Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (books to get back into reading TXT) 📕

Two were heading to the same set of stairs as we were and one was going toward the dining room.

Caroline didn’t hesitate. She stalked in and shot the two men in the chest, killing them. The other man heard the gunfire and backtracked, aiming his gun at Caroline. “Caro!” I shouted and shot the man in the head. Caroline was about to run up the stairs when something occurred to me. I grabbed her arm to stop her from going up. I held up my index finger letting her know to wait just a minute, and then to my lips—I needed her to be quiet. There were no screams. No girl screams, just the Chinese Triad men yelling and gunfire. Something was off here.

“Caro, I don’t hear anyone screaming, do you? What I mean is, none of the girls are screaming, just the men yelling at one another in Chinese.”

She paused to listen. “You know, you’re right… and gunshots every now and again. What do you think is going on?”

“I don’t know but I don’t like it,” I said. The fuzziness from the alcohol was making hearing difficult. “Come on… help me break the shutters open by the driveway so we can see who’s here.”

We started pulling hard on one of the shutters in the foyer. “That sucker isn’t coming open,” I huffed. I didn’t want to shoot at it and have whoever was outside start shooting at us.

Without hesitating, Caroline got a small footstool and started hitting the shutters, breaking them open. It wasn’t the quietest method but it got the job done. I looked around to make sure no one was coming. We managed to look outside onto the driveway and saw a few cars. We couldn’t see all the way down the driveway or across to the other side of the house through the window but what we could see were plain, dark cars.

“Nothing special about those cars,” Caroline said. “I just see that there’s a lot of them right here in front of us.”

“That’s right. There’s nothing special about those cars. They’re just plain cars,” I said grinning, looking out the window.

“Isabel Grace.” Caroline was snapping her fingers. “Are you still that drunk? Focus! We need you to sober up quick.”

“Am I really that irritating when I’m drunk?” I wondered, feeling a little hurt. “I don’t mean to be. Maybe because I ramble. You know my mind is going a mile a minute.”

“Isabel!” Caroline snapped. “Focus!”

“Right, focus,” I repeated. “The cars are not impressive. Don’t you see? What thug with money do you know that doesn’t drive a flashy car? These are either police cars or some other law enforcement cars.”

“That means the girls were able to get a signal and call for help!” Caroline’s tone was triumphant. We heard more gunfire but this time it sounded closer. I looked around, ducking my head, aiming my gun at nothing.

“Isabel…” Caroline fell into my arms.

“Caroline!” She was shot around her collarbone and shoulder area. “Oh, Caroline, how did I not see him?” I heard an evil chuckle, looked up and saw one of Chang’s watchdogs aiming his gun at me. I had dropped my gun to catch Caroline, so I was a sitting duck and weaponless. We locked eyes for a split second and then he fired. I turned my head, closing my eyes at the same time, anticipating the hit from the bullet but I didn’t feel a thing. Was it really that painless or did he miss? I was sure I heard two shots. He was so close, no way he could’ve missed.

I opened my eyes and saw David on the floor. He had stepped in front of me, taking the bullet. I gasped, “DAVID!” I looked around the room to see if there was anyone else. We were alone.

I gingerly placed Caroline on one of the sofas. “Caro, don’t fall asleep. Do you hear me?” My words were slurred but my voice was stern. She nodded, despair written all over her face. I had to stop the bleeding. I took my vest and shirt off and tore off one of the shirt sleeves. I placed my shirt on her wound and tied the sleeve nice and tight under her armpit and around her shoulder where the bullet wound was.

“How does that feel?” I asked.

“Better,” is all she could say.

“Caro, I’m not leaving you, I’m just going to pick up my gun and put my vest back on.” I didn’t want to tell her about David. She nodded. “Don’t close your eyes. You have to help me see. I can still feel the alcohol and my vision is a little fuzzy.”

“You’ve always been such a lightweight, Isabel Grace.” She grinned weakly.

I got my vest on and grabbed my gun. I crawled a little way to where David was lying. I checked his pulse—nothing. I felt no pulse. I checked again, this time on his neck—still nothing. I checked his other wrist—I couldn’t find a pulse. No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I closed his eyes and checked his pulse one more time. He had a gun in his hand and his jacket read DEA. I wanted to cry but couldn’t. My hands began to shake again. I could feel myself starting to lose it and get hysterical. His shooting Chang’s watchdog must have been the second shot I heard. Hold it together a little longer, Isabel. Why wasn’t he wearing a bulletproof vest?

“Isabel Grace!” A deep voice boomed.

I swiftly got up and aimed my gun at the voice. I couldn’t see who it was through the tears that were beginning to pool in my eyes and the alcohol still impairing my vision.

“Baby, don’t shoot. It’s me. It’s Josh.”

I blinked the tears away and shook my head a few times, still holding the gun with both hands, aiming it