Page 74 of Now Until Forever
Chapter Twenty-Five
Faith screamed at the same time Eliana and Sarah landed on the kitchen floor.
There was nothing Eliana could do with her hands behind her back, so she shifted her behind forward, between her hands. She brought her legs through her bound hands to bring them to the front.Thanks, Mom, for the long arms.Now her hands were in front.
Eliana twisted her torso, swung her elbow at Sarah’s head, and scored a direct hit. Sarah’s head hit the cabinet and she slumped forward. Eliana grabbed for the gun.
Faith got there at the same time.
Their fingers met. Eliana said, “Don’t.”
Eliana snatched the pistol off the floor and scrambled back to stand up, in a spot where she was out of arm’s reach of everyone else in this room. She blew hair out of her face and looked around.
Faith took a step toward her.
Eliana held the gun. “Faith, back off!” What she wanted was an explanation, but there was no time for that right now.
Laptop Guy stared at her.
She said, “Stop the transfer.”
He didn’t move.
Eliana pointed the gun at the ceiling over his shoulder and fired, praying with everything in her that a bullet in the wall between floors wouldn’t hit an innocent person. Buildings like this had thin walls, and innocent bystanders could easily get hurt. The bullet might pass through the wall and go outside—but by then it would have lost too much momentum to do any real damage.
“Want me to shoot you as well?”
Muscle Guy got up. “Let’s go. Before the police get here.”
“You dare run!” Sarah roared, pulling herself up using the counter. “I’ll tell the Mother you betrayed us!”
Eliana backed up another step. “All of you, put your hands on your heads. You aren’t going anywhere.” She lifted her chin, indicating Laptop Guy with the aim of this pistol. “Give me my phone. Anyone who tries anything gets shot!” She didn’t actually want to kill anyone, but they couldn’t know that, or they’d never do what she told them to do.
“You think you can kill us all?” Sarah sneered. “I’m a Level Four! You can’tkill me.”
Muscle Guy, who had a knot on his forehead, said, “We’ll leave. You don’t have to kill us. We’ll just go!” He backed up toward the door.
“Stop moving!” Eliana shouted.
She had no idea if Faith had been shot or if she was all right. If she looked in that direction, Sarah would run at her. Who knew what on earth Faith was thinking, or what she might do. Eliana wasnotgoing to die in a murder-suicide. Not today or any day.
She backed up a couple more steps and glanced over where the other woman had been. Faith wasn’t on the floor over there, and Eliana didn’t see any blood. Had she run? “Faith!”
Sarah just had one continuous smirk.
“Hands on your heads.” She had to pray.Please let the police be right outside, ready to kick the door in.She needed her phone.
All her thoughts seemed to swirl like a tornado in her mind. She couldn’t cling to one long enough to figure out what to do, or what to tell them next.
Sarah gripped the counter with one hand, her knuckles white—the only indication she wasn’t quite as in control of this situation as she wanted Eliana to believe. “You can’t kill us all. That’s why you’re the one who dies.”
Eliana didn’t flinch. “There are enough bullets in this gun for each one of you.”
“You’re gonna be a killer now, after all this time?” Sarah shook her head. “That’s why the Mother wanted you dead. You’ll never give in, no matter whatshethinks.”
Eliana didn’t understand what that meant, and there wasn’t time to figure it out. She motioned to the side with the gun and told Sarah, “Go stand with that other guy.”
Sarah started to move, so Eliana stepped to the left and pushed Sarah toward the guy to speed her up, then grabbed for her phone across the counter.
