Gone - Anna Brooks Page 0,74

She passes Brody just as he hangs up his phone, and Judy stands fully as do the hairs on her shackles. I use the remote to switch the channel on the TV just as I hear an insanely loud pop. And then Brody curses and grabs the gun strapped to his shoulder and points it at the kitchen. Where Jesse just disappeared to. Oh my God. Another pop. Brody sinks to his knees. Pop. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I take hold of Judy’s collar and hold her back with trembling fingers.

Brody pulls the trigger on his gun as he’s crumpling to the ground, and when I see a bullet rip through his neck, I tear my vocal cords when I scream so loud.

“Damn, took three to take him out.” Jesse saunters into the living room, stepping over a lifeless Brody, and everything inside me hollows. Lungs, chest, heart. I can’t breathe, my eyelids refuse to blink, and I’m shaking, violently shaking, from my toes to the top of my head.

My brain can’t process what’s happening. My hand on Judy’s collar is numb, but it’s also a vise. I couldn’t let go even if I wanted to. She’s growling and pulling, but unable to do what she really wants, which is tear into Jesse.

Now I know why.

Oh, my God.

“Let’s go.” She nudges her head at the front door, holding her bleeding shoulder with her left hand while she points the gun at me with her right.

My mouth is already hanging open, but words are lodged in my throat.

“You tell that dog to stay where she is, and you come with me, or I shoot her. I really don’t want to do that because she’s so pretty, but I will.”

“Je—”

“Move!”

Judy starts to pull me, and that’s enough for my adrenaline to kick in and fight. I tug Judy back and roughly tell her to stay. She whines and lies down but kind of crawls as I walk toward Jesse. God, please let her stay. I couldn’t live with myself if I got her killed. Damien would be broken if he lost her. And this bitch is obviously crazy, so I have no doubt she’d shoot the dog and then me.

I need to get out of here. Need to figure out what her plan is. I take a glimpse of Brody to see him in the same position, and his chest eerily still, leg twisted at an impossible angle. Oh, God. Jesus. Oh God. He’s dead. Dead!

My fear is beginning to slowly fade away but outrage dominates it, and I quickly try to come up with some sort of plan. My ankle is sore, but I can handle it; the adrenaline helps. I’ll sprint on it if it means saving my life. I’m only worried physically about not having the right range of motion in my casted arm.

My vision is murky as I walk out of the house. “Get in the fucking car.” Jesse keeps her gun pointed at Judy through the screen door. “No games or she’s dead. Go!”

I rush to her beat-up old coupe and open the passenger side door and slide in. She gives me no time to try to escape because she slams the driver’s door and then points the weapon in my direction. “Don’t try nothin’.” She starts the engine and keeps the gun pointed at me, but I see her flinch when she tries to steer with the arm that has a bullet hole in it. Good. I can use that.

“What’s going on, Jesse? Where are you taking me?”

“Shut up.”

“Brody… he’s, you have to call an ambulance.”

She shoves the barrel into my temple. “I don’t have to do shit!”

Okay, she doesn’t want to talk. Think… think.

Someone ever gets you, Bella. You fight your ass off. If they have a gun, be smart but fight. There are only so many bullets in a magazine. Count them. Don’t let them get you to another location. Your chances of survival there are not good. You’re smart. Think. They may have a weapon, but your brain is more powerful than that.

I replay the words Gio taught me all those years ago.

Breathe.

Just breathe.

If she was going to kill me, she would have done that already. I need to come up with a plan before we get wherever we’re going. The only problem is I have no clue what this is about. None. I thought she was my friend. Is it because I quit? Is she that mad? Surely, it can’t