“Keep walking.” Maia told me. “He’s been watching us since we were trying stuff on.”
My heart fluttered inside my chest. I was getting really pissed off with people taking shots at me. I wanted to be able to go to the damn mall and not have it turn into a fucking international incident. Still, I reigned in my anger and followed Maia’s instructions. We were almost at the exit when people started shouting. Men were shoving by them. One lady was tossed into a nearby fountain and she screamed loud enough to wake the dead.
Maia grabbed my hand and tugged me through the shocked onlookers until we realized our exit was blocked.
“BPD!” Maia yelled. “Out of the way!”
People scrambled to clear a path for us, but the door was still blocked with men I knew belonged to Otis’ gang. Instead of stopping, Maia pulled her gun, aimed and fired. I didn’t think I would ever get used to the sound of a discharged weapon. This time, I didn’t scream. I tugged my hand from hers and kept running. One man came at Maia and I lashed out with a foot catching him in the cock. His eyes rolled back, and he slumped to the ground. I brought my knee up to his chin as hard as I could and there was a snapping sound as he hit the floor face first.
I had no time to celebrate my take down. Someone grabbed me from behind and I dropped my weight on his arms. Luckily, it worked, and I hit the ground hard. When the man reached for me again, I lifted one hand and poked him in the eyes, rolled away and pushed to my feet. This time, I ran toward Maia as I heard her gun went off again. I looked back to see my pursuer falling to the ground with a gaping hole in his chest.
As I reached Maia, she was on her phone. “Back up!” She said.
I needed no prodding to get through the doors and skidded to a stop outside the entrance as police scars screeched to a halt. Since nine eleven, cops weren’t usually far away from major places with large crowds.
Maia exited with her badge hoisted in the air. Immediately, the men fell in line and she began barking instructions. The cops darted into the building and Maia ushered me to her jeep. I climbed in, dropped my bags on the floor and exhaled loudly.
“I’m getting so fucking sick of this shit!” I growled. “All because he couldn’t he loyal to the woman he chose—the woman who loved him. He had to stick his cock in every damn dark hole he could find!”
“Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” I snapped. “I’m not lady Rambo! I’m not used to guns and bullet to the brain!”
“But you handled yourself like a pro in there.” Maia told me. “Tarek would be proud.”
Hearing that took the bite off my anger. Having Tarek be proud of me rather than anger at me was a good feeling. I exhaled loudly again.
“I don’t want to die, Maia.” I told her soberly. “I don’t want to die.”
“No one is dying…” She opened her mouth to say something else, but her phone rang. “Cobra, calm down. I got her. She’s good… yeah. I’m extracting her now. Okay, sure.”
Maia handed me the phone and I pressed it to my ear. “Tarek?”
“Are you okay?”
“Fine. Maia was a ninja.”
Maia laughed.
“We’re on our way.” I told him.
“We need to end this.” Tarek told me. “I’ll run you a bath.”
“Sounds like heaven.” I wanted to ask if he would join me—maybe make love to me in the bath, but I held those questions to myself. I didn’t know if he wanted Maia to know what we’d done. I didn’t know if he wanted anyone at all to know. For some reason, that worry made me ashamed. “Thank you.”
“Ellie?”
“Hmmm?” I bit into my lower lip to keep the tears at bay now burning my eyes.
“What’s wrong?”
I sighed. “Nothing. We’ll see you soon.”
I hung up and set the phone in the holder attached to Maia’s dashboard. Once I did, I glanced back to see if we were being followed but we were the only ones on that stretch of road. After a few minutes, my body began shaking.
“Adrenaline crash is a bitch.” I muttered.
“Tell me about it.” Maia agreed. “Relax. Take deep breaths. The shaking will stop soon.”
