The door chimed.
Megan shuffled inside and pointed a gun at the cashier.
“No!” Lindsey raised the weapon in her hand, aiming for dead center on Megan’s chest.
She pressed the trigger.Click. Shit, was the safety on?
Bam!
Something hit the floor.Oh, my God. Oh, myGod.Was the cashier…?
Blood trickled across the linoleum.
“Now see what you made me do?” Megan screamed. “That nice innocent lady, just doing her job, and you got her killed.”
Lindsey’s throat closed.I’m so sorry.
She flipped a small switch on the side of her gun and tried again.Click.
Bang!
Lindsey dove behind a rack of chips at the back of the store near the drink coolers, the sound of blood pumping in her ears.
“Your gun’s not loaded, dumbass. I didn’t want to accidentally kill you before I got my money.” She stepped over the cashier and moved behind the counter. “But I have plenty of bullets in this one. Come out, or I’ll shoot the next person who walks through that door.”
Lindsey crouched on the sticky tile floor, her entire body pulsing as she peered between rows of chip bags.
Megan’s gaze flicked between Lindsey’s hiding place and the closed-circuit television above the register. The tension in the room bloomed like an ominous cloud.
Within seconds, an SUV pulled up to one of the pumps and two twenty-something women got out, heading for the glass doors.
A wicked smile lit Megan’s face.
“Okay.” Lindsey stood. She tried to raise her hands in surrender, but pain shot through her left upper arm, hot and throbbing. Pressure from her hand helped, but her fingertip found an open wound and she nearly jumped out of her skin.
Nausea clawed at her stomach.
Her legs went weak.
Little black dots appeared in front of her eyes, and she broke out in a sweat. She dropped to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut, sucking air through her nose.
Holy fuck. She shook like a luffing sail.
One of Megan’s earlier shots must’ve hit her. How the hell had she not noticed before?
“We’re closed.” Megan’s voice cut through the fog in Lindsey’s brain as she turned off the OPEN sign in the window.
Lindsey wiped her bloody hand on her dress and tried to gather her wits.
The two women outside noticed Megan’s gun, their expressions of shock almost comical. One screamed. The other shouted, “Run!” They sprinted to the SUV and peeled out of the gas station, leaving Lindsey alone with a dead cashier and a revenge-bent Megan Lassiter.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
TODD HADN’T WAITED for more info. He ran around the side of Dan’s house and jumped into his Charger just in time to catch sight of the black Accord running a yellow light to turn left onto the main road. Todd screeched to a halt as the light changed to red, unable to enter traffic without endangering anyone.
The second he got the green, he made the same left and floored it, hoping to catch up.
He had a chance as long as the other car didn’t turn off at any of the many side streets.
