*
Looking back, it was surprisingly clear, every bit of it. You would think that in the middle of bedlam you would lose track, but I remembered every moment in a way I knew I’d never forget.
There was the time when it was just me, Dad, Lottie and the gang standing in the smoky room, Shirleen had closed the door on us.
Then the door was opened and Slick was there, Slick and his friends. Slick had apparently gone to ground and gathered reinforcements; too many, too much for al of us.
He’d also decided that tactical y a knife was not the chosen weapon, he went with guns.
Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, Dad had decided to arm himself as wel .
Eddie was right. The stun gun in my purse wasn’t shit when bul ets started flying. It wasn’t like the movies, there were no clever comments to give you the chance to prepare. Slick was done fucking around and that was that.
They fired upon entry and Dad yanked his gun out of his waistband and randomly returned fire shouting, “Girls, get down!”
I threw myself at Lottie and we both went down. I rol ed away from the legs charging in the door, taking her with me.
We ended faced down and started to crawl, low on our bel ies, Lottie moving underneath me. I held most of my body over her.
There was more gunfire, a lot of it, too much. It was so loud it rang in my ears and I could smel the gun powder up my nose.
Then I heard shouts, screams, running footsteps, thuds of flesh against flesh. I saw Lee, running low, snatching up Indy on the go as if she weighed no more than a feather. He turned and they vanished.
I saw Matt, crouched low with Daisy in a fireman’s hold over his shoulder. Then, quick as a flash, they disappeared around the corner of the door.
Then a hand wrapped around my ankle and I was pul ed back, my arms let go of Lottie and I rol ed, thinking Mace had got to me but it wasn’t Mace, it was Vince.
Just my fucking luck.
He pul ed me to my feet, an arm around my waist and started running, me tucked under his arm. I noticed he jumped over a prone Shirleen, lying on her side in the hal .
Fuck!
I didn’t let the surprise at seeing him get to me and I didn’t let my worry for Shirleen break my focus.
This was about life, death and rape. I wanted no part of the second two and the first one was just getting interesting and I wasn’t about to let it go.
I twisted, struggled and screamed at the top of my lungs.
That’s when Mace arrived.
I saw him, Vince saw him and Vince stopped. He jerked me upright and pul ed me back against his body, an arm around my rib cage.
“Not another step,” Vince said and I felt the cold against my temple.
Mace froze.
Mace was carrying a gun, held up and pointed at us, left hand to his right wrist, head cocked to the sight of the gun but his eyes shifted to my temple.
My eyes slid there too.
I could see Vince’s gun held to my head.
Wonderful.
Now, at this juncture I had two choices. I could get dragged out of there and hope someone found me and took care of Vince before I got raped and possibly kil ed.
Or I could fight, maybe get kil ed but at least I wouldn’t spend the last hours of my life being scared out of my mind and violated.
No choice, real y.
I brought my head forward, then back with a vicious snap. I cracked my skul against Vince’s chin and for some reason, it didn’t hurt.
The gun fired and I felt the burning pain at my temple.
Now that hurt.
I thought surely I was dead, but my limbs were stil taking orders from a brain that was stil working and positioned in my skul and I noticed Mace move, fast as lightning.
Vince’s arm around me went slack when he went into defend mode, forgetting me when faced with an aggressor who, one second, was five feet away, the next second, on top of us.
Mace grabbed me and threw me free and since apparently I could run, I did.
I heard a struggle, a grunt of pain but I kept going and didn’t look back.
I went down running, doing a sliding skid on my knees, stopping next to Shirleen. I had time to get my hands on her and noticed she was breathing when a strong arm went around my waist. I was pul ed to my feet and redirected.
It was Mace, he was running, half dragging me along with him. I remembered his orders and didn’t try to go back even though I real y, really wanted to.
We cleared the bar, running flat out, Mace’s hand in mine, to an SUV. The locks and lights were bleeping as we ran toward it (I found, in a desperate situation I could run in stiletto heels).
He directed me straight to the driver’s side. He picked me up and shoved me through to the passenger side, got in, started the truck and took off without either of us wearing seatbelts.
He drove down Colfax, then swung into an empty parking lot and round the back of some building. He braked, kil ed the lights and turned to me.