Narrow Escape by Camy Tang

Author:Camy Tang
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Publisher: Steeple Hill
Published: 2012-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

It had been a long drive, but the urgency sizzling in Nathan’s gut kept him alert. He’d called in sick to work today, and he didn’t need to go in tomorrow, but he still wanted answers sooner than later. And if he had to trek to Los Angeles and back twice in two days, then that’s what he was willing to do.

Besides, he needed to do something, or his thoughts would overwhelm him. Arissa’s observation about the gang member behind the Trans Am had shaken him badly. He’d seen Mark’s face and the gun pointing at him so often in his nightmares that it felt like the image had imprinted on the back of his eyelids.

Mark had looked determined. Not angry, not guilty, not reckless. Then he’d fired—and possibly shot a gang member to save Nathan’s life.

Nathan tried to remember now what Mark had looked like when Nathan pointed his own gun at his partner. Had he been surprised? Accepting? Resentful? Nathan simply couldn’t remember.

He had always known that not shooting Mark had been the right thing to do. A gang member’s bullet had hit Mark in the leg, severing his femoral artery so that he bled to death while Nathan lay a few yards away, nearly wild with pain from his shattered thigh.

Somehow knowing that Mark might have saved his life made Nathan’s feelings about that day more complicated. Mark was a mole. Mark was his partner. Mark sold out his fellow cops. Mark protected him.

His friend’s sister sat a few inches away, her body twisted around as she spoke to Charity in the backseat, but she might as well be miles away from him. He had held her and comforted her not just because she needed someone, but also because he wanted to be the one there for her. Yet he’d been able to maintain control over his feelings—until she’d kissed him.

Her kiss had surprised him, and he hadn’t been able to resist her, but when he’d felt her cheek wet with that tear, something inside him jolted back to reality.

She deserved better than a broken man. He’d never be able to carry her over a threshold. He’d never be able to run with Charity. He still woke up shouting from the nightmares.

He was too wounded physically and emotionally to give her what she would need.

He maneuvered through the traffic of L.A., busy even this late at night. As he neared the storage facility, he kept his eyes open for any surveillance—cars with men waiting inside, ominous vans parked alongside the street. He didn’t see anything.

Arissa took out the prepaid cell phone he’d given to her. “I know what will help.” She dialed. “Hi, Tito, it’s Arissa...We’re fine. Have you heard anything? No? Good. I’m calling about Aunt Chichi’s key bowl, remember that? You and your mom were the ones who packed Aunty’s house when she died. Do you remember where you stowed it?”

He couldn’t see her face very clearly in the darkness, except for when a passing streetlamp flickered onto her, but he could see the confused tilt of her head.

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