He didn't hear Abbie coming until she was three feet away. By that point, she'd raised her gun, aiming at his skull.
The guy tried to turn, but Abbie pulled the trigger.
The guy went to the ground in a heap. Abbie stood over him and put another bullet between the eyes, just to be safe.
Now it was she who sighed.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting."
Five
Silenced pistols were not silent. The dull thud of the shot reverberated across the air. At the opposite front corner of the dealership, another enemy was lurking. Had they heard?
Abbie would soon find out.
Dropping to her knees, she performed a hasty but thorough search of the man she'd executed. Found nothing. The lack of a phone suggested this was not Smoker. It felt right the little group's leader was the last man standing. Made it like an action film, and Abbie did enjoy pretending to be an action hero. It really took the edge off ending lives and creating grieving widows and despondent children.
On that happy thought, Abbie rose. The night was quiet, still. Abbie could see the enemy's vehicle from her spot by the dealership's wall, parked side on between the fifth and sixth ring of cars.
Abbie returned to the first ring; proceeded to the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. Once at the rear of the first car she reached on the fifth row, Abbie crouched. In this uncomfortable position, she worked her way from car to car, now moving in an arc around the front of the building towards the enemy's mode of transport.
She was a quarter of the way to her target—probably in line with the staircase across which lay the woman Abbie had earlier shot dead—when a shape emerged from around the building's side.
Abbie stopped, dropped behind a Ford's bumper, and glanced around the car's rear right wheel arch.
This new man had his gun raised, aimed along the building's front, towards the corner around which lay his dead comrade. After ten paces towards the front entrance and his deceased colleague, he stopped, gun still aloft, waited.
Abbie guessed Smoker had heard Abbie's shot, but it was muffled. He couldn't be sure the sound was of a bullet leaving a chamber. Definitely couldn't know if the potential bullet had ended a life and, if it had, whether that life was friend or foe.
Maybe he would step into the building. That would be ideal. It would give Abbie options. Always a good thing. She could take the easy route and escape, or the challenging but perhaps more satisfying path, and follow him into the building, shoot him dead and complete the set.
Try to shoot him dead, anyway. Abbie had never yet failed in a fight to the death but had to remind herself: neither had Smoker.
If he went around the corner, following him would still be an option. So would escape. The moment he saw his fallen comrade, he would jump to high alert. But if Abbie was careful and traced her way back through the cars, she could probably get close enough to kill him without being noticed, right as he found his dead mate.
For several long, painful seconds, Abbie waited for the info she'd need to make a decision.
Smoker took several steps forward.
Then, he turned. Rather than looking towards the building, he swept his gun across the lines of cars.
Abbie guessed what had happened.
The smoker had heard Abbie's gun and determined someone had fired a bullet. He knew, had the shooter been friend, his partner would have emerged to explain the score. That this hadn't happened indicated the shooter was foe. Which changed things.
If someone had shot his comrade, where would that someone go?
If the shooting had happened on Smoker's side, the obvious route would be to escape over the chainlink fence. But the fence on the other side and to the rear of the building was higher, and trees pressed close against it from the outer side. It would be much harder to scale than at the front.
Besides, upon arrival, Smoker and his gang had left open the front gate. That was the easiest escape route. That was where Smoker expected his quarry to go.
Smoker continued to the entrance then turned towards the open gate, directly ahead.
Abbie had dropped to the ground when her final enemy had appeared. As he turned to the gate, she moved onto her haunches and pointed towards the badly parked car. Her hand rested on the taillight of the Ford. Peaking forward, she watched Smoker.
His handgun's muzzle leading the way, he walked from the dealership entrance to the first circle of cars.
He gave the area one final sweep. Then ducked.
Abbie knew his game. Protected by a car on either side, he would crawl to the bumpers, peak left and right, searching for Abbie in the alley between the first and second of Saturn's rings. When she wasn’t there, he would move up a circle and repeat the process until he found Abbie or decided she and Christine had escaped.
The moment he disappeared between the two cars in the first ring, Abbie moved. From the bumper of the Ford, she made a crouched rush to the Renault next door. There were now ten vehicles between her and the target. This wouldn't be easy.
Abbie moved again, rushing to car one of ten and ducking behind the bumper. With Smoker crouching, and the sea of cars between them, it wasn't possible to spot his movements. Tracking by sound was difficult, but she did her best.
That had to be him, moving down a price bracket.
Abbie had to speed up if she wanted to reach the car before Smoker. She knew if she did that, escape wouldn't be simple but easier. From her pocket, she withdrew the key she'd taken from Baldie. Would Smoker have another? Hard to say.
Abbie rushed to car two of ten, stopped, then car three. She considered going back towards the building and trying to sneak up behind Smoker, but that
