Page 54 of Deadly Business

The files had already finished the transfer to my online server. Even if he took the drive, it was too late to save himself.

I’d waited for my chance while inching Hazel and me closer to the Cape Cod’s backyard. Now the Grandmaster gave me a wide-open opportunity. I reached into my pocket with slow movements so I wouldn’t get accidentally shot. As I retrieved the drive from my pocket, I twisted it out of my fingers, and with a flick of my wrist tossed it at the Grandmaster, about three feet too short to hit him.

It fell in the dirt and leaves instantly covered it on the forest floor.

His head lowered, staring at the leaves, trying to find the thumb drive while not moving his feet to make it worse. When his head popped up, he glared at the two of us. “Now that was dumb.”

I turned, pushing Hazel another step behind me to get her started. “Run!”

We took off together. I wasn’t sure exactly where we’d come out of the woods, but we had to get back to the safe house as quickly as possible. We had more guns stashed in various corners inside and outside of the home, and I’d get my phone. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as good of a tracker as Drake. The darkness in the woods and our confrontation with the Grandmaster had my directions turned around, and we hadn’t edged as close as I hoped.

A gun fired behind us and pieces of bark flew off the trunk of a tree to our right. Hazel squeaked, twisting to her left to get away.

“Just keep running,” I yelled over my heaving breathing. After we survived, I definitely needed time to get back to the gym. I’d focused way too much on arms recently. “No matter what happens, just run.”

She looked sideways at me. “Not without you.”

“Yes, without me.”

There wasn’t time to argue because, beyond her head, a red light broke through the darkness. A warning light Cyrus and I installed on the property. The light to lead us home.

The light shone brightly off our back porch like a beacon, directing us where to run.

I pointed to it, hoping Hazel understood as my arm shook with my movements. “Run to the red light.”

We panted, our breaths mingling together as she ran straight for the light. We were so close. Less than a football field separated destruction from safety.

We were almost there.

My breathing turned ragged and Hazel’s steps slowed. She tripped, and I grabbed her elbow, keeping her standing. “Don’t stop.”

The only thing separating us now was a neighbor’s clothes line between our yard and the woods. We might make it.

My feet almost touched our property, but I stopped in my tracks and caught Hazel before she rushed past. In the open space of the back yard, a tall figure stepped from the shadows. He hadn’t been hiding, but in my determination to get Hazel to safety, I missed his lumbering form.

Thumbs stopped next to the neighbor’s bird bath as we slipped on the wet grass trying to catch our breath. “Fuck, not you again.”

This was my fault.

I’d failed.

We didn’t have anywhere else to go in the stupid small town. We had to reach the safe house, but of course that meant Bernard knew exactly where to send his men. Once he figured out I wiped the laptop, it didn’t take him long to determine my plan.

I should have seen it coming. There had to be a better way to get Hazel to safety, but it was too late now. The error had been made, and we’d pay the ultimate price for my mistake.

One miscalculation and now we’d both be dead.

Thumbs held his gun aimed at Hazel. There’d be no talking them out of anything. I couldn’t use my usual cocky arrogant attitude to get us out of this situation. The time came to make a choice. Who lived and who died?

The answer came easily.

Hazel lived.

In one breath, I pushed Hazel behind me, and in the next I lunged at the man. The gun fired, the sound ricocheting in the no longer quiet night. Air whizzed by my ear, the projectile lost in the darkness.

Hazel screamed.

I hit the man square in the chest, and the two of us tumbled to the ground.

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