Page 13 of Final Exit

“FBI my ass,” Atwell muttered.

She shot him a surprised glance. Did he have the same suspicions about the Ghost’s team that she had?

The man in the flak jacket ducked through the open front door, oblivious that they were hiding twenty feet away. How long before he met up with the others and told them the door was open?

Bailey peered around the brick wall, checking the side yard. She ducked back and held up one finger, letting Atwell know there was another gunman coming up fast.

He shoved her behind him, taking her place at the corner. Normally she wouldn’t have stood for something like that, but he was armed and she wasn’t, not to mention her hands were still cuffed together. And, well, she just didn’t feel like challenging a brooding giant of a man tonight, especially if he was willing to risk his neck for her.

After he rushed into the side yard, she counted silently to six before he reappeared, giving her a curt nod. He’d taken care of the gunman.

“Go,” he mouthed silently, pointing toward the van.

She immediately took off running. Soon, his footsteps pounded on the ground behind her. When they were almost to the van, he passed her and yanked open the sliding side door.

“Get in.”

After she hopped inside, he shoved a gun between her clasped hands and threw open the driver’s side sliding door. She knew the drill. He’d drive. She’d cover them both. She knelt down on the rough, carpeted floor of the van, facing the house with the pistol in her clasped fists, her finger on the trigger ready to shoot anyone who threatened them.

A large shadow emerged from the backyard. She steadied the gun dead center on the man’s chest, then hesitated. She knew that silhouette, recognized the off-kilter stance as he favored his left leg.

The Ghost.

Somehow he’d managed to hobble after her and was pointing a gun toward the van. He appeared to be struggling to remain upright, no doubt because she’d hurt him. And yet he’d still risked his life to save her from a sniper’s bullet. She couldn’t seem to get past that.

Doesn’t matter. He’s the enemy. And he has a gun.

She tightened her finger on the trigger as the van’s engine roared to life. The Ghost suddenly brought his free arm up, knocking a gun out of another man’s hand that Bailey hadn’t even noticed in the dark. He’d just saved her, and possibly Atwell as well.

The van took off, tires squealing. Bailey balanced her weight on her knees to keep from falling and steadied her gun. But the Ghost lowered his pistol to his side, aiming at the ground.

He was letting them go.

You’ve been searching for him for weeks. Shoot him. End this.

But she couldn’t. She lowered her gun, staring at him in an odd truce of sorts as he faded from view.

“Bailey, you okay back there?”

It sounded more like a demand than a question as he pitched his baseball cap onto the passenger seat behind him. He slowed for a curve in the road and then punched the gas again.

“I’m good,” she called back, even though she wasn’t.

She was confused as hell. Two men she didn’t trust had just saved her life. Go figure.

She pitched the pistol onto the bench seat so she could grasp the door handle. After sliding the door closed, she grabbed the pistol again, then used the back of one hand to swipe at the dribbles of water running down her cheeks. It figured that the one time it rained in the past two months would be tonight. Just her luck.

“If any of them catch up to us, I’ll have to do some fancy driving. And this van doesn’t exactly do fancy. You need to keep an eye out for a tail and cover us.” He glanced over his shoulder and motioned toward her cuffed hands. “Is that a problem?”

She shook her head. “Not until the magazine runs out and I need to reload.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that. I left them a surprise, or eight, back at the house to give us a better head start.” He slowed to take a turn, then accelerated again.

Bailey turned around and leaned over the bench seat, aiming her pistol at the back window. A few minutes later, a set of headlights pulled around a curve and began racing toward them.

Chapter Six

Saturday, 3:01 a.m.