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I liked the way she was thinking.
At the top of the stairs, I didn’t see a park. I didn’t see much of anything except a few houses. There was almost no traffic at this time of night.
I hurried Natalie along, desperately looking for the park or anyplace else we could hide. I was ready to hunker down for the night and see if we couldn’t find some help in the light of day.
Then Natalie pointed. “Over there. Pae Park. And look, Pae Järv.” She was excited now.
I said, “What does järv mean?”
“It means lake. There’s a big lake in the park. See that bridge? If we cross it, there should be plenty of places to hide.”
I studied the bridge for a moment. It was about twenty-five feet off the water and built for pedestrian traffic.
We’d come this far. It was as good a plan as any.
It took longer than I’d thought to reach the bridge. Natalie didn’t look tired, but she was scared. I was, too.
We rested for a moment, looking across the bridge. Was there another way out of the park or across the lake? I didn’t want to get stranded with our only way out blocked by a killer.
Then I heard a gunshot, and a bullet pinged off the rail of the bridge. A second later, I heard the report from the pistol. This time I didn’t need to prod Natalie to move. She sprinted across the bridge with me following her. Another shot rang out behind us.
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About halfway across the bridge, near a red support beam, we paused. I’ll admit I needed to catch my breath. But I also wanted to see if both of the killers were chasing us. We might have a chance to overpower one of them.
I looked back down the length of the bridge, and standing a few feet in was the Dutchman I had escaped from. Christoph. Even in the faint light from the neighboring streets, I could see him clearly enough. He stood there like some kind of specter with a pistol in his right hand, dangling by his side, and what I thought might be that Gerber knife in his left. He no longer looked like an underwear model, all neat and groomed. Now he looked like a crazy person. His shirt was covered in dried blood, hair whipped out in every direction, and I thought I could see bruises covering his face. He just stood there, staring at us. If he was trying to look creepy, it worked.
In an attempt to stall, I yelled to him, “Impressive. You found us.”
The tall Dutchman called out, “A child could see where the church’s basement should be. Many old buildings here in Tallinn have elaborate back exits.”
“If I surrender, will you let the girl go free?” I didn’t like the smile that crept over the tall Dutchman’s face.
He raised his right arm and aimed the pistol. There was nowhere to hide on the bridge. If we started running, he’d have a clear shot at our backs.
I looked over the railing into the water. This part of the lake was more of a canal with a slight current. It was a longer drop than I’d prefer. But I would’ve preferred no one was shooting at us.
A bullet struck the giant support beam a few feet from us. I felt the shot through the handrail. I heard Natalie gasp.
I turned her to face me and said, “Can you swim?”
“What?”
I raised my voice like it was going to help. “Can you swim?”
“Yes. I mean—”
I didn’t have time to hear any explanations. I took Natalie by the arms and said quickly, “Don’t look back this way, no matter what happens.”
Then I threw her off the side of the bridge.
CHAPTER 86
ON THE BRIDGE, I had my doubts. If we got out of this, I knew I’d have a lot of explaining to do to Natalie. I hadn’t had time to go into the fact that I was afraid we were too isolated for anyone to hear the shots. Christoph had lost all reason and was just intent on killing us. And I hadn’t had any other choice but to throw her into the lake.
I looked over the side of the bridge and felt a little twinge of vertigo. But I had to focus. I had to think. That might be the only advantage I had over Christoph. His brains had to be scrambled.
The problem was that the only thing I could think about was my family. Maybe it was because I was reconciling the fact that I was about to be confronted by an angry man with both a gun and a knife. And I was absolutely defenseless. That gave me an instant flash of all of my children’s faces. I could see Mary Catherine. Maeve. And even my crusty old grandfather.
