“A gun?” But then, almost immediately, Tessa’s mom tracked with her. “Get it to me. Slide it under the seat. Quick.”

Tessa tucked the gun under the driver’s seat and shoved it back to her mom.

The car continued to sink into the dark river.

“Tessa, go! You have to. Now!”

She didn’t want to leave until she was sure her mom was alright, but she also knew that if she didn’t get to safety now, she might lose her chance.

She wrenched the door open and managed to slip out, but water poured into the car.

After dropping into waist-deep water, Tessa struggled to get her footing. By the time she did, half of the car had already been swallowed by the river.

++++

In the final room, I found Blake.

He was standing near a computer monitor, jamming thumb drives into his pocket.

He aimed my gun at me.

“You had the chance to shoot me earlier,” I said. “You’re not going to kill me. Put it down.”

++++

Christie positioned herself on her back, took aim at the window, and fired the Beretta, but the glass did not explode. The window must have been reinforced somehow. Cracks emanated from the point where the bullet had struck the glass. She tried kicking it.

It held.

Another shot. Then another. Finally, the glass was weakened enough for her to kick it from the doorframe.

++++

Tessa watched her mom emerge from the window, almost as if she were being born anew, as the East River engulfed the car.

Her mom sank out of sight. “Mom!” Tessa splashed over to help her get to shore.

It was hard to keep her balance in the current, but at last both of them were on their way back to the bank. “I’m okay, Tessa. You did it. You saved me.”

Somehow, her mom had managed to keep the gun with her when she got out of the car, which was now gone, under the water.

“Get behind me,” she said unequivocally.

Tessa did.

“Do not move, Peter!” her mother shouted to the man who’d left that car in neutral and started it rolling toward the water.

But he ignored her warning. “I’ll be with you two in a minute. First you get to watch my son die.”

The evil in the guy’s voice left Tessa feeling dirty just hearing it. She couldn’t even comprehend how lost he was.

All at once, he ran straight toward Timothy, hammer raised high, and Tessa thought her mom really was going to shoot him to protect the novelist, but Timothy stepped forward and ended up in the line of fire. He flicked his right hand out of his jacket pocket and raised something shiny and metal.

++++