The added height made her taller than Frank, something she used to her advantage by jerking a fast arm around his neck from behind. “Go along with me, Frank,” she mumbled, trying not to think about what was in the lumpy backpack between them.
She moved the heel of her shoe up to his temple with the other hand, her body hidden mainly behind the gawky intern, and gave Ms. Glitter Nails a seething glare. “Don’t make me hurt your lover boy, chica.”
The woman’s eyes widened. She looked between Frank and Sophia, then back to Frank.
Sophia tightened the headlock, and Frank let out a grunt.
It stayed like that—frozen stares and considered options—as a jarring screech tore through the shed. Metal on metal. The horrific clatter caused the woman to dart back to where she’d been standing seconds ago. She pointed the gun at the wall where the noise came from.
“How about I shoot whoever’s trying to come in. Would you like that?”
Sophia felt her own eyes widen now, the terror of her mere suggestion causing every limb to stiffen with painful panic.No, not Blayze.
“Do, and I’ll make sure Frank never breathes again,” Sophia threatened.
In that moment, something stabbed right through the thin, metal siding of the structure like a shark’s fin at the surface. A chainsaw blade. No, two blades.
They started out in the same place, but split off in separate directions, the angry, roaring knives causing a horizontal line of destruction a good six feet from the floor.
At once, they took sharp, ninety-degree angle turns, the cutting blades shredding their way toward the floor, creating a hole as big as a truck.
The woman hedged, looking frantically between the loud intruders and Frank, her face wild as she fondled the gun with shaky hands. It would take less than a second for her to shoot a bullet right through that newly cut hole, a thought that caused Sophia to speak up.
“I bet that commotion’s going to trigger the explosives,” she said. “Don’t want to ruin that pretty face of yours.”
Frantically then, the woman grabbed onto a nearby shelving unit, yanked it hard, and ran toward Sophia and Frank.
The heavy-laden frame crashed to the ground, sending plastic plants and fake boulders tumbling over the cement floor.
At once the gun was aimed at Sophia again.
“Let him go right now or I’ll shoot you and whoever’s coming in.”
The top of the cut, metal slab began to curl forward—a drawbridge opening, ready to let in the troops. But would the heap on the floor make it impossible?
Sophia released her grip on Frank and dropped her shoe, recalling what Blayze taught her about snatching an aimed gun from somebody.
Duck. Grab. And kick.
She didn’t want to rely on the trick to save her life, but she couldn’t have this wild woman shooting bullets at whoever stood on the other side of that metal flap.
“Now, climb off the chair and put your hands up,” the woman instructed.
As soon as Sophia stepped down, arms raised overhead, the crazed lady rammed the barrel of the pistol against her forehead. Only it didn’t stay flush against her skin. It skipped and bumped as the woman trembled.
So unstable.
So desperate.
Sophia closed her eyes and gulped.Please help me get out of this.
Time to act. Sophia ducked hard and fast, reaching for the gun with both, raised hands.The gun will go off,Blayze had assured. And sure enough—it did, just as she curled her hands around her grip and shoved it to aim upward.
The booming noise was deafening, the echo so great it sounded more like two shots than one.
Something happened then. Something Sophia hadn’t expected. The woman collapsed to the floor, her body curling as she groaned.
Sophia flinched back, eyeing the gun as it dropped to the ground by her feet. She looked up to see who was shoving their way through the wall and spotted someone else in her periphery.
