Shadow's Turning- Part 13

“I’m really hoping you have some super-secret bolt hole you’re taking us to.”

I looked over at his tight face and felt my stomach sink.

He pushed it right to edge, pulling over to the side of the road with a minute left.  Leaning over, he pushed the hazard light button down and held it there.

I heard an odd click and then a tumbling sound from the roof.

I jerked as something clattered against the window.

I squinted at the window and then the windshield, now covered by…wooden blinds?

“They’re charmed.”

I looked over at Birch, bemused.

“It’s not a guarantee we’ll make it.  I haven’t actually had to try them out yet.  But the car is also bulletproof, including the glass.”

I felt a slight surge of hope.  But then I remembered the night before and crashed back down.

“Maybe I should get out,” I said, my heart in my throat as I thought about going out there alone.

“Shut up.  You can’t disengage the locks until dawn.”  He reached down and unbuckled his belt, sliding it out of the loops.  “Put your hands behind your back.”

I didn’t hesitate.

He wrapped my wrists together in some sort of complicated knot.

“Good?”

I tried to get out of it, but I couldn’t.  It was tight, but I didn’t feel like my circulation was cut off.

I nodded.

“Alright, let’s move back.”

He moved smoothly between the two seats in front to the back and steadied me as I moved back too.

He went on a knee to look over the seat to the storage area and came back up with a crossbow.  He set it across his lap.

Then we waited.

I tried to ignore the odd sounds coming from outside.  Clicking, skittering, moans so low I almost couldn’t hear them.

If only my pounding heart was a little louder.

Something hit the car hard enough to rock it.  A squeal so high-pitched I hunched up my shoulders in a vain attempt to cover my ears followed.

Birch sat with his eyes unfocused, not really looking at anything, but I was sure aware of everything.  I shifted in my seat and he flicked his eyes to me and then away again.

“Don’t worry- I’ll let you know if I get the urge to claw my way out,” I murmured, trying for light hearted but missing the mark.

His lips curled up briefly anyway.

Something heavy thumped onto the roof but then just as quickly stumbled off with a discordant metallic scraping sound.

Nothing else happened for some time after that, and I relaxed in spite of myself.

I leaned back against the door, my fingers caressing the smooth plastic of the handle.

“Sara.”

I looked at Birch questioningly.

“Get away from the door.”

I jerked away from the door on a surge of panic.  And felt the immediate urge to go back to it.

Birch and I locked eyes, his face grim.

Shadow's Turning- Part 12

Birch let go of me and shoved me back the way we’d come.

“Freeze!  Put your hands up!”

The hall spit us back out into the alley we’d entered from.  Birch took the lead again, taking us to the street out front.

One officer was standing next to his car, leaning back with his hips resting against the passenger door, a bored expression on his face.

Birch didn’t hesitate, just barreled right past him.

“Get in!” he yelled, veering over to the driver’s side of his car.  Thank God we’d gotten a good parking spot.

I scrambled into the passenger side just as he squealed away from the curb, my door still open.

“Shit!”

I took a hold of the headrest and reached out to slam the door shut before feeling for the seatbelt.

“Where are we going?” I gasped, out of breath.

“Away.”

Very informative.

I held onto the sissy bar as he jerked the wheel to the right and careened around a corner, cars honking in our wake.

I might not have to worry about being caught.

Birch was going to kill both of us.

I glanced back to find two police cruisers coming after us, their obnoxiously loud sirens blaring.

When I turned back around, I saw another one coming towards us.

“Hold on.”

What did he think I’d been doing?

He executed a tight u-turn that barely missed two cars, one of the drivers slamming on the brakes and flipping us the middle finger.

Multi-tasking.

We shot past the gaping police officers who’d been following us.

The street in front of us was almost empty now, the impending sunset driving everyone inside.

Birch turned the car onto the highway on-ramp.

“But it’s-”

I closed my eyes and covered my head with my arms as we drove right through the barrier that was put up after curfew.

The car jerked as we crashed through, but Birch kept control, his forearms tensing as he kept the wheel in the correct position.  He punched the gas as we reached the deserted lanes.

The sound of sirens faded in the background and I checked the rearview mirror.

The road was empty behind us.

I checked my watch.

Ten minutes to sundown.

Shadow's Turning- Part 11

 “What should we do?” I asked, my head spinning at the implications.

Had Mindy reported me after all?  Or maybe the noise had alerted the neighbors.  But the nearby buildings had looked like businesses.  I doubted anyone had stayed past dark.

Birch went to the window and opened the shutters, looking down at the street below.

“They’re already here.”

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me to the door.  I snagged my bag on the way, wishing I’d put more in it.

From the looks of things, who knew when I’d be able to come back.

Shoving that thought to the back of my mind, I hurried behind Birch as we got to the elevator and he punched the up button.

“Up?”

“Only way left,” he said tightly, stepping in as the doors opened.

“Maybe…maybe we should just turn ourselves in,” I said nervously, the tug on my stomach as we began moving up not helping the queasiness that had settled in there.

He turned me toward him, his hands firm on my shoulders as he leaned his face in close to mine.

“They don’t care about you.  Do you think they’re going to put you in a nice cell where you’re going to wait for a court date and a jury of your peers to review evidence?”  He shook me roughly.  “Wake up, Sara.  Run.  Run or stay and wish you had.”

He turned away from me as the doors opened on the top floor.

This time he grabbed my hand, his dry palm meeting my sweaty one.

We pounded up the stairs to the door that led to the roof.  Removing the bars, he chucked them onto the landing and opened the heavy door.

The roof was flat under our feet, the breeze a stiff wind this high up.

I was still squinting at the bright sunlight as he led me over to the side of the building opposite the street.

He released the fire escape ladder and I watched as it opened, sliding down to the alley below.

Sliding way down.

I closed my eyes and leaned back as vertigo took a hold of me.

“I’ll go first.  Just don’t look down, ok?”

I nodded, wishing I hadn’t already done so.

He swung over the side easily and quickly disappeared as he went down a few rungs.

“Alright, your turn.”

Right.

I kept my eyes on my hands as I straddled the edge and reached down with a foot.

Hands guided it to the first rung.

I could do this.

Swinging my other foot over to join the first, I went down the next rung.

I held my breath as I slowly descended, trying not to think about how high up I was or how far down the fall would be.

All that mattered was the next rung.

A couple of times I had had to pause for a second and Birch called out whispered encouragement.

I kept going for what felt like forever, the edge of fear sharp the whole way.

“Got you.”

I started as large hands wrapped around my waist, tugging me away from the ladder.

I sagged a little against him as relief at having both feet firmly on the ground washed over me.  He stiffened in surprise and I straightened quickly, embarrassed.

I didn’t have time to dwell on it as he grabbed my hand again and pulled me along to a door that had been propped open in the building on the other side of the alley.

An anemic-looking young man stood next to it, puffing away at a cigarette as he watched us with disinterested eyes.  We hurried through into a narrow, winding hallway.

It opened up into a smallish entryway with a pair of solid double doors.

We were almost to them when they burst open to reveal a group of uniformed officers.

Shadow's Turning- Part 10

His car turned out to be a gleaming black SUV, parked in a detached garage in the back.

I got into the passenger seat and buckled myself in.

The ride to my apartment was quiet.  I didn’t know about him, but I needed to get horizontal in the worst way.

I doubted I would be able to sleep at night.

We parked in the not so well lit basement and I led Birch to the elevator, pressing my floor.

And because the universe has a mean sense of humor, the elevator opened up to Mrs. Hendrix.

Birch took in her small, frail form dressed in a lavender sweat suit and her fluffy white hair.  Even her smile broadcasted nice old lady.

I saw him dismiss her as a threat.

Little did he know.

“Sara!  Two nights in a row.  Must be careful now, a young lady’s reputation isn’t easily fixed.”

“Good morning Mrs. Hendrix,” I said with a stiff smile, trying to edge around her walker.

“I waited for you to come help me with my trash, but I suppose you had more important things to do,” she said, eyeing Birch with the glittering eyes.  “I’ll wait for you to come over tonight.”

I mumbled something non-committal and almost ran down the hall to my door.

She muttered something about rude young people as she got on the elevator.

“Make a habit of running away from old ladies?” Birch asked in an amused voice.

“Don’t let her disguise fool you,” I muttered, my face heating from a blush.

He’d just faced one of those…things…voluntarily and survived.

And here I was running away from a confrontation with a senior citizen.

With a silent sigh, I opened the door and went in, throwing my keys on the table in the entryway.

“Make yourself at home,” I said, going into my bedroom.

I pulled out some yoga pants and a t-shirt, wanting comfort.  I was going to take my time in the shower.  If Birch was annoyed, well, it was his choice to come with me in the first place.

I turned the water on to scalding and hopped in.

Twenty minutes later, I almost felt human.

Wiping the foggy mirror, I looked at my face.

I had the beginnings of shadows under my eyes, the dark green dulled from lack of sleep.  With my brown hair slicked back, the signs of fatigue were even more apparent on my face.

I also had bruises all over my body from throwing myself against the door.

Maybe I shouldn’t have looked in the mirror.

I ran a comb through my hair and dressed.  Opening the door to my bedroom, I padded barefoot to the living room.

Birch was seated on the couch with his head tilted back and his eyes closed.

“Hey- can I catch some sleep before we go back?” I asked, nudging his jean-clad leg with my foot.

He opened one eye to look at me.

“Few hours,” he said and closed his eye again.

Ok, good enough.

I went back inside and collapsed on the bed.

Chapter 5

“Sara.”

I grumbled and turned away from the annoying voice that kept calling my name.

“Sara, we need to get going.”

I curled up tighter.

That’s when the covers were ripped off.

“Hey!”

I sat up, glaring at Birch.

“Get up.  We have to get back.  Unless you want me to duct tape you to one of your chairs before the sun sets.”

That got me up.

Blinking the sleep out of my eyes, I stumbled out of bed and grabbed a tote bag, shoving in some toiletries and a change of clothes, just in case.

Just as we were about to leave the apartment, my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Give it to Birch.”

Geez, no hello or anything.  I handed it to Birch.

“It’s Lieson.”

“Yeah?” he answered.

He listened intently.

His jaw clenched as his eyes narrowed.

Obviously not good news.

“Ok.”

He turned the phone off.

“What?” I asked.

“Who did you tell about what happened?” he asked in a voice that was too controlled.

“Uh, just you guys.  And Mindy.  Why?”

“The police just showed up at our place.”