“How did you find us?” she asked.
Allen glanced at her briefly. “I put a tracker on you. In your running shoe. It was rather simple. You need to be more careful about locking your deadbolt.”
Aubrey’s first instinct was to take her shoes and throw them off the deck. She didn’t, though. She only had the one pair. If they were going to get out of this alive, she might need them.
“How did you know he’d show up?”
“I didn’t. But when I saw you in the hospital, I thought he just might. You are still a beautiful girl.” He licked his lips, and she forced back a shudder.
Allen smiled, vulpine. “Enough of that. So, Hamilton, are you going to get me my money, or do I need to shoot you?”
“Hell no. I’m going to kill you, and then Aubrey and I are leaving.”
He fired at Allen. Allen ducked and disappeared around the corner. Josh grabbed her arm and towed her toward the kitchen, firing over his shoulder as he went. “The deck,” he whispered. “We can go off the deck, by the pool.”
They ran for the deck, bent at the waist, hiding behind the kitchen island. The doors were open; they’d stormed into the kitchen after their fight and hadn’t slid them shut.
Silence.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Josh answered. “You go first, I’ll cover you. I won’t let him hurt you, Aubrey.”
Aubrey pulled up short. She smelled smoke. “What is that?”
“Shit,” Josh declared. “He’s going to try and burn us out. Come on, come on, come on, come on.”
He pulled her out onto the deck, to the edge of the pool. There was a narrow circular staircase that led down to the beach. She started down the steps.
Shots rang out, splintering the water jug above her head. She froze on the stairs, clinging to the center pole. She couldn’t see Allen, or anyone else; there were no clear lines of sight. Which meant he couldn’t see her, either. It had been a lucky shot.
The smell of smoke was stronger now. Josh came down the stairs, gun swiveling left and right. The back of the house was on fire; she could feel the warmth of the flames.
“It’s clear. Come on. Jump.”
Instead of following the stairs down any farther, they dropped onto the sand. Josh went first; he turned to catch her fall.
As her feet touched the ground, a bullet caught Aubrey in the leg. She went down with a strangled cry, landed face-first in the sand, her heart doing triple time. The shot had come from nowhere. Josh scrambled across the ground, closer to her.
“Is it bad?”
Aubrey gave him a look of incredulity. The pain made her sick to her stomach. “He shot me.”
Josh pulled off his shirt and held it to her leg. He had a knife in his pocket, which he used to rip open her jeans. Aubrey grunted in pain but bit her lip.
Josh was tending her leg frantically, repeating the words I’m sorry over and over and over.
The flames were getting closer now, embers sparking down their stairwell escape.
“We need to get out of here,” Josh said. “The shot’s not deep, it’s just a graze. Can you put weight on it?” He grabbed Aubrey and helped her up. She set her foot in the sand. It hurt, but it wasn’t unbearable. This was bad. She was going to slow them down.
They started to move, but Allen was suddenly on the stairs behind them, his weapon trained on them. He followed the steps to the beach.
“You little shit. How dare you try and run?”
Josh put himself between Allen and Aubrey. “It’s over, Allen. I don’t have your money. You’ve shot my wife. Leave now, and I won’t kill you with my bare hands.”
“You fucker, you shot me and left me for dead in that parking lot. You brought this on yourself, and on her. If you aren’t going to repay me, then I might as well—”
The gun. Aubrey fingered the trigger of the gun in her waistband and took a deep breath. Despite her past, being around Tyler and his cronies, she’d never fired one before. She figured as long as she aimed for the middle of Allen’s chest, that would work. It was their only chance. He and Josh were raising their arms, facing off, screaming at each other.
She whipped the gun out and pulled the trigger.
The recoil was shocking. She lost her balance and fell over backward, watched Allen turn her way, rage contorting his face. She’d missed.
Josh started to shoot. Aubrey’s ears rang, and she ducked her head into her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.
Please, let it be over.
It wasn’t. Allen grabbed Aubrey by the hair, wrenched her from the ground, and pulled her to her feet, putting her between him and Josh, the gun to her head. Josh stopped shooting immediately, raised his hands in surrender. His face twisted with fear, and finally, finally, she saw the man she used to know.
“Don’t. Don’t hurt her!”
Allen’s vicious voice sounded in her ear. “Time to end this, Hamilton. Say good-bye to your pretty little wife.”