Iris Johansen - Dark Summer

"No, I took him out of the equation. Look, you don't have time to ask me questions. Lock the doors. Where's your car?"

She hesitated. "It's parked in the back parking lot behind the clinic."

"What kind of car?"

"Toyota SUV."

"Good. Put Ned in the back and tell him to play dead. I've seen that's one trick he knows to perfection. Cover him up with a blanket. Then get the hell away from the office."

"This is nuts." She was silent a moment. "You mean it."

"I mean it. Get moving." He hung up the phone. He'd done all he could do. It was up to Devon now. He had only one more call to make.

CRAZY. DEVON SLOWLY PRESSEDthe disconnect. She should ignore the call and go on with her day.

But Marrok's voice had been dead serious.

And she believed he thought he was telling the truth even if it was completely bizarre.

Get moving.

Whatever was going to happen, he thought there was urgency.

Ignore it?

She got to her feet and moved toward the reception room. She didn't ignore warnings if she thought they held even a grain of truth. She had seen too many tragedies, too many villagers caught in mudslides and rushing floodwater and other disasters when they'd ignored warnings that might have saved them.

The reception room was empty of clients, and Terry was sitting cross-legged on the floor, patting Ned's belly. Red-haired, pretty, and voluptuous, she always reminded Devon of a model or showgirl. But her receptionist was smart as a whip and amazingly efficient. Terry glanced up with a guilty grin. "Okay, so this isn't my job. I was just massaging him. I thought it might help."

"Yeah, sure." Evidently Terry was clearly bewitched by Ned. "Do we have any more appointments today?"

"There's one at four." Terry got to her feet. "But that's for Dr. Dalks."

"I think we're going to call it a day." She clipped a leash to Ned's collar. "Call the client and postpone. Then lock up and go home, Terry."

"Really?" Terry smiled eagerly as she picked up the phone and started to look up the number. "Right away. You're not going to get an argument from me. I've got a hot date tonight, and I need to get a pedicure."

"I doubt if he'll be looking at your toes, Terry."

"You can never tell. Maybe he has a foot fetish."

Devon started for the back of the clinic and stopped. What the hell. She turned and locked the front door herself. "Go out the back door. We don't want any drop-ins delaying you."

"Good idea," Terry said absently as she started to dial the phone.

Devon stopped at the examining room where Hugh Dalks was filling out reports on the way to the back door. "Go home, Hugh. I'm declaring an official holiday."

"What?"

"You heard me." She opened the back door. "It's my first day back, and we're breaking early."

"Are you sure you're feeling okay? That doesn't sound like the workaholic I know and love."

"I'm fine. Get out of here. I want this place cleared in five minutes." She closed the door, and her gaze darted around the back parking lot. Nothing suspicious. God, she was turning paranoid. This was only a precaution, dammit. She unlocked the SUV, and Ned jumped into the back.

"Lie down." Okay, go for broke. She might as well go the whole nine yards. "Play dead, Ned."

Ned rolled over and closed his eyes.

He knows that trick to perfection .

Why had Marrok felt he needed to know that particular trick? She tossed the plush football blanket she kept for transporting sick animals over him. "This is crazy. I hope your friend Marrok isn't leading me down a blind alley." She got into the SUV and backed out of the parking space. "Because I don't like him interfering with my-"

Her driver's side window shattered, and a bullet plowed into the leather of the passenger seat!

What…

A man was running out the back door of the clinic toward her car. "Stop, bitch." He lifted the gun in his hand. "Gotcha."

A hot streaking pain seared the side of her neck.

Shot, she realized incredulously. She'd been shot.

She instinctively pressed the accelerator, but the man had reached her car and was running beside it, pressing the muzzle against the glass.

She was going to die.

There was no way he could miss from this distance. His face was only inches from the glass. Hard face. Ugly face.

Yet suddenly there was no face. His skull was half-blown away, and he dropped to the ground.

"Let me in." Marrok was standing at the passenger door. His tone was so demanding, she automatically pressed the button.

He jumped in the SUV. "Now get the hell out of here."

She was staring dazedly at the man crumpled on the ground. "You killed him."

"Damn straight. I blew the bastard's head off. Would you rather I let him do that to you? He probably wasn't alone. Get this car moving!"

She stomped on the accelerator, and the car lurched forward. She didn't look back until she was almost out of the shopping center at the exit to the street.

This couldn't have happened. The sun was shining brightly, and she saw a mother and her two kids going into the ice-cream shop across the street. Everything was normal and as it should be.

Except someone had just tried to kill her and had died horribly in the attempt.

And there was another man running out the back door of the clinic and up the hill toward the street.

A navy blue SUV was parked directly in front of the clinic and the front door of the clinic was wide-open. She had locked that door herself. That door must have been forced only a few minutes after she had left.

Fear iced through her.

Hugh and Terry!

She stomped on the brakes. "No, I have to go back. Hugh and Terry are-"

"I called 911 after I talked to you. They should be here any minute. But it could be too late for you if don't leave now. You're the one they're looking for. Get out of here while we have the chance."

"What is-"

"Move!"

She pressed the accelerator, and the SUV took off. She heard the sirens in the distance. Relief poured through her. "You did call the police."

"I told you I did. I don't lie… unless it's necessary."

"How comforting."

"Your neck's bleeding."

She'd almost forgotten the wound. She touched it. "I think it's okay." She looked back. They were a block away, and the clinic was no longer in view. "I let you panic me. I have to go back and see if I can-"

"Are you nuts?" he asked harshly. "You should have been panicked. You almost bought it back there." He looked in the rear of the SUV. "Ned's in the back?"

"Yes." She was starting to think again. "You came out of nowhere. I didn't even see you until you-"

"I came in a Saturn rental car that's still in the middle of the lot. I jumped out of it when I saw what needed to be done."

Murder. He meant murder needed to be done. He'd taken a life. "You killed him."

"Of course I did," he said impatiently.

So casual. What was this all about? What was she getting herself into by letting him control this terrible situation?" She suddenly pulled over to the side of the street. "I'm going back to the office. Those men must have been scared off by the police sirens by now. I have to talk to the police and explain what-"

"No," Marrok said flatly. "You're off the radar right now. I don't want them to get a fix on you again."

"Once more the mysterious 'they.' " She moistened her lips. "You only killed that man to save my life. You should come back with me and clear yourself."

"No way."

She unlocked the doors. "Then get out. Take your dog. I'm going back."

He shook his head. "I can't let you do that."

She looked at him in disbelief. "You don't have anything to say about it. I'm going to go back and make sure Hugh and Terry are-" She inhaled sharply as she saw the flicker of emotion on his face. "You don't think-You think those men killed them."