Reyna glanced back one more time to see that the crowd seemed to be helping keep Rowland off their back. Between the New Year’s Eve mob and the mayhem from the gunshots, he had no clear path. And everything was so haphazard that he had to physically push people out of his way as he attempted to weave through the crowd. No one was making it easy on him.
But after that glance, she couldn’t keep looking. Not if she wanted to get through the crowd herself.
They ran down three blocks, weaving in and out of traffic and taking turns and corners, hoping to lose Rowland and trying to get away from the mass of people to reach their getaway car.
Gabe checked once more and flashed them a victorious smile. “I don’t see him.”
Reyna nodded and Meghan shot both of them a quick grin. But Reyna couldn’t get rid of the uneasy feeling in her stomach. She chewed on her lip and tried to measure her breathing. She didn’t want to be caught unaware.
“Almost there,” Gabe said. “Just this corner.”
They whipped around the next corner faster than any of them had ever run before. An unmarked black van idled on the street. As they rushed toward it, the back doors flapped open.
And then Reyna saw him.
Rowland had come out of nowhere at the end of the street. No longer meandering, he launched himself toward them. He saw the van. He knew that they could get away and she knew he had every intention of stopping them.
It felt as if everything happened in slow motion. Meghan reached the van first, vaulting forward and careening into the empty interior. Gabe was next jumping inside. Reyna was the last and the slowest, her breathing jagged. No matter that she’d spent months training for this very moment. Her time on the treadmill hadn’t actually seemed to prepare her for running outside, barefoot, in unbearably cold temperatures.
She knew Rowland was almost upon her. She didn’t dare look over her shoulder. But she could tell it was too close for comfort.
Meghan had her gun out, pointing it toward them. Gabe placed his hand on it.
“You’ll hit her!”
Meghan shook him off, lifted it again, and aimed. Gabe reached his hand out toward Reyna, and with only a short distance between them she used her last burst of energy and threw her body toward him.
His hand locked on her wrist. Her knee hit the metal bumper. Her shoulder was tugged so hard she swore it felt as if it dislocated as he hauled her inside. She was nearly there when she felt a hand clasp her ankle.
“Go, go, go!” Gabe yelled at Tye, who was driving the getaway car.
He moved to wrap his arms around her chest as he tried to pull her farther inside. But Rowland was definitely stronger. Then the van kicked into drive and suddenly they were all thrown off balance. Gabe scrambled to get his footing again, but even with them rumbling down the street and Rowland having no leverage, he was still pulling her from the van.
“Let me go!” she shrieked, trying to dislodge Rowland from her.
“You think this is over? That you can just walk away?” Rowland spat at her.
“Fuck you,” Meghan yelled.
Then Reyna heard a series of gunshots. Rowland shifted fast enough to miss most of the spray, but a bullet must have hit. He grunted and gave just a bit of release on her ankle. Reyna reared back and kicked him in the face. He let go, falling backward across the pavement.
Gabe tugged Reyna all the way into the van. She was gasping on all fours as she stared out through the open doors at Rowland’s furious face. Even after being shot, he still got back on his feet and tried to race to catch them.
But he couldn’t take down a moving vehicle barreling down the street. Their eyes met in the distance. He pointed his finger at her. A chill ran down her spine. It was as if he was saying that he would come for her. This wasn’t over.
But…it was over.
It was all over.
Chapter 2
The van skittered around another corner and toward safety as Meghan and Gabe pulled the doors closed. The noise from the outside disappeared, sending them all into a stony silence, their labored breathing the only sound.
Reyna didn’t recognize the woman with brown skin and a bindi on her forehead who ducked into the back from the passenger seat. She rummaged through a black duffel bag and handed warmer clothes to Meghan and Gabe. She started to move toward Reyna, but Gabe put his hand out to stop her. His eyes shot to Reyna’s and then back. He just shook his head as if she were a volcano about to erupt.
The woman shrugged and passed the clothes to Gabe. He walked through the large open area in the back to where Reyna was still seated on the floor, shell-shocked. She tucked her knees to her chest, pulling Beckham’s jacket tighter around her. She wasn’t relinquishing this. No matter what anyone said.
“Hey,” Gabe said, crouching down. “You’re going to get sick if you don’t change into this. You don’t want it all to be for nothing.”
He held out a pair of pants, thick socks, a sweater, and a jacket to match Meghan’s. When she didn’t respond, he put the clothes next to her and went to talk to Meghan, who appeared a minute later with a haunted look in her eyes.
She didn’t try to talk to Reyna. She didn’t try to tell her that things would be better. She didn’t lie to her. She just acted like the nurse that she was trained to be. She helped Reyna into the pants and socks. Reyna only protested when Meghan tried to remove Beckham’s jacket. This was all she had left of him.
Tears filled Meghan’s eyes at the sight. She slung the other jacket on top of Beckham’s, rubbed Reyna’s hair gently, and then stepped away. She returned a minute later to bandage her wrist and then left her alone.
The adrenaline of the escape and chase had suddenly left Reyna’s body, leaving her utterly empty. Leaving her with her memories.
Beckham’s broken body. Him falling to the ground. Not moving. Dead.
She felt as broken as he had looked in that moment. Broken and shell-shocked and bleeding and empty. Just…empty.
Reyna could hear everyone whispering about her. “What happened to her?” the woman asked.
Gabe shook his head. “Beckham…”
“He’s gone?”
Meghan cleared her throat noisily. “Prisha,” she hissed.
“Yeah,” Gabe replied. “He’s gone.”
Tye cursed softly.
Meghan hiccupped around her own tears.
“She saw it?” Prisha murmured.
“Yeah,” Gabe whispered.
“Poor thing.”
But Reyna didn’t feel like a poor thing.