“I wouldn’t move if I were you,” a woman behind him said.
He flipped over and looked up to see a woman wearing a black ski mask about fifty yards away walking in his direction, her gun leveled at him. Ethan instinctively crab-walked backward.
The woman shot at Ethan again. This one landed inches from his hand. “That’s your last warning, Mr. Bond.”
“How… How do you know who I am?
“You’ve been a pain in my ass for a few days, Mr. Bond.”
“Why are you after me? Why did you kill Danny? Why did you kill all those people on the plane? Why did you try to kill Blayne?” Ethan yelled in rapid succession, hoping his barrage of questions would let Kira and Blayne get away.
“I’m sure you have lots of questions, Mr. Bond. But I’m not here to give you answers. If I did, I would have to ensure you didn’t leave here alive.”
“What do you want?” Ethan yelled.
“Your phone,” the woman said, now within ten feet of Ethan. She lowered her gun to his chest. “Now, please.”
Ethan reached into his pocket to pull out his cell, but it wasn’t there. Ethan panicked, realizing his only bargaining chip was probably in the SUV somewhere. He started stammering.
“Now, Mr. Bond.”
Ethan’s eyes went wild as he tried to figure out what to do, and he saw his phone twenty feet away lying in the road. “It’s over there,” he yelled as he pointed wildly in its direction.
“I’m not going to fall for that, Mr. Bond.”
“No, really,” he pleaded. He reached into his pockets and turned them inside out to show he had nothing but his wallet.
She kept her gun on him, but quickly glanced in the direction Ethan indicated. “Ms. Wilson, confirm?” Then, “It’s been nice meeting you, Mr. Bond.” The woman turned and walked away. In a single scoop, she picked up his phone and disappeared.
Ethan didn’t wait for an invitation. He picked himself off the ground and ran behind the shed where Blayne and Kira waited. Kira stood with the gun leveled at him as he rounded the corner.
“It’s me.”
“What happened?” she asked, letting him by but keeping her gun-holding stance.
“She wanted my phone,” Ethan said. He was still trying to make sense of what had happened to them. “One second she was there, then she was gone.”
“Wait…! What do you hear?” Blayne asked.
“Nothing,” Ethan replied, his eyebrows knitting in confusion.
“Exactly. I don’t hear anything, either.”
“I’m not about to stick my head out there and find out what’s going on,” Kira said, pointing the gun at the corner of the building.
“Me neither,” Ethan agreed.
“Makes three,” Blayne chimed in.
The three stood in silence for a couple of minutes. They finally heard crunching gravel under someone’s feet.
“Everyone okay back here?” Agent Murphy asked before coming into view. “You can lower your weapon now, Ms. Strickland. The bad guys left.” Agent Murphy put her hand on top of the gun and helped Kira lower the weapon before gently prying it out of Kira’s hand.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Blayne
Blayne, Ethan and Kira were led back to where the remaining FBI agents who weren’t killed were tending to their wounded in a makeshift triage area between their original SUV and the one behind them in the convoy. As Blayne took in their SUV sitting on its side, the entire scene looked like something out of a war movie. A couple of bodies were covered in aluminum foil blankets he associated with being stranded in the snow, which didn’t happen very often in Texas. That’s not to say parts of Texas didn’t get blanketed with snow. Still, you were more likely to die of heatstroke than from hypothermia. He was glad whatever happened was clearly over. In the distance, Blayne heard sirens heading their way.
