“No more than you... wait, your father’s here?”
She looked vaguely out at the field. “For all I know, he’s still here somewhere. Or... off to Morovia for all I care.”
“I don’t think that still exists.”
She leveled him with a glare. “So now what?”
“We find Benny. If he’s still around, we’re going to be hunted forever.” Luke seemed to notice the gun in her hand for the first time and grabbed it from her grip. “Wait here! I think I know where he’ll go.”
“Like hell!” Dani gathered the back of the dress and kicked off the shoes, which were completely useless now that the second heel having given way in her flight. “And give me my gun back! Get your own damn gun!”
Luke wasn’t listening. He was running full out to the parking lot, and Dani took off behind him. They were spotted almost immediately. Someone took a wild shot at them and Luke dove behind a limo, whose driver was trying to crawl under a floormat.
Another shot and the bullet shattered the rear window of the limo. The driver began screaming.
“Give me my gun back!” Dani hissed. “I can get a shot.”
“You’re a civilian!” Luke snarled. “I can’t authorize...” Another bullet sparked the parking lot, ricocheting off a sign marking off handicapped parking.
“Are you...” Dani began to say, but the driver appeared to be more interested in self-preservation than in providing a shield for an escapee bridal party. The car they’d been hiding behind suddenly roared to life and drove away, leaving them uncovered.
Luke rolled right, Dani rolled left. He hid behind a Mercedes and she took a Lincoln. Two shots rang out as they rolled.
Luke looked over to her.
“GIVE ME THE GUN!” she mouthed, accompanied with gestures to make the meaning clear.
Luke shook his head.
Dani shot him a look of pure daggers and ice. “GIVE ME THE GUN!”
Another shot rang out.
Exasperated, Luke put the safety on and slid the gun over to her. Dani grabbed it as she rolled clear of the Lincoln, and fired three shots. She waited a moment and then stood.
Luke rose from behind the Mercedes.
“One down,” Dani said.
“Give me that.” Luke took the gun from her. Letting it dance across his palm until he got a good grip on it. It looked like he’d been burned from the heat of the barrel. Dani smile. Amateur.
“Look, if I shoot someone, it’s part of the job; if you do it, you can be charged with murder,” Luke snapped.
“That’s okay,” Dani said, laying a comforting hand on his arm. “I don’t really need the credit that much. You can have it.” She patted his head and ran to the man she’d just hit. He lay still and serene, a clean kill.
“Really?” Luke yelled after her. “Even when I have a gun? Really?” He caught up to her. The man she’d shot had three perfectly arranged holes in his chest. “Good shot,” he said, if a bit reluctantly.
“That didn’t hurt, now, did it?” Dani asked, searching the body.
“Not me anyway. What are you looking for?”
“Ammo; this idiot spent the clip, and I can’t find another one.”
“This is Benny’s driver,” Luke observed, pointing to the dead man, “so he’s still here somewhere.”
Cars were suddenly firing to life, and the parking lot turned into a game of million-dollar bumper cars as the wealthy kings of the underworld found themselves trying to run at the same time. Luke and Dani dodged through the melee, barely missing an antique Jaguar that was careening through the grass, carving a swathe that other cars began to follow when the exits became jammed.
“Well, the church is gone,” Luke said, “and the exits are jammed. Where would he go?”
“LUKE!” Dani grabbed his jacket, something that had been wandering through her mind finally taking hold. “My mother died when I was fourteen!”
Luke looked at for a long moment. “Is this something we can talk about later?”
“NO!” Dani cleared her head, “My dad, just now, he said he wanted to take me to her!”
“What, like a threat?”
“Why would he save my life to kill me?”
“No offense, honey, but in your family...”
She stared at him. “Did you just call me honey?”
“We’ll come back to that. In the meantime...” Luke looked toward the convention center.
Dani followed his gaze.
Of course. Where else would he be?
Luke took off running, Dani following in hot pursuit.
They ran back to the now-empty area between the buildings. The flower garden was deserted, bright with every color of the rainbow—stained-glass littering the paths in a glittering mess that was to not even be attempted barefoot. Dani flinched and looked beyond to the church itself. The roof had caved in; the whole place was a smoking wreck. As her hearing came back she heard the fire sprinklers hiss to life, activated by who knew what, as there didn’t appear to be any flames. What wasn’t destroyed in the blast was now soaked through with water damage. She sniffed the air cautiously, worried about natural gas, but detected nothing other than soggy drywall and her own sweat and fear.
From the front door, Dani could still see Katie lying where Marcus had killed her. It wasn’t the first time she’d seen someone she knew killed; she’d lost some very close friends overseas. But this was Katie. Despite the craziness she’d displayed, Dani still saw the little girl in the tennis skirt trying to hide her freckles. Her heart lurched in her chest, and for a moment she mourned, though she knew Katie wouldn’t have given her the same respect had their roles been reversed. But much as Dani had been trained to fight she hated the loss of human life, and regretted that this little girl had never had a chance at true happiness, nor would she now.
Dani was so involved in her thoughts that she came very close to joining the girl. A shot rang out at the very moment the door beside her splintered. A sliver of wood scratched her cheek, the bullet came just that close.
“Dani!”
They dove into the ruins of the church. A part of Dani was able to register annoyance at the filthy water that seeped into the weave of her once-white dress. She was shaking from rage, she told herself. She’d had bullets fly at her much closer back in Afghanistan.
But things like that didn’t happen at weddings, and her nerves were on edge. She gave herself a minute to think, to collect herself. Focus. You have to focus.
Why the hell couldn’t she focus properly?
“I count three,” Luke said.
Dani kicked herself. She was a hell of a better fighter than this, and it irked her to no end that she was falling apart this completely. It was a beginner’s mistake, and she’d chastised others for being so stupid. Doctors don’t work on their family members for a reason, she reminded herself. Same principle. You shouldn’t assassinate those you love.