Jason rolled off me, groping his shoulder. The scent of gunpowder assaulted my nostrils. He’d been shot.
I rolled onto my stomach, dazed from having my head slammed. Standing in the doorway was the silhouette of a tall, lanky man. He charged forward and pulled me to my feet, kicking the syringe to the other end of the room.
“Did he inject you?” The voice was a lot younger than I’d anticipated, teenaged.
“What?” My brain was taking a moment to catch up.
He brought his face close to mine. “With the needle? Have you been injected?”
I shook my head.
He raised the gun and pressed it to Jason’s skull.
“No! Don’t!” I screamed.
“He was going tokillyou,” the kid said incredulously.
Yes, but Jason had also dropped a couple fortune cookies for me to eat when he hadn’t needed to. And hedidseem sorry about trying to inject me. Also, I really didn’t want to add “gunshot execution” to the list of horrible things I’d recently witnessed, particularly not while I was pregnant. Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to explain any of these things to the teenager, who seemed dangerously eager to pulling the trigger.
I said, “I would appreciate it if you didn’t.”
The kid shrugged and then smacked the butt of the gun down on Jason’s skull, dropping him to the floor like a sack of potatoes. I didn’t think he was dead, but he wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon. He’d also have a monster headache when he woke up.
Outside, I could see just how young the gunman was, about eighteen. Looking toward the main house, I understood why there had been so much light coming into the shed. The mansion was on fire.
I looked at the kid. “You?”
“No. Richard and Maxine torched the place as a distraction, so they could get away. Good thing I heard you screaming, or else I’d still be in the house looking for you.”
“They left?” I asked hoarsely, still trying to process the scene around me.
He nodded.
“Why wereyoulooking for me? Who are you? Did the VGO send you?”
The kid shook his head, but at which question I didn’t know.
“Whoever you are, thanks for saving me. I appreciate it.” I sprinted down the driveway away from the house, hardly feeling the gravel digging into the sole of my bare foot.
The kid caught up with me. “I have a car. I can take you out of here.”
I angled my chin toward the blazing structure, folding my arms across my chest. “How do I know you aren’t one of them?”
“Because I just saved your life.” He paused. “And because I’m your grandfather.”
I snorted. He was years younger than me. Then again . . . after the story Maxine and Richard had told me about Tilly’s mysterious pregnancy, he actually might be.
I gave him a once-over. My belated mother had looked a lot like him, especially around the nose and mouth. His eyes were gentle, and he was handsome in an old movie star kind of way. I could see why Tilly had fallen for him.
Wow, my grandfather.
“My car is that way,” he said, tugging at my sleeve urgently.
I hesitated, thinking of Jason. “What if the fire reaches the shed? He’s still passed out in there.”
“You didn’t want me to kill him, so I didn’t. Richard and Maxine set the fire, not me. It’s not my fault if the flames travel.”
Jasonhadtried to kill me. He’d regain consciousness in time. Hopefully. “Fair enough.”
