I slammed my fist against the floor. Shards of ceramic and tile punctured tiny holes in my flesh. I barely noticed.
He’d put up an incredible fight. I’d broken through his defenses only to see a dying man’s final thoughts, to feel his life drain away.
I watched as his greatest memories flashed by.
And at what cost? What had I gleaned from it? Nothing of consequence.
“Let’s go!” Drew yelled from down the hall. “This place will be swarming soon.”
Sammy and Nami appeared a moment later with the items I’d asked for. They looked at the man on the floor.
“Did you just mindfuck that guy?” Nami asked.
“Yeah.” I grabbed the kitchen counter and pulled myself up. “We need to leave.”
“Wait a second.” Sammy shook her head. “What did you do to him?”
Nami looked up at her. “You don’t know about the whole telepathy thing?”
“The what?”
I staggered into the hall, pressing the heels of my hands against my ears. So many voices. So much static.
My shoulder slammed against the far wall. Blood ran anew from the incision. I used the wall to stay on my feet as I slid my way toward Drew.
“Jesus, Ash. What happened?” Drew ran over and grabbed my good arm. He looped it over his head and helped me limp to the elevator.
“Today happened. I broke into that guy’s head. All of those men have built up mental defenses that I haven’t been able to see past. His injuries weakened him and I was able to get in, but he was dying and what I saw didn’t make any sense.”
Nami dragged Sammy into the hall. “Stop fighting me, goddamn it. We need to leave.”
“But my place is destroyed…”
“Your ass is going to be destroyed if we don’t get out of here.”
“There’s a dead man on my kitchen floor.”
“Want to join him?”
As we stepped into the elevator, I said, “You have to get me out of the city. My head feels like it’s going to burst.”
Drew punched the button for the lobby. “I’m on it.”
The elevator lurched under our feet as it descended. I kept bleeding.
Hard to think.
“Almost everything Smith told me is a lie.” I hoped to get my hands around that scar-faced bastard’s throat.
“No shit. He’s trying to kill us.”
The doors opened, and we stepped out. Shouting came from the street.
Drew looked at Sammy. “Is there a back door to this place?”
“If I tell you, will you let me go?”
“No.”
“But the police—”
I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting against the tsunami of voices drowning my own. “We don’t need to get any more cops killed. I’ve already been arrested once today and that didn’t work out so well.”
One thought stood out in my head then—Sammy’s.
I wish I’d never walked into that bank.
Though I couldn’t blame her, that stabbed me in a bad place. By stopping that robbery, I’d ruined a lot of people’s lives. Murdock would still be slaughtering people, but Drew and Sammy would be safe.
“Fine.” Her shoulders sagged, and she pointed down the halls behind her. “This way.”
We shuffled down two hallways before finding a door in the rear of the building. The leg with the banged-up knee wasn’t responding much anymore. It dragged along behind me.
Drew grunted with each step as he carried his weight and mine.
The temperature outside had dropped a little, but the humidity remained high.
Traffic filled the street behind the building, moving just above a slow crawl. People stared out of their windows at us as we stood on the sidewalk.
We were a motley crew of blood and grime and boobs.
Those dudes are messed up!
Why is he dressed like a stripper?
Look at the fun bags on her!
Are they shooting a movie? That blood almost looks real.
Fucking Baltimore traffic sucks.
The barrage had me swaying on my feet.
“I need to get us a car,” Drew said. “Just stay here while I—”
“I got this.” Nami still had the Desert Eagle. She held it behind her back. “Why not add a little grand theft auto to my resume while we’re at it? I’m so going to be in jail or dead by the end of the day. My mom is going to be so pissed.”
Her face fell as she turned away from us. “Watch this shit.”
She shuffled toward a white Ford Expedition. The top of her head didn’t reach the bottom of the driver’s side window as she stood by the door.
A man wearing wire-rimmed glasses and an Orioles baseball cap sat behind the wheel. His fingers drummed on the dash as a song we couldn’t hear played.
Nami knocked on the door.
The man started and looked around, spotting us. His head recoiled as he took in our appearance. I couldn’t blame him.
Nami waved her hand above her head to get his attention. He peered down at her, his bewilderment growing.
He put the window down.
“Excuse me, mister.” Nami’s voice was so low that I could barely make out what she said. She sounded desperate and whiny, like a petulant child. “I can’t find my parents.”
“Are you lost, sweetheart?” the man asked.
Nami nodded. “My daddy said to wait here, but he didn’t come back.”
The man’s eyes darted back to us for a moment. “Do you know who those people are?”
“No, but they’re really scaring me.”
“They’re scaring me too. Do you know your daddy’s phone number? We can call him.” He turned his head and looked toward the passenger seat.
Nami pulled the gun from behind her back and pointed it at the open window. “Out of the car, butt plug.” The desperation evaporated from her tone.
"What did you say—?" He turned back to Nami. The color drained out of his cheeks when he saw the gun. "I don't understand. What's going on?"
“I’m stealing your car, the fuck does it look like? I'm a government employee, and I'm confiscating your shit. Get out."
He stared at the pistol. “That’s not even real.”
She answered by pulling the slide back, ejecting the chambered round. The movement was laborious and appeared as if it took all of her strength.
It got her point across.
His eyes followed the ejected brass as it bounced on the sidewalk. He fumbled with the door handle and climbed out, focusing his attention back on the pistol.
Nami kept it trained on him. “Walk away.”
With his hands raised, he stepped backward down the sidewalk. “I hate coming into the city.”
My shoulders sagged as I watched the man turn and run. My legs finally gave out. I slumped down; the only thing that kept me from crashing to the pavement was my arm around Drew’s shoulders.
“Ash?” Sammy grabbed my forearm.
“Open the back door,” Drew grunted as he dragged me to the Expedition.
“I can’t believe we’re stealing a car.” Sammy ran over and opened the rear door, climbing inside. She helped Drew slide me onto the backseat. I stared up at the ceiling, waiting for my eyes to refocus. It took a while.
Drew and Nami got into the front.
I mumbled, “Can’t think straight.”
Drew said something in reply, but I couldn’t make it out over the chorus of voices all around me. It felt as if the entire city was sitting in the seat beside me.
Sammy put my head in her lap and looked down into my eyes. Her breasts pushed against the top of my head. At least one good thing had come out of the day.
Her mouth worked. I didn’t hear her.
The Expedition jostled as Drew rammed the front end against something. I assumed he was pushing other vehicles out of the way. He and Nami shouted at one another in the front.
—fire—
—but the pitching is—
—why is she always saying—
The flurry of conversations I picked up on had me lightheaded. They dulled my aches and pains, replacing them with despair and fatigue.
I drifted.
Sammy patted me on the cheeks. Shouted something at Drew.
I fell away.