Oh, no. She’s caught his interest.
Mateo eyes the room, taking in every detail. “Do you have a back way out?” he asks.
“No. Just that door here.”
Millimeter by millimeter, I slide lower behind the shirts. Teeny is shaking beside me and I grab her hands, hoping to keep her still. I can’t see Ethan but I’m worried he’ll do something stupid, just to distract Mateo.
His steps echo against the tile floor.
Closer.
My heart is beating so loud I’m sure he can hear it.
Closer.
He’s standing in front of where we’re hiding. All he has to do is move the T-shirts aside and we’ll be in plain view.
His hand settles on the black T-shirt that hangs right in front of my face and he starts to drag it to the side, the hanger scraping the rod sends chills racing down my spine.
And then we’re facing each other.
“Anna Boyd. I’ve been looking for you.”
I’m frozen.
And then Teeny’s gone—jumps out of the rack and head butts him right in the gut. They both fall back in a heap, probably because he wasn’t expecting her to attack him and he was caught off guard, and before I can move an inch, Ethan kicks him in the head.
The woman screams at us, threatening to call the cops, and Ethan kicks Mateo one more time, then grabs Teeny.
“Anna, we gotta go!”
I still can’t move, so Ethan grabs my hand and heaves me to my feet. Mateo starts to get on his feet just as we rush out of the store.
We run down the block and he’s right behind us. There’s no parade to blend in with this time, so we just start weaving through streets and alleyways. Teeny trips, splaying across the sidewalk, and Ethan scoops her up and keeps running.
We duck into an alley between a bar and another souvenir shop.
And it’s a dead end.
Mateo runs in the alley and yells, “Stop!” And then a nearby bottle shatters, tiny shards of glass flying everywhere.
Is he shooting at us? I heard a loud pop but nothing like when Ethan shot that hog or when I shot the target at the farm.
We skid to a stop and Ethan throws both Teeny and me behind a large garbage bin and then runs back toward the assassin.
Before I can get up I hear another loud pop. I scream.
“Stay down, Teeny,” I say, then peek around the bin, terrified of what I’m about to see.
Ethan is down on the ground, holding his arm. Mateo is standing over him, gun still out. There’s already a pool of blood forming underneath Ethan. He pushes himself up on his good arm to a sitting position then scraps together a handful of loose rocks, flinging them at Mateo.
Mateo takes a running start then kicks Ethan in the head, knocking him back. “Doesn’t feel so good, does it, you little shit.”
Ethan doesn’t move.
Oh my God…Oh my God…Oh my God…
“Come on out,” he calls out to Teeny and me. “There’s nowhere to hide. No matter where you go, I will find you.”
