Fade the Heat by Colleen Thompson

Author:Colleen Thompson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: Dorchester Publishing

Almost there.

Jack was closing the gap quickly, leaving only yards between him and his sister’s lover.

A security light—perhaps tripped by a motion detector—flooded the space between the old house and the snarling, leaping dogs. Colors splashed before him: the faded yellow-green of thigh-high, tangled weeds, the glistening, dark crimson that soaked the leg of Sergio’s jeans.

Despite the blood and his awkward gait, Sergio reached down to pick up a dented, rusting metal trash can, which he knocked into Jack’s path.

Too close to avoid it, Jack flew over the overturned can, his knee smashing into something hard and hidden in a tangle of sharp thorns.

Swearing, he struggled to his feet, then shouted at Sergio’s retreating figure. “Damn you, stop! I only want to ask you about Luz Maria.”

Instead of slowing, Sergio disappeared around the old house’s corner. Heading for the street, Jack guessed, and freedom.

At Jack’s first step, his right knee collapsed, and he noticed for the first time his torn and bloody jeans. Gritting his teeth, he pushed past pain to rise again and lumbered off, now nearly as clumsy as the man he pursued.

A wild, clearly female shriek hastened his footsteps and launched his heart into his throat.

“Reagan!”

He found them struggling on the ground between the boarded house and a bank of metal storage units. Sergio was on top of her, trying to pin her face-down while Reagan bucked frantically and fought to flip over.

“Get the hell off of her!” Jack roared as he lunged forward.

The next moment splintered into shards that impaled his heart. Sergio’s hand darted into the inner pocket of his jacket and emerged holding something that gleamed coldly beneath the security light. The distant shrilling of a siren, Jack sensed, could never come in time.

With his free hand, Sergio grabbed the hair at the back of Reagan’s head, pulling it backward and bringing the handgun—some kind of big-ass automatic—to her throat, angling the weapon so a bullet would rip through her brain.

Jack wanted to vomit, but instead he stumbled in his haste to stop.

“Not…one…more step.” Sergio was breathing so hard, he could barely make himself heard. “I’m not going with you. Don’t you understand? Those fascist bastards would rather kill me than let us get a word out about the cause.”

Reagan’s eyes had gone huge with terror, but dark determination flickered in their depths. Slowly her fists tightened, and the fear shafted through Jack that she might try to fight her way free.

“Jesus, Sergio,” he said. “Let her go, please. I don’t—we don’t want to take you anywhere. It’s just—I have to know. About my sister, that’s all. Then you can go—go anywhere, goddamn you. I don’t care about that. I only want to know that Luz Maria’s safe.”

From inside the boarded house there came the sound of clattering, maybe something falling over. As if the derelict hulk wasn’t so abandoned as it appeared.

“Luz—Luz Maria?” Sergio huffed. “I haven’t seen…I came to look for her. The feds and cops—they’re getting too close. They’re all around my place.

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