“Show me your hands!”
An officer crept toward the front of the Expedition. He drew a bead on Drew’s face.
We all held our hands up. Mine shook as I struggled to control my failing body. My vision had begun to tunnel again.
“Slowly get out and lay facedown! Now!”
Drew peered into the mirror. “They’ve got us boxed in. This is the end of the road, Ashley.”
I tried to push my way through the fog, needing to think of something, anything, to get us past the police. It didn’t work.
The cop stopped ten feet in front of the vehicle. “I won’t tell you again!”
“We’re getting out,” Drew hollered. He looked at Nami and then back at Sammy. “I’m sorry. We tried to keep you safe, but we won’t be able to protect you anymore.”
I wanted to hit my knee again to clear the fog. The look in the officer’s eyes kept me from doing it. Any sudden movement would probably get us filled with lead.
I kept my right hand in the air as I opened my door and slid to the street. My thighs shook as I stood there. I’d passed exhausted a few hours ago.
The roar of the crowd at the president’s speech filled the area. It ebbed and flowed as I heard Thomas’ muffled words coming from the courtyard to our right. A line of buildings blocked our view of the monument.
My faculties failed me, and I collapsed to the ground. Even the pain of falling on my knee couldn’t hinder the flood of emotions and thoughts coming from the massive audience. There were too many people for me to fight against anymore.
I curled up like a child and cradled my head. The shouts of the officers around me were muted and distant.
Drew got out of the SUV. “Someone is going to shoot—”
“Shut the fuck up and get down.”
Four more officers came up behind us, weapons drawn. I could feel their hatred for me roiling amidst the myriad of minds fighting for space inside my head. They wanted nothing more than to shoot me on the spot. They thought I was a cop killer.
The shooting started.
Little pops in the distance came rapid fire.
The crowd by the monument fell silent.
More shots rang out, and then all hell broke loose.
The officer in front of us paused. “What’s going on?” he called over his shoulder.
The ground vibrated as people stampeded away from the monument. A few men led the charge, sprinting past the cop cars, screaming about a shooting. They didn’t stop to explain.
The radio on the lead officer’s shoulder bleated. “Shots fired! Multiple officers down. Get units up here now! We need medical. Send everyone. The president has been shot!"
“My God.” The cop stood there, looking over the chaotic, onrushing crowd.
I struggled to lift my head and look at the madness rushing past us. If I hadn’t fallen down on the opposite side of the Expedition, the crowd would have crushed me.
We were too late. Murdock had already taken President Thomas out. After everything we’d suffered through, we had failed.
More calls came through the radios.
“I’ll take care of them,” the cop yelled at the others. “Get over there and see what the fuck is going on! Rooney, you stay back here and help me cuff these bastards.”
“I wouldn’t go in there,” I said.
“Shut up and stay down.”
The officers plunged into the crowd, disappearing as they fought their way through the horde. The streets clogged as even more people filtered away from the shooting.
I caught clips of panic-stricken thoughts. There were so many, and they flitted through so quickly, that I couldn’t get a grasp on what they’d seen.
What had Murdock done?
The officer in front of us approached Drew, ordering him to get on his stomach and put his arms behind his back. Another cop came up behind us and grabbed my wrist.
He wrenched it, sending a jolt into my wounded shoulder.
It gave me the moment of clarity I needed.
I rolled to my back and kicked up with my good leg. The heel of my shoe caught the officer on the chin.
He’d been too distracted by the people rushing past us to fully concentrate on me. His legs buckled from the blow, and he fell to his ass. A distant, glossy sheen flashed over his eyes as he looked at me.
His gun clattered on the street beside me.
“Stop right there!” The officer standing over Drew pointed his pistol at me. “One more move and I’ll—”
Drew kicked him in the back of the knee.
The gun went off.
The bullet impacted the asphalt beside my cheek.
Drew grabbed the cop around the waist and pulled him down to the ground.
As I crawled toward them, my vision went hazy again. My breathing hitched as I struggled against the pressure weighing down on me.
Nami ran around the front of the SUV. Someone shoved her aside as they sprinted past her. “Watch it, fucker.”
Sammy came up behind her, hand covering her mouth when she saw the unconscious officer beside me. She watched as Drew fought the other cop.
Drew landed a big punch that stunned the cop. He grabbed the gun and stood up. His chest rose and fell as he took heavy breaths.
“I’m sorry about this,” he said. “But we have business to take care of.”
He handcuffed both of the cops and leaned them against the side of the Expedition. I only saw vague images of the entire confrontation as I struggled to remain cognizant. When he finished with the officers, he hauled me to my feet, leaning me against him.
“You just assaulted a couple of cops. What’s next?” Nami asked. “Want to go rob some lollipops from a couple of kids? Maybe we can throw a grandmother in front of traffic.”
“Hilarious, Nora.” I pointed down the street, in the opposite direction of the monument. “You guys need to run as far away from here as possible. Blend in with the crowd and disappear.”
“Ash, don’t go in there, please.” Sammy stood in front of us, her eyes softening as she pleaded with me. “Let the police handle this. Come with us.”
“Tits McGee is right,” Nami said. “You can’t even walk for Christ’s sake. Is your boyfriend really going to carry you into another fight?”
A series of gunshots cracked.
“If we survive this, you and I are going to have a long talk about your attitude, Short Round,” Drew said.
“Go!” I pointed down the street again. “If you stick around here and get hurt, you’re going to make everything we did today pointless.”
Sammy leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss on my swollen cheek. “Please be careful.” She turned and gave Nami a gentle shove. “Let’s go.”
They started away from the vehicle, glancing over their shoulders one last time before they disappeared in the sea of people.
“Did you see that?” I asked. “She kissed me.”
“Yeah, yeah. It looked like a pity kiss from where I was standing.”
“No way, she digs my style.”
“No one digs your style. You look like a meth addict.”
Drew held the pistol in his left hand and dragged me along with his right. We hobbled into the crowd, shoving our way past desperate, fleeing people. The going was slow. My damaged leg moved like it had been filled with lead.
Screams of pain came from in front of us.
We stopped at the edge of the first courtyard. The monument loomed a few hundred yards away, lit up by a sea of large lights pointing at a stage.
“This is probably going to be a one-way ticket,” I said.
“Looks that way.”
“Want to see what kind of trouble we can stir up?”
“Hell yeah, I do.”