BooksBarbecue
Back Look Both Ways
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Foreword
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Forty-Nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Praise for Linwood Barclay
  56. Also by Linwood Barclay
  57. About the Publisher

“Whoa!” Archie said, standing on the roof of what was now the second car from the end. He raised a cautioning hand to Nick, who had reached the hood of the same vehicle.

“That one’s onto us,” Archie said. “Change of plan.” He looked quickly around in all directions. They were close to one end of the mall, near the Discount Bonanza anchor store, a Costco-style retailer that was big on selling bulk items at cheap prices, with lots of towering metal shelves, and a minimum of charm.

Ahead of the entrance to the store was a corridor running off to the left that led to the parking lot. Sunlight filtered in through two sets of sliding glass doors.

“I think,” Archie said, his voice low, nodding toward the doors, “that if we boot it, we can make it to the parking lot.”

Nick did not look convinced. “What if there are cars out there?”

Archie pondered the question, briefly. “I think they’re all in here.”

Nick offered a reluctant nod of agreement.

Archie whispered, “On the count of three. One—”

Nick jumped the gun, leaping off the Arrival and running with everything he had.

“Shit,” Archie said.

The Arrival that had pulled itself out of line made a squeaking noise as its tires turned on the mall floor.

Archie jumped off his Arrival. Nick was a good twenty yards ahead of him, but there was an Arrival between them. And the Arrival was catching up to Nick.

“Come on!” Nick said, glancing over his shoulder and, seeing the Arrival, pumping his legs even more furiously.

He had reached the glass doors, but the motion detector positioned over them was not accustomed to responding with the kind of speed that Nick currently needed.

There was a delay.

“OPEN!” Nick screamed at the doors.

The car was nearly on him.

Archie echoed Nick: “OPEN! OPEN! OPEN!”

When the doors had opened no more than an inch, Nick stuck his hand into the gap, as though he could somehow shape-shift and squeeze through before they opened all the way.

The door continued to open, but the Arrival was nearly on him.

“GO!” Archie screamed.

Nick had a shoulder through the door when the Arrival got to him.

The car slammed into the boy’s body, throwing him onto the hood and taking out one of the glass doors in the process.

“NOOOOOOO!” Archie screamed.

Nick’s lifeless body sprawled across the hood and then rolled off onto the floor.

Archie stared, stunned, shocked, his feet frozen, at least momentarily, to the floor.

The car got him. The car got Nick.

And now it was executing a quick turn, looking for Archie.

Move. Move. MOVE!

Archie glanced at the entrance to Discount Bonanza and those towering metal shelves of merchandise that were visible even from out here in the concourse.

They looked even easier to climb than a tall ship’s rope ladder.

Archie ran into Discount Bonanza.

Twenty-Eight