Page 59 of Liam
The second he was hunched over, she took off. But not toward the library. There was no part of her that wanted to risk Callum or the officer being shot a second time.
She needed to get this man away from everyone.
She flew down the alley and opened a door to the right, a side entrance to a business. She barely got the door open and dove inside before a bullet hit the wall beside her. Slamming the door closed and locking it, she turned to see she was in an office of some kind. Desks were scattered around the space and two people were still there, packing their bags, both with surprised looks on their faces as they glanced up.
A bang sounded on the door, even as she started to weave around the desks.
“Hide!” she yelled, before running into the foyer and out the front door. She was on the street for seconds when a bullet hit the ground at her feet.
Nylah screamed, almost falling through the first door she came across that had someone inside, before slamming it closed behind her.
A shoe store. She was in a shoe store, with half a dozen tall aisles in front of her.
The woman behind the counter stared, wide-eyed. “Are you—”
A bullet cracked the glass in the door. Nylah screamed and dropped, noticing the woman at the counter do the same.
She army-crawled down the first aisle. As she reached the end, the door to the shop flew open. She crawled faster.
“Come out!” the man yelled, voice deep and angry. “You’re gonna die anyway, may as well get this over and done with quickly.”
Like hell she would. She’d fight to her last breath.
She moved quietly, always away from him, staying low. When his steps went silent, her heart pounded.
At the mouth of an aisle, she paused and he appeared at the other end. She rolled around the endcap, another bullet hitting the floor beside her. His steps were loud as he ran toward her. The second he was close, she kicked out, getting him in the knee again—hard. He fell down, and her next strike was a kick to the face.
He cried out, the gun dropping as his hands went to his bloodied nose.
She lunged for the weapon, but the man lunged onto her back before she could grab it, spinning her around to face him.
Immediately, she brought up a knee, nailing the bastard between the legs.
He growled, but before she could try to get away, his fingers wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air.
Panic swamped her, her chest screaming for breaths as her vision grayed.
No! She couldn’t let him win.
Attack the soft points.
Cody’s frequent advice sounded in her mind. She reached out to press her thumbs to his eyes, but the darkness was coming too fast.
She’d barely touched his face when the darkness won, and her hands dropped.
* * *
Liam slammedhis foot on the brake in the library parking lot. He’d been at home when he’d gotten the notification, and it had taken him too damn long to get here. Paramedics were just pulling up, and Fiona was hunched over a bleeding, unconscious Callum. Liam’s chest pulled so tight that it was impossible to get air, the panic like a living, breathing thing inside him.
The paramedics rushed past him, each approaching an injured person.
He forced himself to focus. The paramedics were with Callum. There was nothing he could do for him at the moment.
As an EMT shuffled around Fiona, she rose, her tear-filled eyes finding his.
“What happened?” he asked.
Fiona shook her head. “I’m sorry! I don’t know…and I don’t know where she is! She wasn’t here when I came out.”
