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He flew back, slamming into the man behind him and throwing them both to the ground just inside the entrance of the room. I fired again, the man’s body jumping like he’d been shocked. The other man scampered out from under his friend and dived to the side of the doorway.
“Now that wasn’t very nice, Mrs. Caldwell,” the guy called from his hiding space.
“My bad. Come in here and I’ll apologize,” I offered.
I heard him laugh. “I kinda like you. It’s unfortunate I have to hurt you.”
“Just try. I fucking dare you.”
I saw the flash of metal sparkle in the light and threw myself to the floor behind the bed, just as the gun began to fire. I held my head low as the room filled with bullets, shattering a mirror hanging on the wall and tearing through the walls.
My body flat against the floor, I crawled to the end of the bed and peeked around. The doorway was clear. My eyes caught sight of the cell phone that Leo had given me as a burner in case of an emergency on the counter next to the microwave. I think this counted. I needed to call him and hoped that he wasn’t far away.
I checked the doorway again seeing it was clear before taking a deep breath and leaping to my feet. I dived at the counter, fumbling as I tried to grab the phone. Just as I turned, his hand appeared again, and I dove to the ground, covering my head as a hail of bullets destroyed the room around me.
A sharp pain in my leg caused me to bite down on my tongue. It was like someone had hit me with a hot poker. Using my arms, I dragged my body across the floor back to the safety of the bed. My breathing was heavy and tears were burning at my eyes, the pain strong and throbbing. I looked down, there was a tear in my jeans and blood seeping from where a bullet had grazed over my skin.
I could taste blood in my mouth.
I took another glance out to the door, the only thing I could see was his hand holding the gun as he aimed it into the room. He wasn’t aiming at anything in particular, but I knew that eventually he might get lucky.
Lying flat, I braced the butt of the gun on the floor as I closed one eye and took aim, trying to keep my hands steady despite the pain coursing through me. I squeezed the trigger slowly, bracing for the shot. The bang deafened me for a minute, but soon I was listening to the man outside scream in horror.
“Fucking bitch! I’m going to fucking kill you!”
“Think again, motherfucker.” The sound of Leo’s voice made me want to cry.
It was followed by gunshots and I screamed, “No!” Pushing myself off the floor and stumbling toward the open door.
Leo stepped into the doorway before I could reach it, but I didn’t stop, throwing myself into his arms.
“We’ve gotta go,” he said, carrying me into the room and depositing me on the bed while he gathered his bag. When he spun around, his eyes caught the blood on my jeans, and he quickly dropped down next to me to examine the wound. “It’s just a graze,” he determined, pushing back to his feet. “I’ll fix it up soon. But I don’t doubt there’s more of these guys coming, along with the cops.”
I nodded, hobbling over to the counter and stuffing my things into my backpack and zipping it up, then tossing it over my shoulder.
Leo grabbed my hand and pulled me from the room. We stepped over the two bodies in the entrance, the body of the man who had shot at me slumped against the wall outside. I still had the gun in my hand, and I saw now that Leo had another one tucked into the back of his pants.
We rushed to the end of the balcony and down the stairs, my heart thumping and my breathing heavy.
I heard sirens, and my body froze. Leo didn’t waste a second, gathering me into his arms and carrying me as he ran toward his truck.
“The police, they’ll come after us.”
“Not if we get out of here fast. I gave fake names at the desk and the truck has fake plates.” He rushed out as he dropped me to my feet, unlocking the truck before pushing me into the passenger’s seat. I was still in shock, it was a strange feeling.
When I was alone with those men outside, I felt like I was in control. But now Leo was here, I knew that I could rely on him to take over control and trust him to know what to do, so my body was shutting down.
Leo started the truck, revving the engine and pulling around the back of the motel.
“Where are you going?” I asked when I realized this wasn’t the exit.
“There’s a back entrance that the service vehicles use,” he answered as he guided the truck at speed through a small space out the back of the motel. It ran along the back wall between the motel and a large wire fence. There was a small open space and mini docking area out the back, I assumed where catering companies and laundry services loaded and unloaded. He turned sharply, directing the truck out of an open gate that came out on the road that ran adjacent to the main entrance.
Leo weaved through streets, I wasn’t sure if he knew where he was headed or if he was just attempting to put distance and confusion between us and the cops, that had no doubt made it to the motel already.
My body shook, my hand still clutching tightly to the gun in fear.
“It’s okay, baby,” Leo’s soft voice came from beside me as we pulled out onto the highway. I could see the tension had eased from him now that we seemed a safe distance away. Mine, however, had not. “We’re good now. They won’t get us.”
