Page 67 of Hidden Shadows
Suddenly, a gunshot fired outside.
A fear like Nixon had never known coursed through his body. He grabbed Rad’s gun and took off.
CHAPTER22
Finley’s heart beat hard in her chest, her feet pounding the stairs as she ran down. Every step she took away from Nixon felt wrong. Like she was deserting him. But if she stayed, she’d be a distraction. He would have one eye on her instead of two on the enemy. He needed to concentrate, and to do that, she needed to get away.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she beelined for the door, all but falling out of it. The cold shot through her system, but for once she barely noticed it.
Run to the car, lock yourself inside, and get away.
Nixon’s words repeated in her head. It was all that kept her moving. She couldn’t let them stop. Because then she’d turn around and return to him.
She sprinted toward the bridge, a sob clawing at her throat, begging to break free. Even from here, she could hear the sound of the bullets—like small explosions. And every one of them made her flinch. Made fear catapult her belly into panic.
She shook her head, whispering words that she needed to hear. That he’d be okay. That once she was in the car, she’d call the police and get him help.
At the thought of the police, her mind flicked to the two dead officers in the warehouse.
Dead. The guy had killed them.
She choked back another sob.
She’d just reached the bridge when something by the rental car caught her attention. Movement that flickered from behind the vehicle.
Her feet slammed to a halt as something tight and uncomfortable coiled inside her.
Could there be two of them working together?
She took a small step back. Then another. Everything inside her screamed at her to run. Get away.
Another flash of movement.
She didn’t think—she just turned and ran. Moved her body faster than she’d thought possible, the air soaring in and out of her lungs as her arms pumped. She had no idea where she was going. She couldn’t lead him back to Nixon, not when he already had another threat to focus on.
She’d just passed the warehouse when a bullet struck the ground near her feet. She screamed, her feet stumbling, body flying to the ground. She was only down for a second before she sprang back up and forced herself to move faster.
At the snowman-building site, she looked around in a panic. She was close to the woods. Would she make it?
She lifted a heavy shovel from one of the barrels, then cut diagonally across the area toward the fence. She was almost there when something inside screamed at her to stop. Hide. Take cover.
The fear was overwhelming. Choking her. Drowning her.
She stepped behind a tall snowman and tried to muffle her loud breathing.
That’s when she heard it. The small crack of a branch breaking underfoot, near the entrance to the site. Her pulse picked up, a small shake starting in her fingers that had nothing to do with the cold.
“I’ve waited a long time for this, Finley.”
Nausea rolled through her at the sound of the deep, unfamiliar voice. At the way it sank into her chest, spreading like wildfire.
“When you posted that you were coming to this Christmas fair, I knew it was the perfect place for us to finally meet and start our forever. You wrote about how much you loved Christmas. I’ve always loved Christmas too.”
She tightened her fingers around the shovel, hating that his voice moved closer, erasing the space between them.
“You kept deleting my comments on your posts and blocking me. I thought maybe you just didn’t understand my intentions. How much I care for you. So I left you the mistletoe. Andstillyou continued to push me away, refusing to interact with me.”
God, the guy was a psychopath.
