Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Colletion_ Books 6-10 - Laurell K. Hamilton [755]
I couldn’t shoot him, but there were other options. I was aiming for the clump of trees. But say what you like about Russell, he could run, because I could hear him doing it. He wasn’t going to give me enough time to hide. I ran past the trees and knew that I couldn’t outrun him. The adrenaline was already beginning to fade, and the heat folded around me like a hand. I just wasn’t up to a long chase today. I had to end it, soon.
I slowed, just a little, one to save energy, and one to let Russell catch up sooner. I took a big breath and prepared. I knew what I wanted to do. But my body had to do it. I couldn’t hesitate because my back or my arm or anything else hurt. I risked a glance back, and Russell was almost there, almost on me. I kicked him, full out, straight in the balls. I did it without hesitating, almost without setting up for it, letting his own momentum carry him into me. The shock sent me hopping backward, and I did what I still wasn’t smooth at in class, I did a reverse roundhouse kick, to where I thought his face would be, and it was. He’d crumbled, clutching himself, and he went to his knees with the kick. He stayed on all fours shaking his head, but he didn’t go down. Dammit!
A voice yelled from up the slope. “I don’t see them.”
There was a long piece of bleached wood on the floor of the wash. I picked it up and hit him twice, hard. He finally slumped on the ground and didn’t move. I didn’t have time to check for a pulse. The wash stretched straight for about a hundred yards before brush filled the end of it. There was a place in the bank that had washed away more than the rest. It was like a shallow cave. I had a split second to decide which way to go. I took the knife sheath out of my back pocket, and threw it knife and all as far as I could towards the brush. I went for the cave, scrambling on feet and hands like a monkey, keeping low. I was in the cooler shade of the depression when I heard the men coming down the slope.
“I don’t see them,” the first man said.
“They went this way,” a woman’s voice. Could there be two female bad guys? I didn’t think so. Did that mean that there was one less gun up with Edward and the others? I let the thought go. I had my own problems.
Rocks cascaded down over the overhang like a dry waterfall. At least one of them was coming down directly on top of me. Would the ceiling of the little cave hold the weight? I was already regretting hiding. But the wash stretched open and straight for too far. I’d have never made it to the place where it emptied and there was brush. I just wasn’t that fast today. If they thought I’d gone that way and didn’t see me, then it would be a good plan. If they turned and spotted me, it was a bad plan. I heard them coming, but the man’s voice was right above me. It made me jump. He had to be standing just to the right of the roof. “Jesus, there’s Russell.” He jumped into the wash and started running towards the fallen man.
The woman was more cautious, sliding down into the wash, searching up and down the wash. She was so close, I could have reached out and touched the leg of her jeans. My heart was thundering in my throat, but I’d stopped breathing. I was holding my breath, willing her to go to the men, to walk away, and not look back.
“He’s alive,” the man said. Then he was up and moving towards the sheath I’d thrown. “She went this way.” He went for the brush.
The woman walked towards