Laying a Foundation: Bonus volume: Includes series prequel, The Groundbreaking (The Love Under Construction Series) (73 page)

“Sure!” Nikki handed her the shop’s cordless phone, but she shook her head.

“Oh, he has a cell with a long-distance number. I wouldn’t want to do that. Do you have a cell phone?”

“Well, yeah.” Nikki fished her phone out of her purse. She never let anyone use her phone, but this girl looked scared. “Here you go.” She handed over her phone.

Nikki watched as the girl dialed a number, then waited and hit END. “Straight to voicemail, and his inbox is full. I can’t even leave him a message. Oh, well,” the girl sighed, “guess I’ll start walking.”

“Can I call you a cab?” Nikki asked.

“No, thanks, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Hope your day gets better, hon.”

The girl had only been gone a few minutes when Nikki’s phone rang. She looked at the screen; an unfamiliar number.
Must be the brother calling back,
she thought, expecting to tell the stranger what his sister had wanted. Instead, before she could say “hello,” a woman’s voice said, “Nikki?” Nikki recognized the voice – it was the girl who’d been in the shop just minutes before. How did she know Nikki’s name?

“Yes, this is Nikki?” What was going on? The girl had said her phone was dead, but apparently she’d called it from Nikki’s phone to get Nikki’s number.

“I have something to prove Mr. Walters is innocent. I’d like to give it to you, but I’m scared to do it there; too much glass and too much of a chance of somebody walking in. You’ll have to meet me somewhere. Please, god, don’t bring anybody with you.”

The room seemed to tilt as Nikki tried to think. “You tell me where and when and I’ll meet you.” She knew it was crazy and dangerous, but she had to try. What if the girl had something that really would help? That was a chance Nikki couldn’t pass up.

“Now. I’ll text you the address. But you have to come alone.”

“I will – I promise. I’ll leave now. Text the address to me and I’ll be right there.”

“Okay. I just want to help, you know?”

“Yes, I understand, hon. I’m on my way,” she assured the girl, already pulling the cash drawer.

Nikki hit END, then stopped for a minute. Laura was sitting in the car across the street, but she couldn’t know what was going on. Nikki locked the door but didn’t turn off the OPEN sign. She grabbed her purse and dashed out the back door as the text notification on her phone chimed with the address. Looking at the location, she knew by the general area it would take about twenty minutes to get there; hopefully, Laura wouldn’t notice she was gone until she was already there.

She programmed the address into her navigation system and took off. The Yukon was parked far enough down the block that Laura hadn’t noticed her leaving, and Nikki took a deep breath. What she was doing was risky, but it had to be done. If there was a chance someone had something to help Tony, she had to find out.

The longer she drove, the seedier the area looked, until she was genuinely frightened. An abandoned café was at the address the girl had given her, and Nikki circled around to park on the opposite side of the street. The entire block looked dilapidated and grimy, full of nothing but empty industrial-type buildings, and the windows on the old café building were so dirty that she couldn’t see inside. But when she tried the door, she found it unlocked, and she opened it as quietly as possible and slipped inside.

“Hello?” Nikki called out in little more than a whisper.

“In here,” the girl’s now-familiar voice called back.

Nikki walked through the front of what had apparently been the dining area, past several banks of tables, and found the girl sitting in a more private area to the rear of the counter where the cash register had been. “You got here really quick,” the girl said, motioning Nikki toward the chair opposite her. Nikki sat down at the table and pulled herself up, only to stick her hand in some gum under the table’s edge; even though it was probably fifteen years old, it was still sticky, and Nikki couldn’t help but think how gross people could be. The girl looked her over, then craned her neck to look out the dirty front window. “Anybody with you?”

“No. You said come alone, so I did,” Nikki assured her.

“Good. You’ll find everything you need to help your boyfriend on here. Travis said to not give this to you; he’ll kill me if he finds out I’ve given it to you. But I couldn’t stand to see Mr. Walters go to jail for something he didn’t do. I remember him, and he’s a very nice man.” From her jeans pocket she produced a small object she handed to Nikki, and Nikki looked at it in her palm – a flash drive. It was tiny, less than half the size of a regular pack of gum, and half as thick too. Nikki was struck by the marvel of technology, how something so small could keep Tony from spending the rest of his life in prison, or worse. Just as she started to slip it into her own pocket, a voice rang out from the hallway that came from the back of the building.

“Autumn, you bitch, what have you done?”

The girl’s face blanched and Nikki’s pulse doubled just seeing the fear there. “Travis, please . . .”

“You know, I hate to do this, but you’ve got it coming,” the young man growled and pulled a gun from his waistband. He had a weird look in his eyes, his dark hair was wild and unkempt, and his appearance was just generally dirty and disheveled. “You were a crappy girlfriend anyway.”

“Travis, no, I . . .” He pulled the trigger and, to Nikki’s horror, the projectile went straight into the girl’s forehead between her eyes and she dropped like a stone.

It took Laura about five minutes to realize something was amiss; she couldn’t see any movement in the shop, so she crossed the street and tried the door. It was locked. She looked behind her at the other side of the street; Nikki’s Yukon was gone.

Laura picked up her two-way radio and pressed the button. “Wendy,” she said to the tech working in the security company’s office that day, “does Nikki have one of the Walters key fobs for the Yukon with her?”

“Yep,” Wendy replied. “Steve made sure Mr. Walters gave her one. They have one for every vehicle they own. Need a location?”

“Yes, please.” Laura was fuming. She didn’t even know which direction she needed to go. Damn that hard-headed blond!

“Straight toward downtown and west. Pulling it up and sending it to your device now,” Wendy told her.

Laura followed the directions to find Nikki, and Wendy let her know when the Yukon became stationary. She barely knew the area, and was surprised to find it got more and more desolate as she drove. She pulled up across the street and in front of the building next door to the location showing on her device; sure enough, there was the white Yukon. Laura pulled out the rifle scope she kept in her gadget bag instead of binoculars; no infrareds or night-visions would work because even glass has a heat signature, and she’d found that rifle scopes were very clear, small, and easy to use. Not much chance of finding the wrong location, though. There was no one in these abandoned buildings except for the one right in front of her. Through the scope, she could make out two people, and they appeared to be sitting.

Then, from out of nowhere, she saw a third person, and saw the third figure raise an arm; that hand had to be holding a gun. Before she could process the whole scene, she heard a “pop” and one of the figures at the table fell to the floor. She hit the button on her two-way radio and yelled, “Get me some backup here – whoever you can find – and do it fast. And we’re probably going to need a bus,” she added, thinking someone would wind up needing an ambulance before this played out. As she opened the door of the sedan, she heard a gunshot. She dropped the radio and leaped out of the car.

When Autumn hit the floor, Nikki looked down and saw her face, the vacant eyes, and her mind went into hyperdrive. She looked back up at the young man. “What have you done?” she shrieked.

“Give me whatever Autumn gave you,” he ordered, pointing the gun at her, “and I won’t kill you.”

“She didn’t give me anything – she just wanted to talk to me! You didn’t give her a chance to do that, now did you? You go to hell!” Nikki screamed, and he fired.

Nikki tried to drop to the floor fast, but she felt a sharp pain in the left side of her chest and fell backward. When she hit the floor, taking the table with her, it felt like all of the air had escaped her body and she couldn’t catch her breath. She lay on the floor, gasping, and then, without warning, there was a sound like the whole world exploding around her.

Laura had a decision to make, so she pointed her weapon at the upper right corner of the huge window and fired. If she’d guessed right, it was safety glass, and she wasn’t disappointed. It exploded with a sound like a cannon blast and fell away, pebble-like pieces dropping in piles. The young man with the gun turned toward her and fired, and she leaned around the edge of the window opening and returned fire. He fired twice more, and Laura felt a searing pain in her left shoulder.

It was now or never, and Laura moved from her sheltered location and started firing. She couldn’t tell if she’d hit him, but the man returned fire, and Laura felt a burning, knife-like sensation in her lower left abdomen. She tried to fire again, but she felt herself sinking, and he took two more shots, hitting her with both. Just as she hit the ground, she heard a woman’s voice shout something.

Nikki heard the gunfire and knew someone was firing from outside the building toward Travis. She also knew when he finished firing at the person outside, he’d turn back to her and finish her off, so she did the only thing she could think of; she pulled her Walther three-eighty out of the back of her waistband, flipped the safety off, took aim, then yelled, “Travis!”

When Travis stopped firing and turned toward her, Nikki pulled the trigger. The look on his face was pure disbelief, and he pointed his weapon toward her, but she pulled the trigger on the small semi-automatic twice more, and he fell. She wondered if she’d wounded him enough to keep him down, and she tried to sit up, but the pain was too much and she couldn’t breathe.

Fighting unconsciousness, Nikki tried to think. Where was her phone? Who had been outside? Then she heard shouting; male voices. Someone yelled, “See to Laura; I’m going in.” Nikki heard movement and footsteps getting progressively closer. The voice outside said, “She’s alive, but she’s in pretty bad shape. I’ve got to apply pressure to this wound or she’ll bleed out. Where’s Nikki?” The first voice answered, “I don’t know. Nikki?” Then she could tell there was movement right beside her, and a voice cried out, “Nikki! Oh my god! Where are you hit?”

Nikki forced her eyes open and looked up – a headful of curly blond hair and bright blue eyes. Peyton. “I. Don’t. Know. Peyton. Please. Help. Me. I. Can’t. Breathe.”

“José, I found her; sucking chest wound.” Nikki heard the static of a radio. “Wendy! Laura and Nikki both are seriously wounded. There’s a dead girl here and the gunman is wounded, and I don’t think he’ll make it. Where the hell is that bus?”

“ETA of two minutes, Peyton; got two in route. Hang in there,” a female voice replied, and in seconds Nikki could hear a siren.

“Nik, hang on, please! They’re coming,” Peyton pleaded, and she searched his face, looking for reassurance. There were things she needed to tell him, but she couldn’t get enough breath to say anything. “Don’t try to talk. They’ll be here in a minute and we’ll get you some help. You’ll be okay,” he repeated, his hand pressing on her ribcage.

Nikki felt cold, and it started to get dark around her, a buzzing sound setting up in her ears. She tried to make a sound and kept moving her mouth, making the shape of the word even if she couldn’t get her voice to work.

“I’m sorry, Nik. I don’t understand. Just try to stay calm – the EMTs are right down the block.” He watched her continue to mouth something. “What, hon?” he asked and put his ear to her lips.

Nikki tried one last time: “Gum.” Then everything got fuzzy, and she was out.