Finally, we arrived outside the hotel, and I pulled the car to a sharp halt. I was breathing hard as I tried to gather myself. But before I could so much as pull myself together, Ian glanced around – and his face dropped.
“They’re still after us,” he told me, and he reached over to grab my arm with one bloodied hand. “You need to run.”
“Ian, what the fuck are you—”
“Get out of here. Tell Terrence the Vogons fucked us over.”
“I’m not leaving you here,” I protested, but he shook his head, his face pale.
“You have to,” he replied. I could see the color draining from his face, and I was sure he was right. He wouldn’t be able to make it far, if there really was someone on our tail, and he didn’t want to let them get away with this. The only chance I had to keep this game up was to run, and leave him here. I didn’t want to, but I needed to be ruthless right now. I needed to get out of here.
I climbed out of the car just as the first bullet shattered the back window, and I ducked down and started to run. I could feel the blood pumping in my veins, and I checked to make sure my gun was still strapped to my hip. I might have to stand and fight, but if I could put enough distance between myself and this mess—
I glanced over my shoulder. A car had drawn to a halt behind us, and at least four Vogons were hanging out the windows and lining up shots with the back of our vehicle. I saw Ian inside, catching his eye one last time, and he nodded at me, as though giving me permission to get out of there.
A gunshot cut through the air, and I was sure I could hear screaming in the distance, but I paid no attention to it. I managed to dip my head down just in time to feel a bullet whipping over the top of my hair. Shit. It was like it was all happening in a dream, to someone else entirely. It had been a long time since I had seen action like this, and the last eight months of playing it slow had me complacent. I needed to be on my game more than ever, or I was going to end up dead – along with all the work I had done to get close to Terrence and his gang.
But before I could think on that any longer, I crashed into someone. Before I knew it, I was on the ground, and my gun had been knocked away.