I lunged forward, wrapping an arm around his thick neck and squeezing it hard. Whatever else he'd been holding thudded to the floor as he struggled uselessly to claw my arm away from his windpipe. I reached up and clamped my free hand over his mouth, choking off whatever other sounds he was trying to make.
From the other room, the first guy called out, "Hey! You break anything good, and it's coming out of your ass!"
Under the cover of his yelling, I twisted the guy's neck and lowered him slowly onto the kitchen floor. Dead, not dead. I didn't know. I didn't care. And I sure as hell wasn't going to take the time to check.
In the other room, Chloe was pleading with the guy. "Whoever you are, you've got the wrong house."
Yes. He did.
Conscious now that I had no idea how many people were here, I silently crept forward, through the kitchen and into the short hallway that led the main living area. They were still talking.
"Well, Louise," he was saying, "that's where you're wrong."
Louise? Who the hell was Louise?
"Because," he continued, "we haveexactlythe right house. And you haveexactlyone minute to start talking, or we're gonna break more than some vase or whatever the fuck that was."
"But I'm not Louise," Chloe insisted. "She's not here."
"Sure." His tone grew sarcastic. "I believe you."
"It's true," she stammered. "I can give her a message if–"
"Shut the fuck up," the guy said.
"But I’m not Louise. I don't even–"
"I said shut up!"
Forcing myself to move slowly, I finally spotted him, a dark silhouette, facing the front windows. Sure enough, he was holding a gun.
Fuck.
Near the front door, I spotted Chloe, a few paces away from the guy. She was facing me.Hewasn't.
Thank God.
Slivers of moonlight streamed in through the partially open blinds, giving me a distorted view of Chloe's face. She looked scared to death. Easy to see why.
I was scared, too. But not for me – for Chloe. Because the gun was pointed straight at her, which meant that if I fucked this up… No. I wasn't going to. I was going to play it smart, even if it killed me, or better yet, the other guy.
Slowly, the guy started prowling toward her, like the sick fuck was getting his jollies, toying with a girl half his size.
Big mistake.
I was moving too, looking to catch him quietly, before he could even think of pulling that trigger. I was just a couple paces behind him when Chloe's expression changed.
She'd spotted me. I could see it on her face, even if the guy couldn't. But she didn't give me away.
Smart girl.
As if sensing someone behind him, the guy hesitated. He started to look around.
But then, Chloe started talking. "Please…" Her voice sounded small and weak, and maybe a little breathless. "Don't hurt me."
At this, he laughed, low and deep, making me want to rip out his throat and strangle him with it. The way it sounded, the gun wasn't the only thing he was thinking of using.
I was almost on him now. Almost, but not quite.
