The Belial Stone (The Belial Series #1)(20)

But then it had been another few minutes before she’d gone downstairs. What had he been doing during that time? Her house was small. He could have searched the whole place in the time it took her to go downstairs.

Unless, she thought, as she stared at the computer, he had something else to take care of first. He would have had time to upload the virus. But why?

Laney paced the room. She wanted to scream in frustration. Why? That seemed to be her favorite word at the moment.

Why was Drew dead?

Why had she been attacked?

Why had her computer been fried?

Why was her attacker alive?

Why was any of this happening?

Laney picked up her laptop and threw it against the wall. It crashed to the floor, parts of the casing cracking off. Damn it, she wanted to hit something.

Frank rushed into the room, gun drawn. “Laney!

She cringed. “Oh. Sorry, Frank. My computer just tanked and I tossed it across the room.”

Frank snorted with a grin. “Hell, I've wanted to do that plenty of times. Just try to keep the destruction to a-”

A yell from outside halted his words. Frank flew to the front door to look out. Laney followed him, glancing out the window.

Marcos was crouched behind the open door of Frank’s car, his gun trained on the man advancing from across the street. “Stop. Identify yourself.”

Holy crap. Her eyes locked on the man striding towards the house. There were scabs on his face where the shotgun blast had caught him. But otherwise, Paul looked unharmed. He definitely didn’t look like he'd been seriously injured this morning.

Marcos opened fire. Two bullets tore through Paul’s chest. He didn’t even slow down. He reached Marcos and dragged him to his feet.

Frank opened the door. “Run, Laney,” he yelled before sprinting outside.

Laney ran for the back door, the sound of gunfire erupting from the front of the house. She flew out the back with a sense of déjà vu. Twice in one day, she was escaping down porch stairs.

She headed for the stone wall at the back of the yard, knowing it split the property from the high school. Maybe she could lose him in there.

Sprinting past the shed, her entire focus was on getting to the wall.

She yelped as a hand slid around her waist, yanking her back. Another hand clamped over her mouth. She was pressed up against a well-muscled chest. “Don’t say a word.”





CHAPTER 15



Laney struggled against the arms that held her. She slammed her heel into the man’s instep.

He let out a grunt but didn’t release her. “Damn it. Stop struggling. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help. And we don’t have time for this. He’ll be out here any second.”

It wasn’t his words that stopped her struggles, but his tone. He sounded exasperated

“I need you to follow me if we’re going to get away from him, okay?”

She nodded and he released her. He latched onto her hand and ran for the neighbor’s yard. He led her though a break in the wall into the alley behind the school. He barreled through an old metal door at the back of the school, pulling her in behind him.

They were in a hallway that smelled of old sweat. Must be near the gym, she thought.

The man pulled her down a long hall on the right that ended in a set of double doors. A couple of kids Laney could have sworn were only twelve were making out like it was the end of the world. They didn’t even glance up as they rushed past.

The man didn’t hesitate, just kept moving forward, his grip on her hand never loosening. Whoever the hell he was, he seemed to know where he was going.

He crashed through a set of double doors and they spilled out onto the gym floor. Laney pitched forward, but the man grabbed her and kept her upright. “Let’s go.”

She glanced back through the door before it closed. The hall remained empty, but she could have sworn she heard the outside door bang open. “I think he’s coming.”

The man nodded and picked up his pace, barreling through the gym class. Teenagers scattered, although a few threw basketballs at them as they passed. And Laney heard more than one “*” tossed in their direction.

They barged through the doors on the opposite side of the gym. The man grabbed a grey sweatshirt lying on top of a book bag and shoved it at her. “Throw that on.”

She tugged it over her shirt, trying to keep pace with him. “Isn’t he just going to see us when we leave? We can’t put these kids in danger.”

He looked down at her and smiled. She was struck by how handsome he was. Dark brown hair framed a strong face. Wrinkles at the corners of his brown eyes showed he spent lots of time outdoors, and his nose was slightly crooked, as if it had been broken a few times. Her heart began to beat a little faster. Damn. He was masculine with a capital M.

Without breaking stride, he reached out and pulled down the fire alarm as they passed. “He’ll have to find us first.”

The fire alarm wailed through the halls, small strobe lights flashed on the walls. Students poured into the hallway. The teenagers jostled each other, grinning, obviously enjoying the break in the routine.

Teachers tried to keep order, reminding the students to stay with their class. But it was organized chaos. Laney and her new friend were swept along with the human tide towards the exit.

The man clamped onto her hand, keeping her close. “Put up your hood,” he ordered as he pulled a ball cap out of his back pocket and put it on.