Reservations for Murder - Tim Myers [59]
It was now or never. Alex reached around in one swift motion, plucked the ironwork off the table and hurled it toward Jenny just as she fired. He felt a sting bite one arm as he threw the ironwork, but he couldn’t afford to see how badly he’d been hit until he was someplace safe.
Alex made it to the door just as another bullet thunked into the wood frame beside him with a meaty slap.
She was good, too good for his tastes!
Alex ran away from the lighthouse the second he was out the door; it had been a benevolent presence for him all his life, but the sentinel was nothing but a deadly trap for him at the moment.
Suddenly, Alex knew exactly where to go: Bear Rocks. If he could get into the maze of stones first, she’d never find him. Sooner or later, Armstrong would get his message and be out there.
He only hoped the sheriff would make it in time.
“Alex, you can’t run away from me,” he heard Jenny call as he dove into the copse of trees between the inn and Bear Rocks. Alex ran in a zigzag pattern, trying to throw her aim off, but it appeared Jenny was saving her bullets. He glanced back to see how far away she was just before he dove down the first rock slide.
She was close, and Alex saw with satisfaction that the ironwork he’d thrown had struck home. Jenny was bleeding steadily above one eye. Instead of slowing her down though, it looked as if it had only served to make her even more determined to kill him.
“You can’t escape, Alex. Why make it more painful than it has to be?”
If he could get her lost in the rocks, he might even be able to get away. There was a highway on the other side of the rock formation that led back into town. With any luck, he could cover the distance that stood between before she even realized he wasn’t in the rocks anymore.
“There you are,” he heard her say close behind him. A bullet suddenly zinged off a rock two inches from his right hand! She’d climbed to Cradle Rock and was using it to look down on him.
Alex dove down, twisting and turning his adult body through passageways that had been spacious when he’d been a kid but had grown claustrophobic in the interim. He knew he was bruising and scraping his body as he hurried, but Alex forced the minor pains out of his mind, though his arm throbbed violently every time he brushed it against another rock.
Alex could deal with the pain. He had to. At the moment, he had one task, and that was to escape with his life.
His foot stumbled on loose rock, and he almost went down with a twisted ankle. Fortunately, he caught himself before he fell, though the jarring contact with the stone sent another wave of nausea through him.
The loose gravel gave him an idea. Alex had been a pretty decent pitcher in high school, though he hadn’t thrown much since. Maybe, just maybe, he could clip her shooting hand and make her drop the gun. At least she’d shot him in the right arm; he thanked the stars above that he was left-handed.
“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Jenny called, laughing.
Alex stuck his head up quickly and saw her back was to him now. He’d managed to work his way around her! Taking a stone the size of a softball, Alex hurled it at her head. It struck her shoulder instead, nearly spinning her around with its impact.
When she faced him again, there was a look of pure hatred on her face. She was almost unrecognizable.
Alex heard the shot whistle past his ear as he ducked down again.
After she realized she’d missed, Jenny said, “Now Alex, why did you have to do that? It’s going