AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Corporate espionage, deal manipulations” he continued, and gave a slight shrug. “I can see them using Andrea the same way. Why else would they have kept her alive these past few days when she was not their intended target?”
“Huh…so you’re not just a pretty face, are you? And here I thought McAllen was the brains of you two.”
Comments like that usually disturbed his countenance, but not this time. Damn it. I clenched my jaw in silent consternation. For a brief moment, I had forgotten about the shooting. He was right, though. Andrea's ability to project herself into places where her physical body was not, could be very useful indeed when obtaining information.
“So where were you five years ago?” he asked, ducking under a branch that had grown over the trail, no threat to me, but low enough to hit him in the forehead.
I smiled. He was persistent. I would do as Gerard said, of course. Try to get this cop to let the Community be, but I couldn’t be sure he wasn’t still out to arrest me for anything. False identities weren’t exactly what you wanted to discuss with the police.
“Probably at a coffee house, enjoying a macchiato and—”
“Hey, I am trying to make some sense of this.”
“You ask too many questions, Detective.”
“Yeah? Well, we can’t all get information the way you do,” he snapped.
No, I tried very hard not to obtain information that way, so I was not having this scorn thrown at me. “I know all kinds of things about you without listening in,” I said, seeing the confusion in his eyes as he looked at me. “I’ve seen you naked, remember?”
“Damn it, Evans,” he exclaimed, averting his eyes, making me smile wider. Yep. There it was. Disconcerting him always worked.
As we came up the steepest part of the ridge, the sun was almost down, in its own way a stroke of luck, as it helped us pinpoint Will and his friends at once. They had lit campfires. Two to be exact. The camps were placed a little way off the trail, higher up than we were at the moment, but not in the most wooded area. I noticed the fire furthest from us was smaller than the other one. A private little camp? Will and his girlfriend, I guessed. We could hear singing and shouting from the other camp, though it was hard to see the people in the weak light. Still, it was not difficult to guess.
“They’re hammered,” Hansen commented as we sped up. I’d noticed he’d walked all the way with ease, not out of breath despite our high tempo. I knew very well how he looked–lean with defined muscles hidden under those clothes. A runner’s body, I had figured. It made sense now. The ground was flat for another hundred yards before several trails met ahead of us. Almost like a tiny mountain intersection. From there, we would have to walk up a steep area again, to reach the camps. It was the first time since we started the ascent we’d had any view far ahead, and what we saw, stopped us both short a moment.
It didn’t matter that details were difficult to discern. A figure was heading up toward the camps, moving fast, almost at a run.
“Shit,” Hansen uttered.
“I told you,” I said, staring at the dark figure. “This wasn’t a coincidence.” I barely got the words out, before Hansen ran forward.
“Wait,” I said before I managed to gather my thoughts and run after him. With his head start he was way ahead of me as he sprinted after the figure. I pulled at the strap of my purse so it rested against my back as I ran, seeing the figure was already halfway to the first camp. Whoever it was didn’t seem to be heading straight for it, though. I had no doubt the lone tent was the target. How the figure knew exactly how to find Will was beyond me, and I didn’t care as I ran hard to catch up, trying not to stumble over anything in the fading light.
Being stumbledoverwas, however, what I should have worried about.
Something crashed into my left side so hard I cried out in shock as I was slammed to the ground. I landed on my side, hearing a grunt from whoever had pummeled me as they rolled off me, hitting the rocky ground a few feet away.
I scrambled to my feet immediately, knowing that remaining on the ground could be my last mistake. As I turned, I saw my attacker did the same thing, unsteady on his feet a moment, like me, as he got his bearings.
Agent Larkin.
“Fucking hell,” I snarled in my confused realization. That made him smile as he instantly attacked again, his speed surprising me at such a short distance. I blocked his first punch, and barely averted the second one, which snagged my left shoulder. It didn’t unsettle me more than my attempted knee toward his groin did him. He quickly made a short jump back as I extended my bent leg, kicking him in the thigh, catching him off balance as the pain made him go down on one knee. I instantly went on the offense, hitting his head once, before his arm came up between us, his other hand coming up and deflecting my blows. I lifted my knee as I was pushed sideways, hitting him square in the chest, but didn’t see his already moving leg kicking out, hitting me and toppling me over.
I remember cursing my own inattentiveness as I landed on my ass, the suit over me instantly as he pushed me down, straddling me, trying to get a hold of my arms. I could hear myself snarling at him, though what I uttered I couldn’t say. I bucked hard, my hips jerking thrice, unbalancing him enough for me to push him, hitting whatever part of his face I could. I rolled over him, hitting twice toward his head while extracting a glorious cry of pain from him as I inadvertently placed my knee with all my weight between his legs while trying to get up.
How he managed to stay focused I have no idea. Most men would have curled up at that point, but he managed to pull his gun on me, effectively stopping my movements by pushing it into my stomach.
“Get the fuck off me,” he wheezed.
I clambered off him and got to my feet while I kept my eyes on him. I was out of breath and my arm and back hurt, but other than adding this up in my head, I didn’t let it take my focus. No, that was reserved for the man in front of me. He was breathing hard, eyes squinting a bit. He stood up in a sort of crouch. I knew my punches to his head had been more distracting than pain inflicting. I’d hit him good in the thigh, probably not too bad in the chest, but his crotch had to be the worst. I had to give him some credit, though. The gun was still pointed at me with a steady hand.
Then I noticed it was the damn tranquilizer gun again. He really was set on taking me with him alive. I guess that was something to be thankful for.
“You’re coming with me, Evans,” he said, his wheezing forcing him to take a deep breath. “I would prefer you walking on your own, but I will carry you if I have to.”
“Fuck you, you ass-turd,” I snapped at him. Not particularly eloquent, but it thoroughly painted a nice picture of my opinion of him.
“Drop it,” Hansen said somewhere to my left. Both Larkin and I glanced in that direction as the Detective came walking toward us, his gun raised and aimed at Larkin.
