Body of Trust - Jeannine Colette Page 0,74

with no rhyme or reason. This place is just walls and painted-over metal pipes.

When we get to an intersection, Jesse raises his gun and peeks around the side. He reminds me to always check behind us. He tugs on my hand when it’s time to move, and I follow close, chewing on my lip with every step. It’s clear to see, he has no idea where he’s going.

The sound of a gun shot rings in the air. I fall to the ground and cover my ringing ears, making my gun drop beside me. I scramble down, grasping it quickly while Jesse looks at me with a warning.

“You’re lucky it didn’t go off.”

“Where did that gunfire come from?” I ask him.

His breathing is deep, and I try to decipher if it’s from fear or concentration. With Jesse, I never know.

To my surprise, his feet slam on the ground as he rushes toward the gunfire. Down a dark corridor and then into a brightly lit one, which scares me more than the dark. The voices grow louder, and the words are spoken clearly.

“Get rid of the girl.” Salinger’s rasp is recognizable.

“I don’t know who you think I am, but I don’t kill women.” That’s Carlo Lugazzi. He’s a slime and a killer, but apparently he has his limits.

“She’s a liability. She knows who I am. She knows Davenport. The whole operation will be compromised once she starts talking.”

“Whose problem is that?” Carlo challenges and suddenly grows quiet.

Jesse and I inch closer and get a look at the scene through a grate. Salinger has a gun drawn out, pointed directly at Carlo’s head, as he sits at a desk at the far end of a large, open room.

Two of Carlo’s thugs pull their guns on Salinger.

“Fuck,” Jesse groans at the scene.

“Good. Let them kill each other.”

He shakes his head while tapping his forehead with his fist, searching his brain for options. “I need Salinger alive, or I won’t get my life back. Salinger has definitely corrupted my file—unless he thinks I’m already dead. I can’t risk it. And you need Lugazzi to own up to what he did to you. We already heard one gunshot so one of Lugazzi’s men must have gone down. Salinger doesn’t have much time.”

“There has to be a back door. A way out of here.” I grab his face and pull it toward me. “The important thing is, we get out of here together.”

He kisses my forehead. “You’re right.”

“What the hell do we have here?” one of the thugs booms from behind us.

I look just in time to see him lift his gun. With an instinct I didn’t know I had, I raise my own and fire, hitting him in the chest.

“Oh my God!” I gasp and drop the weapon. My hands are shaking. I’ve never fired a gun before.

“What the hell was that?” Carlo says from inside, and the men in the warehouse seem to have forgotten what their own personal standoff was about.

Jesse and I run as fast as we can down hallways, trying to get as far away from the pounding footsteps of the men following us.

“Davenport!” Salinger yells.

“They escaped!” a thug shouts.

Now, there are more feet coming for us.

We ditch and swerve, taking any random way we can find. This place is like a maze that leads to nowhere. No matter how far we travel, we seem to be running toward the voices.

Jesse slips, and I grab his hand, helping him to his feet. He’s only working with one eye, so it must be hard for him to navigate these halls. Everything is a gray with panels and an industrialized ceiling. With no markings, it’s impossible to tell where we are or where we’ve been.

Some areas smell like motor oil, which makes me think we’re closer to the garage. Others stink like natural gas. Those must mean we’re getting further from the outside walls.

I drop his hand, so we can move quicker. I’m trailing, but he always looks to make sure I’m not too far behind.

I lose my footing and hit a wall, making my shoulder shoot in pain in the spot where Carlo threw me to the floor earlier. I ignore the wound and move.

Pow, pow, bang!

We’re running as fast and as hard as we can, away from the carnage and violence. It feels like we’re getting a lead. The taste of freedom is on the tip of my tongue as we hang a sharp left. I’m positive this is the way out