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“You mean like they’ve protected us so far?”
“Until Perkins and I can get there.”
“You and Perkins, who didn’t realize you had a jabberwocky in Shauna’s pocket? He was right under your noses.”
“All right, point taken. We messed up. We underestimated. But you and Elle are material witnesses to two crimes now. Two very bloody crimes. You’re valuable. We’ll protect you.” When he didn’t come back with a rebuttal, she said, “Calder, are you listening?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you going to heed what I say?” Again, an answer wasn’t forthcoming.
Perkins nudged her arm and slid a sheet of paper in front of her. On it, next to a circled name, he’d written:Ask him.
She said, “Calder, who’s Arnold Draper?”
Chapter 25
Calder immediately disconnected.Arnold Draper.He repeated the name several times inside his head, but it rang no bell.
He didn’t know what was up with that, but sorting it out would take contemplation he didn’t have time for. He had to get Elle and himself as far away from here as possible before the cavalry arrived and they were placed under “protection” again.
While he’d been talking to Compton, Elle had been huddled against him, shivering from the chill as well as from the most recent trauma she’d experienced. Her teeth were chattering, but she hadn’t spoken a word.
However, when he hauled back his right arm and threw Weeks’s phone as far as he could into the woods, she came to life. “Why’d you do that? We’ll need that phone.”
“I have ours.”
“You do?”
“I’ll explain later.”
He took their phones out of the side pocket of his jacket, shook off the broken glass that each had been covered in when he’d retrieved them, suspended the reception of cellular data and powered down each, then replaced them in his pocket.
“Here. Take this.” When he tried to pass her the large revolver he’d taken off Sims, she recoiled. “Come on, Elle. Take it and keep it handy.”
“Why? You told Compton the shooter was gone.”
“I could be wrong. It’s loaded. Safety’s set. If you have to fire it, don’t forget to unlock the safety. See?” He demonstrated and tried again to hand it over.
She shook her head. “You keep it.”
“I have Weeks’s.”
“You didn’t tell Compton that.”
“No. I didn’t tell her I took bullets from his gun belt, either.” He’d already reloaded the pistol he’d fired. “Take the damn gun.”
When she didn’t, he cursed and crammed it into the side pocket of her jacket.
The argument had cost a valuable minute. All the while he’d been listening for sirens announcing the arrival of first responders to his 911 call. “Okay, let’s go.”
“Go? You agreed to stay here.”
“No, I didn’t. We’re hooking it, just like we were about to do when the shooting started.”
“But that was before this was a crime scene. Leaving the scene of a crime is a crime.”
“What’s a crime is promising key witnesses protection and then falling way short.” In the distance, he heard the wail of sirens. “We gotta go.” He grabbed her hand, but still she resisted. He swore again. “Elle, I’m getting you away from here.”
