The lights flickered, disorienting her. It took a moment to locate the stairway. She skated toward it, low on her board. Johan yelled at Ruben to shoot her and a gunshot rang out seconds later. The bullet sparked off the floor inches from Kitty’s wheels. She pushed again, splashing through puddles of rusty water, which slowed but didn’t stop her. Ten feet from the stairway, she hopped off her board and kicked it—still moving—into her waiting hand. A second gunshot shook the air and the bullet ricocheted somewhere to Kitty’s left.

Gasping, blinking tears from her eyes, she took the metal risers two at a time, then threw open the door at the top and spilled out into the night.

10
Three Horse Salvage

Three spotlights shone above the warehouse’s bay doors. They cast a frosty luminance across the frontage, where the stray cats swaggered and the SUV and Mustang were parked at diagonals. As she skated around the vehicles, it occurred to Kitty that she hadn’t seen the Mustang outside her apartment, probably because it was so distinctive, the kind of car her neighbors would notice and remember. Such carefulness assured Kitty that Johan had every intention of killing her.

The cats arched their spines and hissed as she stopped close by, her wheels lifting a cloud of dust. She quickly surveyed the front lot: cracked, uneven ground, marred by potholes and weeds. Not good for a quick getaway on her skateboard, and the higher weeds were too few and far between to offer solid cover.

It was tempting to head that way, the obvious exit, but she’d only make it halfway across the lot before Johan and his animals caught up to her. She pulled off her torn T-shirt and tossed it into the weeds—a decoy, to throw them off the scent—then turned her board around and started down the paved track that paralleled the warehouse’s eastern wall.

She’d rolled only ten yards when she heard the door bang open on the other side, followed by Johan’s booming voice: “Ruben, take the Tahoe. Xan, in the Mustang with me. You see that bitch, put a bullet in her.”

Kitty groaned and pushed hard. Her wheels jounced over the rough pavement, and she worked every muscle in her core and thighs to maintain balance. Engines growled to life behind her, like two hungry dogs sprung from their cages. She looked over her shoulder and saw headlights swooping over the front lot. Had they noticed her discarded tee and been drawn in the wrong direction?