Right Through Me (The Obsidian Files #1)(57)

“Do you have a plan?” Bea demanded.

“Not yet,” she admitted.

“Oh. Well, that’s inspiring,” Bea snapped. She craned her neck to scan the coffee shop and the street outside again. “Oh f*ck. We’re being watched.”

Carol looked around. A young mother was feeding chunks of poppyseed muffin to a toddler in a stroller. A chubby guy in a goatee was tapping into a laptop. Two lovers were forehead to forehead over their lattes, giggling. An old man read a paper.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “Tell me more about this lake.”

“Not here. We can’t stay here.” Bea leaped up. “Meet me outside. I’ll head east.”

Caro cursed under her breath and hurried out after her, catching up with Bea halfway down the block. “What lake, Bea?” she panted. “Just tell me.”

Bea spun around. “Do not say that name,” she hissed. “I am Marika.”

“OK, fine. Marika. Just tell me what you mean by lake.”

“Shut up.” Bea looked over Caro’s shoulder. “Those guys are following us.”

Caro started to turn, but Bea swatted her arm. “Don’t look now, you stupid cow! You were followed! Oh f*ck, oh f*ck . . .”

Bea took off like a gazelle. Caro glanced back over her shoulder, looking for Ponytail. He was nowhere around, but she saw two guys about twenty yards away. They wore earpieces, and both moved toward her, a stony, purposeful look in their eyes.

She took off running as fast as she could. Bea was already some distance ahead, veering into a busy intersection—

Brakes and tires squealed. There was a horrible thud.

Bea’s body rose high above an SUV, turning in a somersault, suspended in air for several moments.

Caro skidded to a stop when she heard the windshield shatter. Bea’s tumbling body hit the ground a second before another car braked. Not fast enough. The SUV got slammed forward. More broken glass. Shouts, screams. Horns blared.

A crowd began to gather. Caro ran faster, shoving, weaving around stalled cars, until she could see Bea, sprawled on the street, arms wide, staring at nothing. The hair on the side of her head was a dark mass of blood.

Caro fought to get closer, a scream of denial shredding her throat—

An arm caught her around the waist. She flailed, scratching and twisting—

“It’s me. Calm down.” Noah’s voice. Noah’s arm, Noah’s big, powerful body.

She went limp, utterly confused. “What? You? Why? What are you doing—”

“Not now. Not with those two after us.” He set her on her feet. “Run!”

“But what about Bea?”

“She’s dead, Caro.” He scanned the crowd as they wove through it, dragging her alongside him. As soon as they were clear, he gave her a hard push. “Go!”

His command worked like the crack of a starting gun. Caro dashed in a frenzied sprint on a zig-zag course through streets, alleys, parking lots. He herded her behind one of the bigger buildings under renovation. Scaffolding was still up. It was a mess. Dumpsters heaped with trash, piles of bricks and rebar.

Noah stopped short, and shoved her back into a narrow space between two parked trucks until her back hit rough brick. He cupped her face in his hands and gave her a swift, hard kiss. “Stay here. Right here.”

She gasped for breath. “But what are you going to—”

“Shhhh. Not a word. Don’t move.” He pressed her back against the bricks, and darted back the way they had come.

She was locked into place for a confused moment. Then she heard the slap of running feet getting closer. She scrambled behind the trucks and eased her way forward along the wall so she could see what was happening.

She heard a heavy thud, a startled yell. Gasps, grunts. Cursing, punctuated by slapping sounds. A harsh, chopped-off shout. The guy had attacked Noah.

She crouched down and saw a second guy’s feet flash by. Still more pounding footsteps were getting closer.

Three to one? Fuck that. She had to help him. Now.

Various lengths of rusty rebar were scattered on the ground. Some lay across the path between the trucks and the dumpsters. She grabbed the end of the longest piece of rebar she could see with one hand, and a brick with the other. Just as the running footsteps and panting breaths got louder, she jerked the rebar up—

Yes. The guy tripped. Went flying with a shout and hit the ground hard.

Caro pounced on him, screaming as she swung the brick she held downward.

Her opponent twisted, blocked her blow so that the brick glanced off the side of his head, but he still roared in pain. Caro whipped back to avoid his punch—

A rush of air moving, a blur of rapid motion. She was lifted. Tossed to the side.

Noah kicked the guy’s face. The whipping sound, air moving, flashes of color. His moves were too fast for her eyes to register. He yanked the guy’s arm, wrenched his knee sideways, slammed a fist down on his chest.

The guy lay still, his face a mask of blood below the nose. Arm and leg bent at impossible angles. Out cold.

Caro stared up. Noah didn’t even look rumpled. A glance behind her revealed that the other two attackers lay on the ground, in the same condition.

Noah grabbed her wrist and lifted her up to her feet. “You were supposed to stay put,” he said with disapproval.