He repeated. “I said put it down.”
Eyes on the end of the long gun, she let go of her phone and prayed it wouldn’t disconnect.Please, Pierce, hear this!
“Now put down the flashlight.”
But she didn’t. Mustering her courage, she asked. “Who are you?”
“Who the hell are you, and what the fuck are you doing here?” he shot back.
“Here?” she repeated, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. “At Jeanne LaRoux’s place?” she said loudly.
Oh, God, let Pierce still be on the line.
“What the hell are you doing here!” the man shouted.
“Nikki?” Pierce’s voice sounded far away. Tinny. Coming from the phone dropped into the weeds. “What’s going on? Nikki?”
Please, please, Pierce, just come here! Come here now! Bring backup!
“Shit.” The end of the shotgun moved, hitching toward the tuft of weeds, where the phone’s illuminated screen was visible. “Turn it off!”
She couldn’t rely on anyone else.
There was no time.
She had to figure out how to disarm him. How to get away.
Think, Nikki. You’ve been in tight places before. Think, think, think!
“I said, do it!” he ordered.
“Okay, okay!” Eyes focused on the end of the shotgun, she slowly lowered herself into a crouch, scooped up the phone as if to obey, but instead of disconnecting, she picked up the phone, then fell to the ground. In one swift movement, she shined her flashlight directly into the man’s eyes with one hand and hurled the phone at his face with the other.
“Hey!”
He ducked.
Too late.
The phone smashed into the bearded face of Granger LaRoux.
“Ow!” he howled, stunned and backing up a step.
Before he could pull the trigger, she rolled toward a fallen tree.
“Stop!” he ordered. “You fuckin’ bitch. Stop right there!”
She scrambled over the rough bole, to cringe, waiting for the shotgun blast to echo through the night and splinter the tree.
If she survived that, before he reloaded and aimed, she could sprint to her car.
Maybe.
She fumbled inside her bag, her fingers frantically searching for the keys.
As a deep growl erupted from the woods behind her.
She turned and saw a blur of motion in the flashlight’s weird light. Running at full tilt, Arlo streaked from the shadows and leapt across the fallen log.
