a quick smile and allowed the moment of banter to ground me.
Briefly.
I stood next to him, my heart hammering as he reached for the doorknob, his body angled just enough to avoid the line of fire.
“You gonna disarm the alarm?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. Noise adds to the chaos. We can use that.”
I nodded, and then braced as Jack opened the door.
The alarm shrieked—as loud as anything I heard since we left the courthouse. And just like Jack predicted, it sent our attackers into a tailspin.
I spotted four figures and heard a gruff yell. “Find that and turn it the fuck off!”
Jack was already on the stairs, and as I followed, gunfire erupted.
“Watch out, Asia!”
Jack’s voice was calm but also commanding. I used it to keep the fear and adrenaline from overtaking me.
I ducked and spotted two more figures in the distance. On instinct, I took aim.
“Don’t waste your ammo,” he said. “Just move.”
“We can fight them,” I said.
We were outnumbered, but walking away from the judge’s stash—and leaving our transportation seemed like a worse option.
“No. The place is gone,” Jack said.
“Okay,” I replied, though I felt anything but.
The judge’s house got farther and farther away, and with every step, relief and absolute terror warred in my chest.
“Right there. Stop.”
I was so caught in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the three men approaching.
But Jack did.
One moment I was staring; the next I fell toward the ground.
I braced myself to soften my fall, heard three softpopsand looked up in time to see them fall, one, two, three.
“Let’s go,” Jack said, low, urgent.
I didn’t hesitate, anxious to put as much space between the judge’s house and us as I could.
About a half hour and two or three incredibly fraught miles later, Jack said, “Where are we going, Asia?”
Like I had any fucking idea.
But I couldn’t say that, so instead I racked my brain, again sifting through my memories of the judge’s neighborhood, searching for a safe place.
“Up ahead. Mile and a half. There’s a body shop. It’s set off the road. Quiet. We can stay there for a bit,” I said.
