The Nightworld - Jack Blaine [49]
He shakes his head. “Lots of guys have radios, Nick.” But even as he utters the words, he seems to realize they’re not true. Nobody has radios. At least nobody we know.
“How do I know she’s safe, guys?” Zeke shouts, angry. He keeps his eyes on me, but I know somehow that it’s not me he’s angry at; it’s the whole thing. It’s the cold. It’s the fear. It’s the dark.
“You’ve got our word, Zeke. She’s such a sweet little thing. It’s great we could get her out of there before something bad happened to her.”
Zeke’s face crumples. “She is a sweet little girl, isn’t she?” He swallows. “Did she ask you to read her a bedtime story?”
The guy answers right away. “She did—she wanted Snow White.”
I hear Lara gasp.
“What?” I look from Lara to Zeke, but neither one says anything.
“Meagan’s at least six feet tall.” Lara’s whispering. “She’s Zeke’s fraternal twin. He calls her his little sister because she was born eleven minutes after him. But she’s the same age—seventeen.”
They don’t have her. Zeke knows it too, from the look on his face.
For a moment I think he’s going to cry, but he tightens his jaw and takes a long, shuddering breath. He looks at Kath, shaking his head.
“You gotta run,” he says softly. “I didn’t tell them where we live, but they’ll come looking.” He flips the box at me; I’m not sure what’s happening, but I catch it. And then Zeke is gone. He’s walking around the Dumpster, gun in hand, toward them.
There’s a sudden flurry of movement behind the other Dumpster; static crackles. A floodlight switch gets thrown, and Zeke is illuminated with a harsh glare.
“Where’s the device, Zeke?”
Zeke doesn’t say anything. He just keeps walking. Kath lunges to stop him, but Lara manages to hold her back.
One more time the voice from the other side shouts, “Where is the device?”
Lara loses her grip. I try to grab Kath, but she twists away from me and runs into the floodlight, toward Zeke. At the same time, Zeke raises his gun and shouts out at the night sky.
“Same place my little sister is, you assholes!” He pulls the trigger.
Immediately the air is filled with the deafening sound of automatic-rifle fire. Kath reaches Zeke just as he falls, and she’s caught in the rainstorm of bullets. I duck back behind the Dumpster. Lara is staring, transfixed. I grab her arm and pull, running as fast as I can, half dragging her along. The sound of the rifles doesn’t stop.
Chapter 27
We do a quick check to make sure no one has disturbed the entry to the apartment while we’ve been out, and we grab my backpack and Lara’s and get ready to make a run for it. No time for anything but the smallest stash of food and water, and we’re off. Tank senses that something is wrong and he follows close, moving silently. I’m trying to think, but I feel like I’m in shock—everything seems to be going by really slowly, and it’s like I’m seeing it from inside one of those old-fashioned goldfish bowls. I keep us moving for a half hour, until we’re both so out of breath we can’t keep running.
The street we’re on looks deserted, but they all do now, so that doesn’t mean we’re safe. There are plenty of smashed-in storefront windows, and the rubble on the sidewalk keeps tripping us in the dark. I duck through the door of what looks like an abandoned diner.
It’s empty in front. I leave Lara with Tank and check the back rooms. There’s a small office and a storage room. Inside it, there’s a walk-in pantry. I go back out front and get Lara and Tank. We all collapse on the floor at the back of the pantry. Tank’s panting is the loudest sound; I can barely make out the shape of his head in the gloom.
“What do we do?” Lara sounds hopeless. I wish I had an answer for her. I keep seeing Kath’s body in my mind, jerking in the floodlight as the bullets hit it.
We can’t stay in this diner too long. It’s too open, too exposed.