“Get out! Go! Go!” Paris yelled, almost jumping over the center armrest as she shoved me ahead of her. Our remaining windows exploded just as I got the car door open. I rolled onto the ground, afraid to stand up as bullets sprayed the car, popping some of the tires.
Paris closed her eyes, talking to herself at a volume I couldn’t hear as she gripped her gun firmly in both hands. Was that a prayer? When the tiniest of breaks took place, she popped up and fired a shot toward the closest Suburban. The single bullet went through the windshield about where the driver should be. The van rolled to a stop just as she began dragging me along.
I could hear bullets whizzing by our heads as we came upon the locked door. Again, my sister fired a single shot, this time directly into the door’s key cylinder. With a huge tug, the door came open and we darted inside.
On the first floor, Paris had me wait while she ran down the first-floor hall, knocking things off the wall. Then she ran back toward me, yanking me up the stairs two at a time. Even I was smart enough to realize she was trying to slow Alejandro’s men and throw them off our trail.
Ignoring the sounds that might be either behind us or below us, we darted down one entire hall and around a corner before finding an open break room on the right. Paris told me to remain still. After getting our breathing under control, she looked at the remaining weapons she had, checking the clips of two guns and some knife she had stowed God knows where.
“I’m running real low on ammo, Rio. I’m going to have to get the jump on one of them and draw them away,” she said in between gulps of air. “When I leave out, move that table in front of the door. Take this gun and hide, but don’t let anyone come in. Stay low, and I’ll try to be back as soon as I can.”
“But I gotta tell you,” I blurted out as I grabbed her arm to prevent her from running off. “That guy back at the hotel, he’s with the Italians back home. We’re all being manipulated. This whole thing has been a setup.”
“Damn, that’s good shit to know, but I can’t deal with that right now. Use the phone. Call Daddy and tell him what’s up. Love you, bro,” she said, kissing me as she removed her expensive Manolos, then disappeared into the darkness outside.
“Ditto, sis,” I whispered, scared as hell for both of us. But she’d already gone. I just hoped she was as good as LC thought she was.
I tried to quietly slide a break table against the door, then hurriedly stacked several water cooler jugs atop it. In the far corner there was a snack machine and a Coke machine. I ran over there, wedging myself in the space between the two as if willing myself to disappear. At least from this location, I could shoot at them first.
For several moments, the silence was deafening. It was like every swallow I took was the loudest noise ever and my heartbeat was a thundering drum. After what felt like an eternity, I heard footsteps. I closed my eyes so tight, it hurt. I had no idea what kind of nine millimeter she’d handed me, but my fingers were going numb from gripping it so hard. Before long, a barrage of shots rang out from somewhere in the building.
There was a loud bump against the wall outside, and then a bloodcurdling scream erupted that almost made me piss in my pants. I could hear more yelling coming from different places, then someone calling out in Spanish for someone else.
This wasn’t going to get any better anytime soon. Using the phone she’d given me, I called Orlando back in New York.
“Paris?”
“No, it’s me,” I said in a near whisper as I locked in on the barricaded door for any sign of movement.
“She found you. Thank God,” Orlando said.
“Look. Listen to me. You have to stop them, Orlando. They’re trying to kill us, but I know what happened.”
“What are you talking about, Rio?”
“Gawd, I don’t want to die,” I moaned, succumbing to the stress.