Miss No One by Mark Ayre (interesting books to read TXT) 📕

Anxious to regain control of the situation, if indeed she had ever had it, Abbie made the one move Kilman didn't expect. As he came to her, she charged. Turning, she grabbed his arm, elbowed his stomach and sent him sprawling into the grass.

"Thank me later," she muttered.

No sooner had he hit the ground, Kilman was rising and still making plenty of noise. Abbie was sure the newcomer had been moving down the building towards the L's base when Abbie had heard them. How long before he appeared around the corner, ready to strike?

Moving towards the wall as Kilman regained his feet, Abbie grabbed Gary's shirt and yanked him up.

"We need to move."

Kilman slammed into her.

The cop was tall and muscular. His shoulder was like an iron girder. His bodyweight crashed into Abbie and tossed her into the brickwork. As she smacked the grass and dirt, her hand was torn from Gary, who stumbled a couple of steps back.

"Abbie King, I'm arresting you for attempted murder—"

The single glass pane of the nearest window exploded outwards. With a yell, Kilman hurled himself to the ground even as Abbie was rising.

Kilman's barging strike had shaken Abbie. Somehow, during her collision with both wall and ground, she had held onto her first gun. The second remained in her jacket.

Now rising, as two shots fired through the open window, it was apparent what had happened. Abbie felt a fool for not considering it. Rather than rush around the building, the shooter had entered through the double doors Abbie had lock-picked. He had rushed to the small room opposite and found himself looking out at Kilman and Abbie.

Kilman had moved as he spoke. In his anger, coming towards Abbie as he attempted to arrest her. As a result, the first bullet had crashed through the glass and missed Kilman's head by less than an inch. Now the detective was on the grass, rolling towards the building as Abbie stepped away.

Her gun outstretched, Abbie aimed through the window. Fired. Watched as Smoker, her enemy from the previous night, ducked. Rushing towards the window, Abbie fired three more times as he scrabbled back through the door into the main corridor.

Gary was still stumbling, close to the wall.

"Run," Abbie shouted as she turned and bolted around the side of the building, curving further away from the wall as she went, arcing around the lock-picked double doors, her gun aiming into the gloom.

She listened. She could hear plodding feet on the building's other side: Gary, but no one else. Smoker had options. He could attempt to leave the block through either set of double doors, depending on if he fancied the full-frontal assault or trying to get behind Abbie. Alternatively, he could sneak into one of the block's ten classrooms to hide or hop through a window.

Whatever Smoker did, Abbie didn't think escape was on his mind. He'd lured Abbie here for a reason and wouldn't want to leave until the job was done. Not after last time.

Perhaps having refound his nerve, Kilman appeared around the corner.

You might think any two people could bond over becoming joint targets of a gunman. But Kilman still had his weapon aimed at Abbie.

As though he didn't, as though he was approaching in the spirit of friendship, Abbie nodded to the door.

"Shooter’s still inside. Time to put our differences aside and work together. What do you say?"

It was clear from Kilman's expression he was not on good terms with reason, logic, or goodwill.

"This place'll be crawling with armed units any second," he said. "We'll get your shooter friend, but, for now, it's just you and me."

"Oh cool," said Abbie, "so you're sticking with the moron schtick, are you? Well, how about this..."

More shots fired. Bullets exploded through glass and wood.

Abbie span towards the second set of double doors. Without finishing her sentence, she sprinted past the windows on this side of the building, gun outstretched.

Bursting past the end of the L-block, she saw Smoker disappear around the back of the grey building next door. Tracking him with her gun, she fired twice more. One of the shots smashed the building's wall, the other sailed into the distance.

Smoker took cover.

Abbie took another step to the left. Stopped.

The grey building was small. Abbie could position herself in such a way that Smoker couldn't appear around either side of the building without stepping into her sights.

Then she saw Gary.

Abbie had told the teenager to run. Though he had betrayed her, she didn't wish him ill. Though it was the people he was ostensibly working for firing, Abbie had never expected them to spare him. She'd told him to run because she wanted him safe. She'd meant for him to bolt across the field towards the tree line. Smoker would have had no incentive to follow.

Instead, the lanky teenager who Abbie had last night saved from a savage beating at Ndidi's hands had run past the same L-Block double doors through which he had earlier tried to convince Abbie to walk.

Smoker had seen movement. There was every chance he hadn't know who was passing the door. Whoever it was, he didn't care. Several times he'd pulled his trigger. The long glass panes in the door had exploded, and at least two bullets had smashed into Gary as he ran. They had tossed him from his feet towards the grey building. Now he lay in its shadow.

Kilman appeared at Abbie's shoulder.

"Gunman's behind that block," Abbie whispered, nodding to the grey building. "Cover it, I'm going to Gary."

"No," said Kilman. "You're under arrest."

Ignoring the detective, Abbie rushed towards the grey building and dropped into its shadow beside Gary.

"I told you—"

"Shut up," said Abbie, cutting off the end of Kilman's sentence. "If you're a proper police officer, you want to protect people, first and foremost. Gary's a teenager. Whatever you might think, I was never going to hurt him. Now he's been shot, I'll do what I can to save him. You decide