Grace’s heart had crept into her throat without her noticing until she swallowed in fear. None of them were aiming guns at each other, but the hitman was a professional. He could shoot them dead before they fumbled with the pistols in their holsters. She watched carefully to see if he was reaching for his gun, but he wasn’t.
The seconds went by.
One of the nearby fence posts cracked as a bullet slammed into it. The three of them jumped, though Misha’s twitch was the least noticeable. A few seconds later, a distant gunshot resonated on the wind.
Misha searched the surrounding countryside. “She is close.”
They squatted to make smaller targets, but they were on an exposed hillside with nowhere to run.
“Kill them, Misha. This is a friendly request with a big cherry on top.”
He held the radio low. “We have to run for tunnel.”
“But we’re on top of it,” Asher replied.
“When you get there, jump down to tracks. She’s going to shoot us otherwise.” He held up the radio and spoke into it. “Nerio, what guarantee do I have you will not kill me once I do as you ask?”
“No guarantee. Consider it a professional courtesy from one independent contractor to another, washed-up, hitman. This moment is the whole reason I let you out of your cage. I wanted to see if you would come through for me after saving your life. Petteri was going to kill you, you know.”
He whispered. “Run, now!”
Grace and Asher took off at a sprint, but Misha lagged. He talked into the radio. “I will have answer for you in moment.”
“I’m sure you—” the woman’s voice cut off. “Ah, I see. Running is a big mistake. As it says on my favorite T-shirt, you’ll only die tired. Alejandro, kill them!”
The zip of a bullet ripped through the windy air. Grace’s hair went sideways and directly in front of her face as she ran the hundred yards down the hillside toward the tunnel entrance. A second bullet whizzed by, slapping into the dirt not more than ten feet behind her. The distant echo of gunfire was off to one side.
“She’s on the left!” Misha advised. “Go down the left side of the tunnel entrance!”
Grace looked toward the sounds, morbidly curious where the shots were coming from. All she saw were more hills and the usual grass, but there was a lot of ground in front of them. The deadly shooter could be anywhere out there.
She ran for a few more paces before a force spun her around and made her fall into the crunchy grass. The echo of a shot followed a moment later, suggesting she’d been struck by a bullet.
Asher had been behind her. He leaned and grabbed her arm to get her back up.
Nothing felt punctured or broken, which she thought was a miracle. After stumbling for a short way, she made it to her feet. The final stretch to the tunnel was steeper than the rest of the hillside, accelerating her run. Moments later, they reached the edge of the tunnel entrance.
“We have to go over there, where it’s lower.” Asher pointed to the leftmost wall. If they jumped down where they were, it was at least a twenty-foot drop to the tracks. A fall with all the gear they carried was almost certainly going to break an ankle.
“Go!” she replied.
Misha hurried by. “Like this!” He ran ahead as they tried to keep up. Without announcing himself further, he slid feet-first into the grass, guided himself over the edge, caught the lip for a fraction of a second, then fell ten or twelve feet to the rocks below.
She and Asher did it with a lot less grace. She sat down with a rough plop, and Asher bumped into her. The shooting continued, but they were already behind the slope of the ground dug out for the railroad. Asher hopped down first, then waited for her to follow. She shucked off her pack and let it drop. Then she held the edge of the rocks and let herself fall.
“I’ve got you,” Asher said, bracing her as she landed.
She spun around in his arms, letting herself enjoy the fleeting feeling of security. However, Misha handed her the pack, which had been split open on two sides by one of the shots. The bottled waters were punctured. They’d soaked the entire underside of the pack.
The radio crackled to life. “My husband has some explaining to do for his poor shooting performance. While we take care of that, I’ll leave you three to discuss Misha’s betrayal. And Misha, my offer still stands. Eliminate them and you can still return to your old job. Unlike some other people, I won’t threaten to kill your family if you don’t get it done. I’ll simply snuff you out with the others.”
Blood drained from Misha’s face. She figured he was going to curse out the woman for being so cruel, but he instead tucked the radio into his belt and ignored it. When he saw her expression, he turned to her. “Nichevo. Is nothing. She lost me completely when she mentioned wife. She knows about it. It tells me she and Petteri are working together. None of what she said was real.”
She cleared her throat. “Except the part where she let you go.”
“Except that, yes. But I think you understand why I did not tell you. She is not exactly, um, how to say? She is not sane.”
Grace nodded. “At least we agree on something.”
Miami, MO
Ezra was glad the younger kids had gone on the other side of the river. By the time he’d parked the boat, he figured he only had three miles to walk, rather than the five miles of woods and farmland they planned to
