There was a girl beneath all that armor.
A girl that wanted a normal life. That wanted to be away from all the insanity of the Oligarchs.
All the death and power.
Except she chose a different path. Instead of running, she faced it head on.
I had to admire that.
Neil leaned toward her. “Maybe I can send you a postcard. You might—”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
An explosion rocked the front of the alley and I threw myself on top of Erin as gunfire burst into the seats.
Neil’s mouth was torn in half, then his skull was shattered into pieces as his blood splattered all over, and he toppled to the side.
Chapter 14
Erin
Redmond hit me like a punch to the jaw. I toppled to the floor, a scream on my lips. My ears rang and bullets whizzed past in the air, and I felt something warm and sticky—
Blood. Neil was bleeding and the sticky vinyl floor was slick with the stuff.
I looked over and the boy’s empty, lifeless eyes stared back, his face and skull a shattered wreck.
My body went still. Cold dread rolled down my spine.
Dead. Neil was dead. Maeve’s nephew, no more than a boy.
All he wanted was to escape. He was trapped in this life, just like me, and I didn’t fault him for running away.
I wished I had that courage, but look at what it got him: a bullet to the brain in the middle of a decrepit bowling alley.
“Stay down,” Redmond snarled. He shimmied and pushed me beneath the seats. I slid on slick gore and greasy alley linoleum.
His men shouted and fanned out. They fired back at whoever was attacking and the sound was startling. I felt each shot in my chest like a kick drum. Redmond got to his knees, gun ready, and began to shoot. I covered my ears and tried not to look at Neil, tried not to see Livvie, and Penny, and myself lying there.
More shouting. Everything was chaos. Pieces of the ceiling dropped down and plaster puffed out like snow. I looked over my shoulder and saw feet and legs scattering around the upper part of the room. Men hid behind tables and counters. Redmond’s soldiers fought back, and the room was heavy with gun smoke and the smell of spent bullets and the tang of blood and the screams of the injured and the dying. The taste of it was thick and metallic.
“Move,” Redmond growled, yanking me back out from under the chair. “Stay low. Go now.” He helped me up and began to run, pushing me ahead, shielding me from the attackers with his body.
Men flanked our sides. We left motionless figures behind. I couldn’t count how many. Neil was an unmoving lump. He’d never see Paris. I’d never get that postcard. I shouldn’t have cared—I didn’t even know him.
Tears stung my eyes.
Was I crying? For a dead stranger?
I’d left too many in my wake for one more body to matter, and yet it did.
“Keep going.” Redmond sounded desperate. We reached the far wall. One of his men fell sideways, a bullet in his chest. He gasped and spit up blood as he fell. Another took his place, shooting at our attackers. I caught glimpses of them, hard men, angry and deadly. They didn’t follow, but they kept up a steady spray of death.
We moved up along the row of counters separating the lanes from the lounge and snack area until we approached an emergency exit. Two attackers tried to cut off our escape, but Redmond put a bullet in one and smashed his knee into the other, knocking him sideways. One of his soldiers finished the guy off.
They all looked so young. It struck me how little I knew about the men that wanted to murder me.
My ears rang as Redmond shoved open the door. We staggered outside into the blinding afternoon sun. Bullets followed us onto the sidewalk, and another soldier dropped. Redmond kept me moving, pulling me along then shoving me in front of him, keeping his body between me and whoever might pursue.
Nobody came. We hustled around the corner, moving in the opposite direction of the Rovers. “What about the cars?” I grabbed Redmond’s wrist.
He shook his head. “Either penned in or disabled. That’s a trap.” He tugged me along, walking fast, typing up a text message.
Sirens screamed in the distance. Police and paramedics. We had to get away from the scene. I could barely think, and I kept seeing Neil’s body, his head broken open, his future and his dreams gone so suddenly. He’d been close to escape, but it’d been taken from him, and I didn’t understand why.
This was our world. The life I was born into.
We walked for a while. At some point I realized most of Redmond’s men were dead or missing. Only three guards remained, and one was limping heavily, his right leg bleeding. We kept going, walking what felt like a random zig-zag pattern, until three Range Rovers appeared screaming around the corner.