Jake couldn’t have written this scene better himself. The unexpected hero showing up at the last minute, a looming threat that would put their resources to the test, the heroine able to stave off disaster with only minutes to spare. Personally, he would have punched up the climax and given the reader the chance to see a satisfying fight with the bad guys, but living in the moment, he was relieved those bad guys were no longer a threat.
“How much time do we have left?” Hannah asked.
“Three minutes and counting.”
“I hope Ace shows up soon. Maybe he really will bring us sandwiches. Jake loved the tuna salad one he sent with me when I met him last week.”
“After we get through this, I think he’ll give you whatever you want,” Phil responded.
Jake started to open his mouth to dispute Hannah’s claim. She knew he hated tuna salad. She had made a point of bringing him a roast beef sandwich when they’d been in North Carolina.
Even as he drew a breath to counter her comment, a burst of clarity shot through him. She knew exactly what she was saying.
He took in the scene with a new perspective, as though trying to find a mistake in the plot line of one of his books. Phil’s timing had been perfect . . . a little too perfect, perhaps?
Owen and Cheng stood silently across the room, their hands behind their backs. Somehow they didn’t look nearly as uncomfortable as he had been a short time ago. Come to think of it, how was it that Phil had tied both of them up in the same amount of time it had taken Hannah to free him?
He shifted his gaze to Hannah, noticing how her fingers had slowed on the keyboard, her body angling slightly away from Phil and toward the door.
Something fuzzy brushed his ear when he took a step back, and he looked back to see it was the leg of ridiculously large stuffed tarantula.
Who would buy their child such a thing? As a toy, it was hideous, but as a distraction . . .
“You know how much I love my tuna fish,” Jake said. The moment the words were out of his mouth, Hannah’s hands left the keyboard and grasped the arm rests of her chair. In an instant, she bolted out of the chair, sending it rolling violently at Phil.
“Run!” Hannah shouted.
Phil doubled over when the chair struck him. Jake grabbed the leg of the stuffed spider and hurled it toward Owen and Cheng just as both of them abandoned the premise of being tied up.
Jake shoved the door open, glancing back just long enough to see fuzzy legs tangling with the two men.
Hannah sprinted for the door. “Go!” she urged, motioning for him to go first.
Jake darted through the doorway, Hannah right behind him. A gunshot sounded just as he slammed the door closed.
“This way.” Hannah ran toward the heart of the store. She looked back to see that he was following her, but she needn’t have bothered. Within three steps, Jake reached her side, grabbed her hand, and matched her stride for stride.
* * *
Charlotte raced into the main part of the store and darted into the nearest aisle. She could hear the storage room door opening and footsteps heading toward them.
“They’re coming,” Jake whispered urgently as they both continued running through the aisle of baby toys, past a huge Lego creation that looked like an enormous spaceship, and into the aisle lined with superheroes and transformers.
“I don’t see them.” Owen’s voice carried to them.
“Spread out,” Phil said. “Cheng, cover the door, and make sure they don’t get past you.”
Charlotte ducked down in the aisle and pulled the gun she’d taken from Owen out of the back of her waistband. She opened up the clip, confirming what she’d suspected: it was empty. The gun had been a prop to make her think she was in control when Phil arrived, without giving her any real ability to defend herself.
Charlotte held the weapon out to Jake long enough for him to see their dilemma, holding up a finger to keep him from speaking. He nodded his understanding and motioned toward the aisle across from them.
Footsteps sounded nearby, and Charlotte and Jake hurried to the next aisle. Charlotte looked behind her just in time to see Owen make the turn toward them.
“Over here!” he shouted, lifting his gun to fire.
Charlotte barely had time to register that he must have been carrying a spare weapon before Jake scooped something off the shelf beside him.
Anticipating a shot, Charlotte put her hand on Jake’s back and pushed him to the ground as they reached the edge of the aisle. A bullet whizzed over their heads, and they both scampered around the endcap, staying low to the ground.
Footsteps pounded toward them, and Charlotte looked around desperately for somewhere to hide. A huge display of stuffed animals became her next destination.
“Over there,” she whispered, scrambling to her feet and racing toward a stuffed giraffe that was as tall as she was. The giraffe stood between a fat hippo and the king of the jungle.
Charlotte ducked behind the lion, and Jake dropped down beside her. She looked over to see him use his pocket knife to cut through the packaging on the toy he’d grabbed off the shelf.
“Here,” Jake whispered. She looked down at the ammunition for an airsoft gun. In his hand, he held two of the toy weapons.
She ripped open the package, quickly helping him load them. “This isn’t going to do much against real guns.”
“No, but it might distract them enough for us to get to the door.”
Multiple sets of footsteps grew louder. Charlotte could feel Jake’s heart pounding as rapidly as hers. In whispers, they planned their next destination, a cluster of baby furniture that was much more solid than their current cover.
“You go first,” Jake insisted. He didn’t wait for her reply before he swung his airsoft gun toward the approaching men, popping his head above the lion long enough to sight them and fire off several shots.
A cry of alarm and another of pain rang out.
Charlotte sprinted toward the furniture, diving behind a dresser a second before a bullet splintered into it. She sensed the men’s attention shift from her to Jake. Clamping down on her terror, she mimicked Jake’s earlier action, edging out from behind the dresser, sighting, and firing at Owen and Phil.
Both men retreated into the aisles they were near before her shots could connect. She fired again to keep the path clear for Jake. He closed the distance between them, firing off a shot in Phil’s direction as he ran toward her.
Jake crouched behind the changing table beside her.
“Try to work your way over there,” Charlotte lifted her chin in the direction of the front of the store. She fired off two more shots and took her own advice as she did so. They both took cover when they saw Owen’s arm emerge from his hiding place, his gun in hand.
A quick succession of shots punctuated the air. Charlotte heard the click of a clip released from the gun chamber. Acting on instinct, she peeked around the crib she was now behind. Owen’s gun hand was barely visible from where he had taken cover. She took aim and fired several shots of her own. Another cry of pain rang out when one of the pellets connected with his wrist.
She sent another spray of shots toward Phil’s hiding place for good measure before she and Jake scrambled again, this time making it all the way to the sporting goods aisle.
Hearts racing and their breath coming rapidly, they turned the corner toward the door. Cheng was standing a few yards away.
In an instant, he raised his gun and fired. Pain seared through Charlotte’s left arm as she and Jake both dove onto the floor, taking cover between the baseball mitts and soccer balls.