Jeanne Adams - Dark and Deadly

“Stay down,” the man hissed. “Cops’re coming but we don’t know where this guy is. He may be gone, but we can’t take a chance.”

No sooner had the words left his lips, than another snick and pop sounded, and she smelled a hard, sharp scent.

“Move!” The driver was up and running for the dubious safety of the building. “C’mon, lady!” he yelled over his shoulder. “That hit under the hood, it could blow!”

Blow? Shit. As in blow up?

Still dragging her bags, she sprinted after the driver. She stumbled and fell as she passed him, scrambling up to huddle under the metal stairs. Her knees stung, as did her hands, but she dug out her own cell phone. Her fingers were shaking so badly she misdialed four times, but the sound of sirens helped her steady.

“Paul?” she whispered. “Paul, are you there?”

She thanked heaven when he picked up. “What’s up, Torie?” he sounded impatient. “Why are you whispering?”

“Someone shot at us outside the hotel. The driver’s called the police but his car…his car is all—”

The explosion was enormous. From more than forty feet away, protected by the stairs, she could feel the heat. The noise was a terrible roar.

“Torie? Torie?” Paul’s voice seemed to be tiny, mouselike and far away. “Torie! Talk to me!”

“Car blew up,” she squeaked. “Can you—”

“I’m on my way. Sit tight and don’t talk to the police about anything. Nothing. You hear me?”

“Hear you.” Oh, God. Someone wanted her dead. Someone wanted to not only ruin her life and destroy her things, but kill her. She’d done the impossible as well.

She’d called Paul Jameson for help.

“The devil, you know,” she whispered to herself as she watched the flames engulf the car. “The devil, you know.”

“Well, we are certainly not happy to see you again, young lady.” The nurse who had been on duty when she came in before greeted her, pulling the curtain closed. “What’s up this time?”

“Someone, someone shot at the car I was in,” Torie said, her voice hitching. Reaction was setting in. The ambulance arrived before Paul, and the officers and EMTs insisted she be checked out. She’d dragged her luggage to her room, thrown it inside, then gone back downstairs to comply. When they discovered she’d been in the hospital with a concussion, the EMTs loaded her into the ambulance, and sent her to the ER. Torie was too shell-shocked to disagree.

“Shot at you? Good heavens. And weren’t you in a house fire? Girl, you are not in a happy way, are you?”

“Nooooo. I feel like I’m in a movie.”

“A bad one, yeah.” The nurse stepped in to shine a light in her eyes, flicking it to either side. “Do you have any cuts, or bruises? Does your head hurt?”

“No, but my hands do.” Torie held out her palms, which were scraped and scratched. Her manicure was toast. “I fell when I was running away from the car.”

The nurse was cleaning her hands when she heard Paul’s voice outside the curtain.

“Torie?”

“I’m here, Paul.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Attorney.”

“Ah.” The nurse grimaced as she twitched the curtain aside to let Paul in.

“You okay, Torie? How bad is it?” He directed the last question to the nurse. The nurse’s eyebrows winged up, but she kept her voice level as she answered.

“She’s got some scrapes on her palms, but there’s no evidence that the concussion has been triggered again, or that she’s in any pain or distress.”

“Of course she’s in distress,” he argued. “Someone just shot at her.”

The nurse took a deep breath, shooting Torie a look. “Yes sir, but what I meant was, medically, she’s not in any distress.”

“Oh, okay.” The reply was lame, even to Torie’s ears. Before she could think anymore about that, however, he stepped to her side. “Who have you talked to, Torie?”

“No one. I put my stuff away and got in the ambulance. How’s the driver?” This time it was Torie who directed a question to the nurse. “I think he got hit with some flying glass. Is he okay?”

One more person hurt by her curse.

“He’s fine. Hasn’t stopped talking on that cell phone, though. Trying to get the insurance company to come in the morning to see the car, get it replaced,” the nurse said as she bent to examine Torie’s palms. She applied a cool gel as she spoke. “This is an antibiotic ointment. It’s also got an analgesic, should take some of the sting out.”

“He’s an industrious guy,” Paul said of the driver, without taking his gaze from Torie. “And a tough one. It’s also his livelihood. I’m sure he wants to get back out there as soon as possible.”

“I’m going to get the doctor to stop in so we can release you, Ms. Hagen. And please,” the nurse said, smiling to take the sting from the words, “don’t come see us again, okay?”

“I’ll do my best.” Torie managed to return the smile, but lost the will for it as soon as the woman disappeared.

“You didn’t talk to the police? To the EMTs?”

“No, Paul, I didn’t. You said not to. Besides, I didn’t have time.”

“That’s good.” He ran a hand through his hair, then dropped it into his pocket to jingle the change that rested there. “We need to get you moved out of that place. Whoever’s after you obviously knows where you’re staying. It isn’t safe for you. Do you have a place you can go tonight?”

Torie shook her head. “No. I’m not endangering anyone else I know just for a room for the night. I’ll switch hotels if I have to, but I’m not staying with anyone who could get hurt,” she said, thinking of Pam. Pam would be pissed not to be called, but between her interest in Dev and being friends with Torie, Pam was in enough danger.

Paul looked exasperated. “Just for the night.”

“No. I’ll find another hotel, or just go back to the one I’m at. Surely whoever it is wouldn’t do it again, in the same night? I mean,” she said as she closed her eyes, thinking about what had happened, “he could have just as easily killed me tonight. He shot the car first, but I was standing outside it, on the sidewalk.”

“Don’t even think that,” Paul said, gripping her arms. “Much less say it.”

“What?” Torie was baffled. “Say what?”

“That you could have been killed.”

“But…I could have.” Torie stopped. The blazing anger in Paul’s eyes brooked no argument. “Okay. So, maybe you could talk to the police. I’ll call the insurance agent.”

“Insurance?”

“I gotta know if I’m covered on the move.”

“Torie, if it’s a matter of money, I’ll pay.”

“No, it’s not that. It’s making sure about the house. It’s all connected,” she said, frustrated that she was too tired to make sense. The way she said it made it sound like she was some penny-pinching miser, but the truth was, she was learning that the insurance was tricky on what it covered when it came to the house.

“The insurance can wait. Don’t bother checking out, just go to another hotel for now. I’ll book the room.”

Too weary to argue, Torie just nodded. Having gotten that acquiescence, Paul left her alone.

The beeping and droning of machines, the wails of a baby, and the curses of what sounded like a teenager all closed in on her. She wanted to curl up and go away, leave the ugly reality of what was going on behind. With all that had happened, as bad as it had been, even in college, she’d pushed through it, gone on with her life. This was almost more than she could bear.

For the first time in her life she understood why someone would take Valium or get high on something. Escape. Oblivion seemed pretty appealing because right now, reality just plain sucked.