Page 77 of Wrecked
He caught her shoulders. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“Coming back for your ungrateful ass.” She looked like a wild angel. God needed someone like her on the team, but not anytime soon.
More shots continued. Without Sam shooting back, the assassin would rush forward.
Sam spun Hailey around, grabbed her hand, and took off. She had no trouble keeping up with her long legs. He burst through the rear door into pitch-black and turned away from the parking lot. The shooter should go there first to ensure they did not escape in the car.
An explosion blew a fireball into the air.
Yep, he took out their wheels.
Moving fast, Sam and Hailey ran past the end of the warehouse. He paused to yank on the first door. Locked. Maybe this place wasn’t entirely abandoned.
He raced ahead a hundred feet, taking in the tall windows that had yellowed with rusty frames. He stopped next to a window covered in spiderwebs that had a broken corner missing a triangle piece of glass.
Yanking his T-shirt off, he wrapped his hand. “Turn your face away,” he hushed out. As soon as she did, he pulled hard on the glass to break off a larger piece.
Worked great.
Unfortunately, the rest of the glass fell in solidarity, making a loud noise.
Sam pushed Hailey against the wall to protect her body.
No shots yet.
They were being hunted. A professional who would wait for his best chance at getting them both.
Sam draped his shirt over the window ledge then cupped his hands next to his knees. “Step up.”
No hesitation this time at his whispered order. She went up and inside faster than he expected. Good woman. He followed, snatching his dark shirt off the ledge as soon as his boots hit the floor. As he led the way, he shook the glass out of his shirt and pulled on the black covering again to hide the lighter shade of his body.
Sam dragged Hailey in a weaving pattern through metal shop machinery that appeared to be an active operation. He’d kill for a monocular to find the exit out the opposite side of this building. Probably in a front corner where offices were set up or had been at one time.
A tiny whine split the silence.
That had been the rear door being opened with lock picks.
Sam would have used them if he’d had his.
Time to play cat and mouse. He pulled Hailey close to whisper in her ear. “When we find a place, stay put. I can’t see well enough to know which one of you is the threat if you move, too.” Lie, but that would keep her out of harm’s way.
She squeezed his hand, a quiet way to say she understood.
He was so proud of her for trusting him to lead them through this. No one was going to hurt her, not tonight.
He bent over to keep his upper body out of view as he moved. She did the same. He hoped to avoid throwing silhouettes someone using night vision would see from across the vast building.
He found a spot between a large piece of equipment and a stack of pallets. He said, “In there. Don’t move.”
“Wait.” She dug his gun out of the bag, loaded the magazine, and handed it to him. “Stay alive.”
Sam’s adrenaline pulsed through him. He didn’t like to leave her here without a gun, but he could go to the threat and keep any shots away from her.
He leaned in and kissed her. “You’re amazing.”
Then he slipped away on silent steps, slowly turning and twisting through the maze of equipment until he found a broom. He pulled his shirt back off and slid it over the broom then spun his cap around backward. Once he was far enough from Hailey to keep her clear of stray bullets, he pulled out a napkin he’d stuffed in his front jeans pocket and pried apart two small pieces. He jammed those into his ears.
Then he grabbed the handle of the broom with his left hand, tilting it with the shirt end at an upward angle.
