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Chapter 10

IT FELT AS THOUGH DORCAShad just fallen asleep when she woke to the feel of Nate shaking her shoulder and his whispered voice in her ear.

“Dorcas, wake up. We gotta go.”

In the darkened room, she cracked her eyes open to see a blurry form that had to be Nate. “Huh? What time is it? What are you doing—”

He shushed her. “Listen, there are three men outside. At least two of them are armed. Lucky for us, they’re breaking into the room next door, but we need to leave before they realize we’re actually in here.”

The news hit her like a bucket of ice water and snapped her wide awake. Panic shot through her veins as she flew out of bed and slid her feet into shoes still damp from the rain. Thank God she’d slept fully clothed. “Okay, let me just put in my—”

“No time.” He held out her purse. “Let’s go.”

“I can’t see without my contacts,” she hissed as she slipped the bag over her shoulder.

He didn’t say anything for a moment or two. Without her contacts, he was just a hazy figure in the darkness, and she wished she could see him more clearly. At last, he made a low sound and shoved the glass holding her contacts into her hand. “You can put them in later. Now come on, we’ve got to move.”

Gripping her hand, he led her across the carpeted room and stopped at the door. He motioned for her to be quiet by placing a finger to his lips. He peeked through a gap in the curtains, and then slowly slid back the bolt and twisted the knob.

Outside in the hall, there was a loud thud, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

“Okay, they’re in. We’re going. Don’t let go of my hand until we reach the truck.”

The door clicked open, and she followed him down the long hall toward the stairs.

Maybe it was nerves, but everything sounded louder. Every step, every breath. The echo of their footsteps in the stairwell. Her pulse pounded in her ears. Behind her, somebody slammed a door, and she barely bit back a shriek. It might not have been so frightening if she could see more than five feet in front of her face.

Though she couldn’t see worth a damn, she peeked over her shoulder every few steps, half expecting to find big, scary guys with guns in hot pursuit. They cleared the stairwell and sprinted across the lot, and she barely noticed the rain pelting her body. Then the blurry outline of Nate’s truck came into view, and she nearly wept with relief.

Nate hit a button on his key ring, and the headlights flashed, indicating the doors were unlocked. As he opened the passenger side door, she heard the unmistakable crack of gunfire. The glass in her hand shattered, and she nearly crapped her pants.

“Get in and keep your head down!” Nate practically shoved her in the truck and slammed the door behind her. He raced around the front end, jumped behind the wheel, and with a turn of the key, the engine roared to life.

Another shot rang out, shattering the passenger side mirror, and Dorcas screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Be quiet, babe. I can’t think clearly when you’re doing that.” His voice sounded unnaturally calm as he put the truck into reverse and peeled out of the spot. He cut the wheel hard, and the truck whipped around to face the main road.

She heard more shots, but she couldn’t tell whether the bullets hit anything, which she supposed was a good thing because at least that meant they hadn’t hit her or Nate. She ducked below the window and curled into a ball, determined to make her body the smallest target possible.

Nate punched the gas, and she almost got whiplash from the truck taking off so fast. Tires screeched and the sound of gunshots pinged against metal as they barreled toward the exit.

Nate’s eyes never left the road. “Are you okay? Are you injured?”

“No, I—I’m fine.” That was a big fat lie. She couldn’t stop shaking, and her heart felt like it might burst right out of her chest. Her left hand, the one that had been holding the glass, was bleeding, but she couldn’t tell how bad it was. “I lost my contacts.”

“We’ll get you new ones.”

He made it sound so easy, but it wasn’t as if she could roll into any Walmart and pick a new pair off the shelf. She was willing to wager he knew that as well, and was just saying that to make her feel better.

The light rain turned into a heavy downpour, and the rhythmic sound of the windshield wipers soothed her frazzled nerves a fraction. After a few minutes of not hearing gunshots, she straightened in her seat and fastened her seat belt. All the while, Nate sped down a series of quiet side streets, most likely to make sure they weren’t being followed by the big, scary men with guns. Eventually, he merged onto the highway and got behind a tractor-trailer.

He spared her a glance. “You’re bleeding.”

“It’s nothing.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“I know. But it’s not like we can do anything about it.”