A Banshee's Wail (The Banshee Curse #1)

Chapter Ten

     My heart sped up and I bit the inside of my lip, watching the car out of the corner of my eye. The previous night resurfaced in my mind and I suddenly remembered the guy telling me that “the Boss” wanted to see me, whoever that was. What if the guy had found me again? What if that was him, and this time he had the Boss with him? I wasn't sure I could've handled that first guy on my own, and knew for certain that Lyle couldn't handle him without the advantage of a surprise. Tightening my hand around Lyle's, I sped up.

     “What?” Lyle asked, glancing down at me when he realized I was starting to pull ahead again.

     “Shh,” I hissed at him. “Keep your head down and be quiet. I think we're being followed.”

     Lyle's head raised and I yanked on his hand to bring his head back down. “What did I just tell you?” I snapped at him, glancing around quickly. “Just follow my lead, okay?”

     “Um, okay...”

     Even I wasn't as confident in myself to glare at him right now. The best I had going for me was to look like we were just walking and that we hadn't noticed them yet. Of course, there was only so long that something like that would work before the other team got the courage to come and get us themselves. Taking in a deep breath, I noticed an alleyway and prayed as we got closer to it that it wasn't a dead end.

     “You see that alley?” I whispered out of the corner of my mouth. I saw Lyle nod from the corner of my eye. “We're going to duck down it as nonchalantly as we possibly can, okay? If they follow us, we run. Got it?”

     “Yeah, got it,” he muttered, squeezing my hand once.

     My pulse skyrocketed as we neared the alleyway and I bit my lip, clutching Lyle's hand tightly. I knew my hand was sweating, but I was freezing at the same. I'd never really understood what a cold sweat was until now. I tapped on Lyle's arm and pretended to whisper in his ear, gesturing to the alley with a small smirk. Lyle gave me a confused look but allowed me to pull him towards it, glancing up and down the street with a forced laugh. I rolled my eyes and yanked him into the alleyway when the car disappeared from sight.

     “Okay, make sure it doesn't look hurried,” I whispered to him, still walking backwards down the alleyway. It was dark and dank, and I grimaced as a rat scampered down by the wall. “Keep going, keep going,” I mumbled to myself as I watched the car roll into my sight. It stopped and a door started to open. I yanked on Lyle's arm. “Go!” I shouted, pushing him as I turned around. “Go, Lyle, they're coming!”

     “Who are they?” he shouted back in bewilderment.

     “Like I know!”

     “Do you know what they want?”

     I glared at the back of his head and moved to get ahead of him as the end of the alleyway came up. “Just run, you idiot,” I told him. I pressed my back against the bricks and glanced up and down the street, no one was in sight. Across the street and down some there was a field, though. Maybe we could lose them in that. “The field, see it?”

     “Yeah.”

     “Head to it, now.”

     We crossed the street and sprinted for the field, praying we'd get to the edge and the trees before the people caught us. There was a loud banging sound and bits of bricks and dust sprayed at us. I turned in a quick circle and cursed, eyes bulging out of my head when I caught sight of the guns. I still couldn't make out their faces, but the shape of the guns couldn't be mistaken.

     I turned and pushed Lyle harder. “They've got guns,” I shouted at him. I couldn't stop pushing him to go faster. “And they're shooting them at us!”