Page 18 of The Last Sanctuary

His brows raised. “Ah, so you have a generator to charge it, then.”

“It’s on empty,” she said quickly. “This is my last trip. Besides, it’s falling apart. It’s a miracle it got me here.”

“I get the sense you’re not being truthful with me.”

“I am.”

“I’ll ask you again, one more time, because I’m polite and mannered. I suggest you mind your manners, too, little girl.”

She said nothing.

“Where do you come from?”

“I told you, Cherry Street here in town,” she said quickly. “Near the library. My parents are—are dead.” She hoped he believed the genuine catch in her voice. “It’s just me.”

“You were inside the pharmacy.”

She didn’t break eye contact, kept her voice even. “No, I wasn’t.”

“Your car was here when we arrived. I admired your bumper stickers.”

Her heart thundered in her ears. “I parked here to walk to the general store. To save on mileage because I’m almost out of battery.”

His smile deepened. “I could almost believe you, Chica, except for the pharmacy bag sticking out of your pocket right there.”

Her face reddened against her will. “I was in there earlier, hours ago.”

“Right.” He tap, tap, tapped the pistol against his leg. His finger drifted toward the trigger. “The thing is, I’m going to need that bag and its contents from you. And hell, you can throw in the car, too. I know a guy who can fix it up as good as new.”

“You can’t steal my car.” Without it, she’d be stranded. It would take her an entire day of walking to get back home.

“I prefer the term acquisitioning. I mean, seeing as you live just around the corner, I’m sure you won’t mind walking home. Everyone’s taking up walking these days. Those that still breathe our rarified air, that is.” He winked. “Thanks for your generosity.”

Raven folded her fingers around the grip. She jerked the tranq gun from her pocket. Holding it steady with both hands, she planted her feet and aimed it at Dekker’s chest.

Startled, it took him a moment to react. He started to raise his pistol.

“Don’t!” she snarled.

He went still, the hand gripping the pistol hovering a few inches above his thigh. “That’s not even a real gun.”

“It’s not a water gun, either.” She kept her gaze lasered on that pistol. If he moved an inch, she would shoot him. Her hands shook. She fought to keep them steady. “This dose is loaded for a five-hundred-pound tiger. The tranquilizer dosage must be carefully calculated by a trained professional based on the target’s weight, metabolism, anatomy, and medical history. The margin of error is extremely thin. Too much, and you easily kill the target. In this case, the dosage will cause imminent cardiac arrest followed by death.”

“That so?” He acted nonchalant, but his eyes never wavered from the tranquilizer gun, just as hers were focused on hisweapon. Insects whirred in the overgrown weeds sprouting from the cracks in the sidewalk. “I think you’re still lying to me.”

Raven raised the barrel a fraction. “I wouldn’t test me. Sure, you can do what you want to me, but I won’t miss. It’s mutually assured destruction. Do you want to die today?”

There was a beat of quiet that stretched taut as a rubber band. Raven didn’t dare to breathe. A bead of sweat trickled down her spine. She gestured with the tranq gun. “Toss your pistol into that sewer grate right there. Then raise your hands and walk backward to the corner beneath the stop sign. Don’t move until I’m gone.”

His lip curled in a sneer. “You think you’ve won. You haven’t.”

“Just do it!”

“This isn’t over.”

“I said move. I won’t ask you again.”

After a moment of hesitation, he obeyed. He must’ve seen something in her eyes. She would squeeze the trigger, and he knew it.