The Survivor - Cristin Harber Page 0,67
okay, I’ve seen it a time or two.” Mom checked the time. “Later than I thought.” She turned to Amanda. “Are you doing better?”
“Yeah, I think so. It’s been a long day.” Mom’s yawn was contagious. “Woke up on the other side of the world today.”
“I’ll head out then.” Mom picked up her phone. “Let me give the guys a heads-up…that’s weird.”
Amanda wished Hagan would’ve texted her. Maybe he thought she should be the one to reach out. She stared at her phone. No service?
“I don’t have any service,” Mom murmured.
Amanda’s stomach turned. “Halle, your phone worked, right?”
Mom slipped her shoes on again and walked toward the apartment door. Amanda held her phone at different angles, watching for the service bars to change. Mom gasped. “Oh, God!”
Halle and Amanda jumped to their feet and rushed to Mom.
“What?” Amanda asked.
Halle glanced into the hallway. “Oh, shit.” She slammed the door shut. “Breach. Man down.”
“What?” Amanda pulled Mom down the hall. Who would know where the First Lady was? “Stay here.” She checked the security system base, unable to request the screen change. It wasn’t disabled. Frozen? Hell, it didn’t matter. “We don’t have a way to communicate.”
“We have to get your mom out of here.” Halle hurried by Amanda.
She followed into her guest bedroom and loaded weapons from her closet. It wasn’t as if Amanda had an arsenal at her place. They just had to protect Mom and get to the agents on the perimeter. “Let’s go.”
Mom shook on the couch, and it was the first time Amanda had seen her mother frightened. “Who would do this?”
“Dr. Hearst.” Halle reached for Mom’s hand. “Doesn’t matter right now. We have to go.”
“Where?” Mom asked.
Halle eyed Amanda. “Fire escape?”
That’d drop them close to a perimeter checkpoint. “Yes.”
Halle gnawed on her lip. “Shooter could be out there.”
“The shooter could be anywhere…” Amanda fumbled to make sense of the delay. “But we’re certain where they’ve been. We take the fire escape and keep moving.”
“Better than waiting, sitting ducks.” Halle led them toward Amanda’s bedroom, edging around the corners.
Amanda opened the window, and they crawled onto the rickety platform. It groaned under their weight. They stayed close to Mom, searching for the threat and climbing as fast as they could move together.
Halle stopped on the third floor. “Stuck.” Her eyes widened as if this was the one thing she might not be able to control. “Too far to jump.”
Amanda eyed the alley and agreed.
“Why don’t they see us?” Mom cried.
Amanda had no idea.
Halle attacked the rusted ladder with a fervor Amanda had never seen until the old thing dropped, panting, “Go.”
They hurried down the ladder until they reached the alley and ran with their arms around her mother. Amanda’s stomach twisted. Agents should’ve jumped out, weapons drawn. Nothing happened. They reached the checkpoint SUV.
“Fuck,” Halle cried.
Amanda’s stomach revolted. Two dead agents still in their seats. “Not again…”
Halle ripped open the driver's door and removed the downed agent. “Amanda! Get your mom in.”
Tears fell as Amanda pushed her mother into the back seat, then she rushed to the passenger side and fought against the dead agent’s weight, removing him from the seat. “I’m so sorry.”
“Damn it, Amanda,” Halle yelled. “Get your ass in the car.”
With one more apology, Amanda jumped in.
Halle floored the gas before Amanda closed the door. “Call someone.”
Amanda fumbled for her cell phone. “No signal?” She searched the comm system and computer attached to the dashboard console. “Disabled. What’s going on?”
Halle made a sharp turn and checked her mirrors. Amanda twisted to Mom but had no idea what to say.
“Your father will fix—” Mom’s voice cracked. Tears spilled free. “Those poor men.”
The SUV made a hard turn. Amanda and Mom fell to the side. Halle braked. Amanda looked out the window, not seeing why they’d stopped. “What’s the matter?”
Halle opened the center console. Smoke exploded inside the SUV. Amanda choked on the instantaneous slap of gas. Mom coughed and sputtered then keeled to the side. Halle covered her face with a mask.
“What are you doing?” Didn’t matter. Amanda had to get out. The door wouldn’t budge. The window wouldn’t lower. She could break it, but her arms were too heavy to reach for her gun. Amanda fell toward Halle, begging for help, but saw her best friend, unmoving.
Everything went black.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
The turning signal clicked too loud. Hagan slammed his fist onto the center console. He didn’t like the rental car he’d picked up at the airport, but the idea of being without his