Page 86 (1/1)
Dix sat back in his chair when he was sure they were out of hearing and folded his arms over his chest, now dead serious "Claus couldn’t locate Chigger Chivers, even went out to that fleabag shack he lives in He’s probably okay; he can be hard to track down soer heard every word you guys said Don’t know if he understood it all, since his brain’s been pickled for decades from all the moonshine he’s cooked over the years"
They were distracted when they heard Brewster yippingas the front door closed behind them Ruth said, "Brewster likes to dance in the snow, catch snowflakes in his mouth Unfortunately, he never remembers he always sinks like a stone" She paused and looked at Anna "We’ll plan so, Anna Are you sure you don’t want to stay here tonight?"
Anna carefully set down her coffeewith MAESTRO COUGARS written in bold red across it "Thank you, Ruth, but I’ll be fine with Griffin" She looked at each of them "I can’t stand that I’uys Not here, not to us"
Griffin lightly laid his hand over hers "We’ll get it done"
She stood up "I need to get back to my house and find Monk Then I’ll follow Griffin to the B&B"
Griffin rose to stand beside her as she said her good-byes and walked beside her out to her Kia, his hand cupped around her neck
Yes, Griffin thought, they would get it done His brain clicked back to the here and now and the casket-black darkness as he watched Anna pull her car into the driveway He pulled in behind her It boggled his brain when he realized he’d o He was thinking that over, starting to open his car door, when he realized soht was out
He sat on his horn, shoved open the car door, and rolled out onto the driveway just as an auto thethe s, so many so fast the car seemed to lift and sway on the asphalt He rolled behind the rear tire and was relieved to see Anna on her belly not ten feet fro her Glock
His ears were ringing, adrenaline pu so wildly Griffin felt he could shoot Super took over, and he focused He counted three separate weapons, firing at will, grouped in the woods on the driver’s side of the cars
He saw she was still pressed against the asphalt, waiting He yelled, "Anna, stay down!"
Then he heard it, a whistling sound, and he ju as he ran He slammed down beside Anna, then pulled her beneath him as his car exploded into flames He saw the car roof fly into the air The backseat and the steering wheel crashed to the ground He covered her head as hot debris fell down around them One tire rolled into the street, and another was ripped to pieces, flinging scraps of burning rubber everywhere He grunted when soainst her cheek, "We’ve got to ether they backed away on their hands and knees as fast as they could, only twenty feet to a row of trees behind them Bullets sprayed randomly around the black se flaht so brilliant the shards of glass frolittered like slivers of sun
It happened fast Two grenades struck Anna’s car, lifting it off the ground The explosion sucked up the air, the force of it hurling them back He saw a tire jack fly outward over theed their throats Then they heard a shout, a curse, thenapart not a foot fro frozen clots of earth exploding in the air Then the spray of bulletsblind
When they pressed behind a pine tree, Griffin knew they had a chance He grabbed her hand and they raced another thirty feet into the forest They stopped, panting, sucking in the clean air, and turned toward the light of their burning cars through the trees They listened as the gunfire slowly died away They heard lish and Spanish Soainst her ear, "I et to you"
They heard another man’s voice "They’re dead No way could they survive that"