“I’ll kill you,” she said, and made a swipe at him, but her hand fell heavily against his arm. Everything felt like it was wrapped in cotton.
“I won’t do anything you haven’t done before. I just didn’t want things to get confrontational.”
She felt herself being lifted and carried, and then the ground below her, a stick or something digging into her back.
When she woke up, she was face down. She had no idea how long she had been out. It could have been five minutes, it could have been an hour. Pine needles stuck to her face. Her body felt thick and heavy, as if her veins were full of syrup.
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
“What did you do?” she tried to ask, but she could hear it didn’t come out right. She started to move, lifting herself up on one elbow. Then there was another pinprick.
“No,” she managed to say, and then she was out again.
Next time she woke up, she was looking at bits of sky, a canopy of trees.
She didn’t feel as wasted this time. Maybe the shot had gone astray-or maybe she’d been out longer. She ran a hand over her face and sat up. The forest floor swayed beneath her like a hammock.
“Yoo-hoo,” he said. “Hello there, sleepyhead.”
She tried to stand but couldn’t quite make it. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down.
“You have an interesting body, I have to say. Nice slow curves. Soft and hard in all the right places. Smells good. Tastes good. I took the scenic route, so to speak.”
“What did you do, you creep?” She pulled her skirt back into shape.
“Well, let’s just say you’re not gonna enjoy riding a bike for a while.”
Sabrina struggled to get to her knees.
“No, no, sweetheart, you just relax. We got all day here.”
He reached behind and pulled up a small vinyl case, unzipped it, and pulled out another syringe. Sabrina rolled away from him and got to her knees, unsteady.
“Slow down there, sister. Time for your booster.”
Somewhere beyond the trees a car pulled up.
“Keep your mouth shut,” Zig said. “Or you’re dead.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Car doors slammed. Voices. One of them unmistakably Max’s.
“Not a sound,” Zig said, and gestured with the gun.
A twig snapped.
Sabrina made a run for it, forcing her legs to work. I’m going to get a bullet in the back, she thought. I’m going to die on this godforsaken road in this godforsaken state, and-
There was a gunshot and a tree spat bark at her face. She fell into some bushes. She could see Owen, and then Max, behind the trees on the other side of the road. How did everyone in the entire world know where to find her?
She crawled through the bushes, twigs and rock biting into her knees and shins. Zig jumped on her from behind and hauled her up by her hair, but not before she closed her fist around a sharp stone.
He gripped her arm like he would snap her wrist, forcing her to the edge of the trees. He yelled across the road.
“Come any closer, Max, the girl gets it.”
Max’s face appeared from behind a tree. Also a revolver.
“Zig? Is that you? I am extremely disappointed in you, Zig. A former classmate turning on me in my twilight years.”
“You’re a thief, Max. You should understand by now how thieves think.”
“Nonsense, sir. You insult the profession.”
“The profession doesn’t care.”
Sabrina brought the stone up hard and caught him in the side of the head. Zig staggered to one side, and she ran for her car. Her legs were still sluggish and she nearly fell, but she made it. The keys were on the floor.
“Sabrina, wait!”
Owen’s panicked face glimmered among the trees. She hit the gas.
“That girl has an impressive instinct for survival,” Max said quietly.
“I think she’s hurt,” Owen said.
“Her welfare is not first among my concerns at the moment.”
“Hey, Max,” Zig called. His head appeared around the corner of the cottage. “What do you say we call it a draw?”
“There are two of us and only one of you. We have a vehicle and you do not. How is that a draw?”
“I’m more ruthless than you,” Zig said.
“No doubt the late William Bullard would agree with you. Not to mention a brace of my colleagues. Clarify one point for me, Zigler. If you and your henchmen are the Subtractors, why are you minus two nipples?”
“That’s a long story, Max.”
“I have the time.”
“I don’t feel like going into it right now. I’d rather reiterate an earlier point: I am your basic ruthless criminal. I’m not all bad, but it would be fair to call me … uninhibited. Whereas you, on the other hand, are kind of a pussycat. I mean, you pride yourself on it, right? Max Maxwell, the gentleman thief.”
“Appearances deceive,” Max said. “The devil may take a pleasing shape.”
“Max,” Owen said quietly, “I’m gonna run to the car.”
“Don’t. He’ll shoot you dead in your tracks.”
“Well, you shoot at him first. Keep him busy.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. These are real guns, real bullets.”
“On three. One …”
“Don’t.”
“Two …”
“Owen, for God’s sake.”
“Three.”
Owen took off and Max reached around the tree, firing a series of shots across the road. Unfortunately, it didn’t stop Zig from firing at the same time, and Owen had to dive right back.
“Okay,” Zig called out, “now I have a question for you.”
“Fire away,” Max said. “So to speak.”
“How are you going to get to that car without me putting a bullet through your head?”
“Can I rely on your good nature? On your reputation as a gentleman?”
“You could try.”
Owen touched Max’s shoulder. “How many bullets do you have left?”
“In a word? One.”
“Shit. What about blanks?”
“There’s a box in the trunk of the car.”
Zig appeared around the corner of the cottage again. “Look, Max, I’m willing to call a truce here. Why don’t you throw out your gun and we’ll call it a day?”
“No deal,” Owen called out. “You throw out yours first.”
“No, thanks,” Zig said. “But I’ll tell you what I will do. I’ll put it away.”
There was a pause, then Zig stepped out into the open, hands in the air.
“Okay, look,” Zig said. “I know you’re not gonna shoot me in cold blood, and I’m not gonna shoot you either. I got my hands up. Gun’s in my pocket. Just come out of there and we’ll work this out.”
