Training Their Mate(2)

Several boarded up storefronts ratcheted her creep factor. She needed to reach the lot fast and drive home. Focused on her destination, she picked up her pace. Her foot bumped into a cup full of change, and only when her toe connected with the metal object, did she spot the sleeping transient under the awning. The cup rolled four more feet before stopping.

“Sorry.” She retrieved the container and replaced the coins.

The man didn’t stir. Why couldn’t Couch have fallen asleep like that?

With one hand, she covered her nose to prevent inhaling the stench of the man’s body odor, and with the other, she dug in her purse for loose change. Counting the coins, all she managed to find was eight-five cents. Pathetic. If she hadn’t bribed the former worker at Couch’s company to quit her job so Liz could take her place, she would still have her stash of emergency cash.

She dropped what little money she had in his cup, but even the clinking sound of the coins didn’t rouse the poor guy. The wind picked up and along with it came chillier air. Time to go.

to the lot, the rain came down in earnest—make that the hard-driving Florida rain. Shit. With her head down, she shielded her eyes and half jogged toward the parking lot. Her mind raced as she replayed her failed attempt to kill Harvey Couch. Screeching brakes and honking horns behind her forced her to turn around. A white van careened across oncoming traffic and headed straight toward her. Her muscles locked up.

Holy fuck.

She froze for a second until fear pumped enough oxygen to her brain. Adrenaline enabled her to sprint five feet into the alley and rush down the gravel drive. She didn’t want to stop until she reached the other side, but her high heels kept sinking into the loose stones. That, along with a stitch in her side and her lungs threatening to burst, forced her to slow down. Panting, she plastered her back against the wall and listened for the inevitable crash.

Only it didn’t come. In fact, nothing sounded for two seconds. Then more tires squealed and smoke billowed out from behind the vehicle as the rear of the white van backed up across the alley entrance. Despite the rain pummeling her face, she couldn’t drag her attention off what was happening.

She exhaled, believing the man was trying to return to the street, but the driver aimed his gaze straight at her, turned the wheel, and gunned the engine.

What the fuck? The vehicle raced toward her, and her mind blanked.

Things suddenly slowed down like she was underwater, and as each heavy raindrop splattered her face, her brain fought to catalogue the events.

This can’t be happening. He can’t mean to harm me. Her thoughts jumbled. Should she stay still and hope he’d pass her, or try to outrun the car? The latter choice might not be the soundest one, but the fight or flight instinct took over.

Run!

She lifted her hand to propel herself forward, but the first step seemed to take forever. Her damn heels and tight skirt made moving fast hard as shit.

Less than twenty feet away sat a green commercial dumpster. Her only hope was to hide next to it. At the loud crunch of tires on gravel, she dove to the ground before she reached her destination.

Fuck. Glass cut her palms and scrapped her knees. Pain screamed across her body. She waited for the impact and certain death but nothing happened. The car sped past.

Curled up in a fetal position, she allowed the sob to escape. What was she thinking—that her boss sent a hit team to kill her for trying to incapacitate him? What a ridiculous notion—because he couldn’t have been aware of the GHB she’d slipped into his coffee. If the date rape drug had worked, he’d already be dead. The irony of using that drug on the man who raped her mother didn’t escape her.

Her legs throbbed and her heart beat faster than the wings of a hummingbird. She decided to wait until the offending vehicle exited the alley before trying to get up. The rain intensified and she shivered. Whoever said Florida was always warm and sunny was so freaking wrong.

The van stopped in the middle of alley. Wait a minute. Something wasn’t right. The doors to the van opened. Crap. She needed to get the hell out of there and question things later. Two snarling dogs jumped out. It was too dark in the alley to see them clearly, especially with the rain, but they were big and ugly and scary as shit. They took one look at her, bared their teeth, and charged.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. She scrambled to her feet and tried to force the pain from her brain. She ran and ran expecting to be mauled at any moment. Call off your dogs!

Their nails scraping on the gravel and their low growls burned through her. Thoughts of reasoning with the beasts flashed in her brain, but given the angry snarls, she discounted that idea immediately.

When she glanced behind her to judge their distance, she tripped over something and fell, slamming her head to the ground. Tears brimmed at the pain and a second later as she tried to get up, her throbbing knees buckled. Oh, dear God. I’m going to die.