BooksBarbecue
Back Run, Hide, Fight Back
Chapters (62)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. Map
  5. Newspaper Extract
  6. Survive
  7. One Hundred Miles
  8. So Many and So Fast
  9. Start to Die
  10. Fish in a Barrel
  11. Because of the Blood
  12. Can’t be Real
  13. Waiting to Die
  14. Panic
  15. None of Them
  16. Trapped
  17. Video Game
  18. Like Her Life Depends on It
  19. Before He Sees Us
  20. It’s Your Lucky Day
  21. Just a Shell
  22. The World’s Best Reality Show
  23. How Long
  24. No Matter What Happens
  25. The One Who Decides
  26. What You Need to Do
  27. One Last Time
  28. The Biggest Secret Ever
  29. What They Want Me to Believe
  30. Who He Really Is
  31. People Like You
  32. I Believe She Is Saying
  33. Wake Up
  34. We Told You What Would Happen
  35. Slowly, Slowly
  36. Everything Is Under Control
  37. Come with Me
  38. The Last Thing They’d Expect
  39. They Can’t Shoot All of Us
  40. Go Down Swinging
  41. Not Running Away
  42. If You’re Going to Lie
  43. Every Rattle and Click
  44. Infinitesimal
  45. No Safe Place
  46. I Didn’t Know
  47. Straight to the Source
  48. Nothing but the Breathing
  49. Anything Other Than Killing
  50. You Honestly Believed
  51. Three Inches Away
  52. Not Anymore
  53. Refusing to Crack
  54. On the Trigger
  55. Over
  56. All Too Much
  57. Together, We Can Make a Difference
  58. A Note From the Author
  59. Other Mysteries by April Henry
  60. Honors for April Henry
  61. About the Author
  62. Newsletter Sign-up

But then above the shouts and screams of the hostages and the orders of the police, she hears a little voice shrieking.

She opens her eyes. Her stomach bottoms out. No, she thinks. No, please, God, I’m not seeing this.

Facing the police, one of the killers is holding Moxie tight against his chest with his left arm. His other hand has shoved the silenced pistol so tightly under her chin that it’s forcing her small tearstained face to look up at the ceiling.

Moxie must know that it’s a gun, because she’s not squirming, not kicking her feet. Instead, she is perfectly still.

Miranda fights off a surge of nausea.

“Moxie! No! Moxie!” Parker’s voice hitches and rises a notch. His empty hands reach out to her. He’s about twenty feet away, but it’s clear he doesn’t dare go any closer.

The cops nearest the killer go still and watchful. Nothing moves but their eyes. The stillness ripples out as hostages and rescuers alike realize the horror is still not over.

“Back off or I’m going to kill this kid!” the killers’ leader says. His voice cuts through the remaining din. “You need to get me a car. And then you’re going to let me walk out of here.”

No one moves. One of the policemen says in a slow and careful voice, “Okay, let’s talk about this.”

“Don’t talk,” he commands. “Do.” He shifts the pistol so that it’s pressed against Moxie’s arm. “Get me that car. NOW. Or I’ll start by shooting her in the hand or the foot.”

If he leaves with Moxie, then she’s dead. It’s as simple as that. Discarded as soon as she’s no longer needed. Or killed in a high-speed chase. Or when a policeman’s bullet misses its intended target.

And if she dies, Miranda is sure that a big part of Parker will too.

Someone has to stop this.

Miranda remembers the scarves stuffed in her pocket, the ones they had originally planned to use to tie up anyone who came to check out the remote-control car. Now she pulls out a length of silky fabric and loops an end tight around each hand. The killer’s attention is on the cops facing him. Not on the hostages behind him.