“Yeah? How many times have you lied to me tonight?”
Nolan leaned back against the wall. “Too many to count. But I’m still here trying to save your cantankerous butt. That should mean something.”
“I have only your word for that and as we know, you lie.”
“Okay. We’ll sit here and wait and hope Reese doesn’t find us.”
“That’s your plan? Hope he doesn’t find us?”
“You always this cranky?”
“Only when I’m cold, I’m tired, I’m scared, and men keep lying to me while I’m trying to get a kid the Christmas present he deserves.”
“Okay, fine.” Nolan shifted on the platform, his whisper savage in the darkness. “We’ll take the doll if we can get out of here with it. Just promise me that if he says, ‘The doll or your life,’ you’ll give him the doll.”
“No.”
“Trudy—”
“I can’t.” Trudy swallowed hard. “Leroy believes. Do you know how long it’s been since I believed in anything? In anybody? But Leroy believes that when he comes downstairs tomorrow morning, there’ll be a MacGuffin under his tree. He knows there will be because he believes in Santa Claus; he believes the world is a good place. And he’s going to keep on believing that because I’m taking this doll home no matter what.” She shifted against the cold wall. “Besides, nobody shoots anybody over a doll.”
Nolan sighed. “I suppose it has occurred to you that you’ve lost your grip.”
“No,” Trudy said. “I’ve lost my faith. My grip is just fine.” She pulled the shopping bags closer. “Leroy gets the Mac and Courtney gets the Twinkle, and then we’ll put our lives back together.”
“Their lives,” Nolan said.
“Mine, too. My resolution for 2007 is to start believing in people again.” She leaned closer to him. “I might start with you if you help me get this doll home.”
He was quiet for a while. “Okay. I’ll try to help you.”
She pulled back. “I’ll try to believe in you, then. No guarantees, of course.”
“Okay, fine, I will help you,” Nolan said.
“Promise me,” Trudy said, gripping his coat. “Promise me that Leroy will have this Mac tomorrow morning.”
“Trudy—”
“Fine.” Trudy stood up, trying to keep her bags from rustling. “I’ll do it myself. Could you move? I need to get past you to the stairs.”
“I promise,” Nolan said.
She looked down at him in the dark. “Easy to say.”
“I promise,” he said grimly, getting to his feet. “But now you have to do what I say.”
“And why would I do that?” she said.
“Because you trust me.”
“Ha.”
“Then why are you listening to me?”
Trudy bit her lip. “I might trust you a little.”
“All the way, Tru,” Nolan said. “If I’m going to get you out of here, you have to do exactly what I say.”
Trudy felt him close, his body warm next to hers in the darkness. If she was going to start trusting people, he might be the place to start. “You never even kissed me,” she whispered. “What was that about? You never—”
He bent and kissed her, not gently, and she clutched at his jacket, wanting something to hold on to, putting her forehead against his shoulder when he broke the kiss because it had felt so right, everything about him felt so right.
The radio changed to “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.”
Our song, Trudy thought. “Okay. I trust you. What do we do next?”
“Pray,” Nolan said, sounding a little breathless. “Because we’re in a world of hurt here.”
“Well, then—”
Something moved behind him and Trudy saw one of the minions, just his face, for a second before Nolan jerked his elbow back and caught the guy across the nose. He turned and hit him again before he fell, catching him before he rolled off the platform. Trudy fumbled in her purse for her miniflash, but by the time she found it and turned it on, the guy was at Nolan’s feet, his arms tied behind his back with a belt, and Nolan was putting on the guy’s blue jacket.
“Turn that off,” Nolan whispered, and Trudy did.
“So you’re a cop,” she whispered back.
“Here’s the plan.”
“How did you know where to hit him?” Trudy said. “It’s dark as hell in here. How did you know?”
“You were looking at him,” Nolan whispered back. “I hit what you were looking at. We have to move now; this guy found us and the others will, too. So I’m going down there to distract them. You’re going out the door. If there’s nobody out there yet, run for the street.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Trudy said, holding on to his sleeve.
“Trudy, I’m safer with you out of here than I am with you in here. You’re a distraction. Now follow me until I get out into the light and they see me. Then run like hell for the door. Got it?”