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My whole body tenses. He’s trying to get a rise out of me of course, and I have to say that he’s doing a pretty good job. Gritting my teeth, I try to think of what I should do next. I need to keep drawing him away from wherever Penny fled to, so I start looking at the building to my immediate left. It’s a tall marble building with stone columns and I stare at it like an idiot.
Think, Hades. What would your training tell you to do?
The security guard that fell beside the passenger door rouses and I can see him beginning to move. He is obviously in pain, but he gets onto his knees, sheltering behind the door. I glance over at him and he makes a gesture to his suit jacket, pulling it aside to flash a bullet proof vest.
I give him a thumbs up and a questioning look and he nods tightly. I point toward the building, making a motion of crossing the open space. I point to him and mimic him laying down fire.
He nods tightly, his expression contorting with pain.
Good man. I will be sure to make his efforts worth it if I ever get out of here.
I hold up my hand and look at him, asking silently for five counts. He nods and turns toward Constantine’s car. I notice that there has been no noise from the other side for almost a full minute and I wonder if I should be concerned about that. But my brain doesn’t allow me to worry about it for a long period of time.
I am laser focused on what is right in front of me.
Quickly, my gaze flits over to the building that I am about to run to. As soon as the security guard fires the first shot, I start to move.
Ducking down to avoid any gun fire, I sprint to the column. Just as I reach it, there’s a spatter of gunfire that bursts through the pillar, missing me by the slightest inch.
I feel a stinging pain in my right bicep and realize that the bullets have sheared away a bit of the marble façade and now it is buried in my flesh. I don’t even give it another thought, though.
All I can think of is Penny. How far could she have run by now?
Gauging that, I slide around the back of the pillar and look out, trying to see where she has gone. The street runs down a way before emptying out into a dead end.
Fuck.
I wonder just where she might be. Hopefully she has made it off the block and is currently running as far from here as possible.
“Come out!” Constantine calls, pulling at my attention. “Tell your man to put his gun down. Slide your gun out, too, and I will be quick about shooting both of you through the head. Don’t make me wait too long though because I will lose patience.”
I hear the other security guard yell a faint curse back at Constantine.
Where did Constantine go? Where is Penny’s father, for god’s sake?
Teeth clenched, I lean my hand out and show the tip of my gun to the waiting man. It’s the oldest trick in the book, basically to find out where your enemy might be.
I expect immediate gun fire but instead I get nothing, no reaction.
What could that possibly mean?
I wait, my pulse racing. It’s far too quiet out here.
A spray of gunfire a few seconds later fells the security guard once more. Whether he is actually dead or not I cannot tell, but he’s not moving around or making noise of any kind.
Wiping perspiration from my brow, I glance out at the scene. Again, it seems deserted, as if no one were waiting for me.
I fire a volley of shots into the side of the white SUV again, this time aiming for the rear tire. It isn’t until a few seconds later that I hear a faint girlish scream that curdles my blood.
Penny.
Tensing, I get ready to run in the direction of her scream. But I can’t see her, I can’t make heads or tails of where she is.
Constantine finally makes himself known by slithering out of a building across the street, a malicious grin on his face.
“You heard that? Yes. Her father got her.”
I duck behind the column but shout back. “And does her father know what ye intend to do with the baby? Does he know that yer a fucking psychopath?”
