Deadly Double (29 page)

“Of course you didn’t. How could you? I heard you ask who was at the door, and I made some excuse of having the wrong apartment. I didn’t stick around for her to ask any questions. I just had to get out of there.”

Josie waited for his response, but when he didn’t say anything, she continued, “The first time when I woke up with you by my side, I thought God was playing a cruel joke. I would’ve never believed in a million years our paths would cross again, but there you were again the next morning. It was like you were like a bright angel sent to save me from darkness and evil. It all seemed to good to be true.”

Josie shook her head. “And I dropped a picture of you in the house today. Michelle put two and two together and that’s how she found you.”

“Who?” He shook his head. “Never mind. There’s hope. If I could just try and reposition myself, I can try to undo your hands with my mouth, and then we can work our way from there.”

Hope flourished throughout her body. “Do you think you can do it?”

“I’m going to give it a try.”

#

Michelle was on top of the world as she drove down the hilly landscape toward the lake at the bottom of the property. In a few minutes, she would be rid of Josie forever and her transformation would be complete.

“Who’s a lost cause now?”

It’s not over until the fat lady sings.

She chuckled. “You just can’t give me credit for pulling this off, can you?” Her laughter deepened. “It doesn’t matter. Once I get to Rio or something and find a new quack doctor to prescribe my lithium pills, I’ll be rid of you, too.”

“Are you talking to us?” gorilla number one asked.

Michelle’s eyes narrowed. “Did I call your name?” Not that she knew it.

The high cackle reverberated throughout the walls of her brain.
Is that what you think? You can get rid of me? Please, I’ll always be here, watching you screw up everything. And trust me. You’ll screw this up as well. You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t.

“A lot you know.” Michelle gritted her teeth and swerved to miss a bush.

The men in the car stared at her again.

Look at you. You’re going to kill us before we even get there.

Michelle slowed, not that she agreed with her inner voice, but because they had reached the lake. “This is it,” she whispered, and an anxious smile ballooned on her face.

“Fine,” she hissed. “I’ll do it myself.” She stormed back to the driver’s side door and pulled out the Glock they’d confiscated from Josie. She shifted the car into drive, and then moved out of the way when it started to roll into the lake. When it passed her, she aimed the gun at the trunk. “Watch and learn,” she said, slow like freshly sapped maple, and fired two shots.

#

“Gunshots fired! Gunshots fired!” Tyrese shouted as he still huffed toward the mansion. He dropped the phone and reached for the gun at his waist. He was still too far away from the house let alone from whatever was going on in the back.

Behind him, two pair of headlights appeared. He turned and instantly recognized the police vehicles rushing toward him. The first one slowed long enough for him to open the back door and jump inside.

“Something is going on in the back,” he shouted.

The car sped off and within seconds crest the hill in back and then accelerated even more toward the three figures by the lake. Each stared up at them like deer caught in headlights.

Michelle didn’t see what happen, nor did she care. She was too busy scrambling behind the bushes. She heard a splash and peeked around to see the car she’d shot at hit the water, but she also caught sight of a tall Asian woman rolling away from the lake.

I don’t think it’s wise to be shooting at the police, Michelle.

“Shut up!” She glanced around, spotted another bush, and made a mad dash for it. After another glance, she saw the man she’d referred to as
gorilla
was holding his own in the mist of the chaos.

Here’s to another screw up.

Michelle rubbed the gun against her head. “Shut up!” Her gaze found the house off in the distance. “I just need to make it up the hill.”

#

An unfathomable terror swarmed through Josie as she kept her head above the water that poured in around her. “William, where are you?”

She struggled against her ropes and tried to flip over. Was he hit? Was he dead?

“Dear God, help us,” she said through short, asthmatic like pants. She wiggled some more, hoping to at least feel William body somewhere near her, but she was caught off guard when her hands unraveled from the rope.

The moment Ming had hit the ground and rolled away, she realized only she and Tyrese escaped the car. “Jorge didn’t make it out,” she shouted to her partner.

A bullet zinged past Ming’s left ear. Stunned, she cupped her ear with one hand and shot at her attacker with the other. Her first bullet took one of the muscle-bound men down; the second one missed his partner.

The other two officers sprayed the perimeter with bullets, though just like a bad movie, somehow they all missed.

The initial numbness in Ming’s ear morphed into an excruciating pain. Determined it wouldn’t slow her down, she sprinted into the long line of short-cropped bushes and struggled to make out Andrews. It was hard to see anything while trying not to lose a chunk of her backside.

Michelle had to be headed toward the house, Ming deduced, and ran that direction.

#

Josie was never good at holding her breath for a long time, but tonight all that changed. It seemed like forever undoing the tight knots around William’s wrists. Afterward, she immediately reached for the .22 at her ankle. She had less than a second to worry about ricocheting bullets before she placed the nozzle against the trunk’s keyhole and pulled the trigger.

The water pressure prevented the trunk from springing open; Josie rolled onto her back and pushed her legs up with all of her might. Her head started to spin from lack of oxygen, and her body begged for her to breathe. She couldn’t tell if the trunk had open, she was too worried whether her lungs would explode.

An arm wrapped around her waist and suddenly she was rising. However, they weren’t reaching the surface fast enough, she needed oxygen
now
.

Josie gasped just as her head broke the surface.

She coughed, sputtered, and coughed again as her chest rose and fell with great heaving breaths. Beside her, with his arms still tight around her waist, William went through the same process to clear out his lungs.

Josie wanted to ask whether he was okay, but talking was an arduous chore. Belatedly, she became aware of short pops that sounded like firecrackers.

Someone was shooting.

She lifted her right hand and was grateful she still held the .22. She glanced at William, but neither risked speaking or drawing attention to themselves. Silently, they waded to the edge of the lake with the hope that the large blue car parked there would aid as cover.

William pressed a finger to his lips and then boosted her out first. Yet, when it came time to pull himself out, pain blasted through the left side of his body.

It was a slow process, but through pain-filled groans they managed to get him out. William immediately rolled onto his back and clutched at his left arm.

She dropped to her knees beside him. “Baby, what is it? Were you hit?”

He nodded and sucked in air through gritted teeth.

“Where?” Panicking, she tugged and pushed up his black turtleneck. His pale skin glowed in the night and so did the bright trail of blood that streamed from his left shoulder. “Oh my God. We have to get you to the hospital.”

Josie glanced around, and then tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. Within seconds, she’d ripped the material cleanly from her arm, and proceeded to tie it tightly around his shoulder.

Splash
!

She froze at the preposterous declaration, but she didn’t have time to ask any questions. Two short pops came from her left and she turned to see one of Michelle’s bodyguards shooting at the cops.

Josie shifted her aim and fired. Time slowed as the shot missed its target, and the thug turned his attention to her.

Another shot came from the lake, and she watched with stunned fascination when the man spun like a marionette and hit the ground.

Her gaze traveled to the shooter, the man who’d identified himself as a cop. On guard, Josie took a protective stance before William and kept her gun trained on the man approaching them.

A smile ballooned across the wet cop’s face. “You’re alive.” He tried to heave the man next to him out of the water. “Can you help me with him?”

Josie hesitated.

“Here, hand me the gun,” William said. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t make any sudden moves.”

After thinking it over for a second, she did as William suggested. Together, she and the cop managed to get the second body out of the water. When the cop climbed out, he was a flurry of movement, removing the still man’s tie and performing the CPR.

“Do you need any help?” William asked, cautiously.

“One one thousand, two one thousand. I got it covered, four one thousand.” The cop pinched the man’s nose and blew into his mouth.

Josie itched to help as well, but had never learned this medical procedure. It didn’t look like it would matter though, the cop’s buddy or partner wasn’t responding.