Take the Hit (Nuclear Survival: Northern Exposure Book 1) Read online

  Danny rushed over. “Jessica, Jessica, it’s okay. Take a deep breath. Count to five. That’s it. That’s it.”

  DuBois spoke over the commotion. “Shut that kid up. I told you I hate kids.” He pointed at Midge. “I don’t know if you’re crazy or just a damn good liar but you’ve got my attention. Come with me. I might have something in the back.”

  He set the pipe on the counter and motioned for Midge to follow. When she stepped forward, Danny did the same.

  “Not you,” DuBois said, pointing an accusing finger at Danny. “Just her.”

  “What? No. Midge—” Danny reached toward her with a panicked hand. “Don’t go alone.”

  DuBois grinned and lifted his shirt, showing off the gun on his hip. “Don’t see how she has much of a choice.”

  Midge gave Danny’s hand a squeeze. “I’ll be fine. Just…take care of Jessica and Caden.”

  Danny fought every instinct and every alarm bell ringing in his head and stayed put as Midge disappeared into the back.

  Chapter Ten

  MIDGE

  Friday, 11:30 pm CST

  DuBois 24-Hour Pawn

  The only thing bigger than the gleaming show gun strapped to Wesley DuBois’s waist was his arrogance. This wasn’t Midge’s first go-round with a guy like him. Sex or money, that’s all a middle-aged man with roving eyes ever wanted from a girl half his age.

  She’d give him the money if he gave her a gun, but he wouldn’t lay a hand on her without a fight. As DuBois strode down the hall, Midge prepared herself. If everything went to hell, she needed to do what was necessary. He didn’t say anything until he reached a door.

  He pushed it open and held out his hand. “Ladies first.”

  A bitter taste crept up her throat as she slipped past him to stand just inside the door.

  He nudged her with his boot. “All the way in.”

  Midge took another few steps and surveyed the room. Small metal desk with a stapler, stack of papers, and a cup full of pens and pencils. Coffee pot and a hot plate in the corner. Gun safe bolted to the floor. DuBois shut the door behind him with a solid click.

  “Now, let’s see what we can do for each other, shall we?” DuBois sauntered over to the gun safe and Midge followed, stopping at the edge of the desk.

  As DuBois spun the dial, Midge reached for the pencil cup and snatched a letter opener. Long and silver, with a pointed tip, it wasn’t as sharp as a knife, but it could get the job done. If it came to that.

  DuBois glanced back, eyes narrowed, but she’d been too fast. She slipped the letter opener up her sweatshirt sleeve as DuBois turned and lifted out a long gun. One look at it and all of Midge’s fears were confirmed.

  Midge scoffed. “It’s rusted all over. No way that thing can even shoot. And it’s got to be what, three feet long at least? We’re walking down the street, not going to some Civil War reenactment.”

  DuBois chuckled. “You sure have a mouth on you, don’tcha? I wonder what else it’s good for.”

  He grinned and Midge fought a wave of nausea.

  She gripped the letter opener tight in her hand, using the sleeve of her hoodie to hide the blade. Straightening her back, she stared into his eyes. “We want three handguns. All 9mm. All in good working order. And two boxes of ammo.”

  DuBois laughed so hard his head lolled back and his belly shook like congealed salad. “And what do you suppose you’ll do in exchange for all those riches?”

  “I’ll pay you what they’re worth.”

  He grabbed his crotch. “You’ll pay me all right. And if you’re a good girl, you can have this fine piece of American craftsmanship. I’ll even throw in a few rounds for free.”

  Rage built up inside Midge. If her father had been there, he’d have pulled out his cuffs, pushed DuBois against the wall, and arrested him for assault, maybe even attempted rape. Sergeant Sinclair would never have broken the law. He would never entertain the wicked thoughts running through Midge’s head.

  But it didn’t matter what her father would have done. He was dead. Killed by a gangbanger like the one who shot the couple in the street. He hadn’t even seen it coming.

  Midge wasn’t going down like that and she wasn’t falling victim to a man like DuBois. She ran her tongue over her teeth. “No way in hell.”

  He set the rusted gun on the desk and pulled his belt loose. “Get over here and get on your knees.”

  “I said I have money. You saw it.”

  DuBois tilted his head, eyes roving up and down Midge’s frozen body. He reached for the gun on his hip. “Either give me what I want or I’ll take it. The choice is yours.”

  Sweat soaked the back of Midge’s neck and she fought the urge to run. She couldn’t get out of the room before he shot her. There was nowhere to hide. She was the living embodiment of one of her father’s old sayings: Don’t bring a knife to a gun fight. Only she didn’t even have a knife. She had a letter opener.

  Midge glanced behind her and took a step back.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His hand lingered near his hip.

  Midge froze. There was only one choice. Acid turned her stomach and fear raced down her back in drops of acrid sweat.

  She jerked her chin toward his crotch. “Like you can even get it up. It’s probably fossilized by now.”

  DuBois’s hand jerked away from the gun. “You’d be surprised what a man my age can do.” He tugged down the zipper of his pants.

  Midge’s foot twitched, eager to race for the door. She thought of her sister, always the reporter, always playing a role. Acting wasn’t Midge’s thing, but she had to play the part if she wanted to get out of there alive.

  Stepping forward, her left hand held the letter opener loose at her side, hidden by her sleeve. DuBois licked his lips, practically salivating at the sight of her. Midge stopped a foot away, close enough to smell the stale cigarettes on his breath and see the lust in his eyes.

  With her right hand, she reached for the top button of his jeans. She channeled every memory of her sister as a cheerleader in high school with her hair flips and her thick mascara. She blinked and looked up at him, wide-eyed and innocent. “You’ll really help me?”

  His tongue darted out to wet his lips. “You give me what I want, and we’ll see.”

  Midge paused, amping up the theatrics. “What if I told you I’ve never done this before?”

  DuBois’s eyes practically sparkled. “There’s a first time for everything.” He grinned. “Just don’t use your teeth.” He reached out and took a hold of her shoulder before pressing down. “This only works if you’re on your knees.”

  Midge eased to the floor and closed her eyes. Now or never. As DuBois tugged down his zipper, Midge threw a wicked left hook. The letter opener slipped between the opening of DuBois’s boxers and on into the engorged sack of meat he’d intended to shove in her mouth.

  DuBois screamed.

  Midge used all of her strength to slam the metal deeper.

  DuBois staggered back, reaching for his crotch as he fell to his knees.

  The door slammed open and Danny rushed in, Midge’s pipe in both hands. His eyes went first to DuBois and then to Midge. “Are you okay?”

  No. Midge staggered to her feet. “I will be. Let’s get out of here.”

  “We can’t leave him like that.”

  Midge’s eyes went wide. “You want to help him? He-he—” She couldn’t say the words.

  Danny rushed over to DuBois and hit him square in the forehead with the end of the pipe. The man crumpled to the ground and Danny grabbed the huge shiny gun from his waist before turning back to Midge. “No. I don’t want him coming after us, that’s all.”

  He ran toward Midge and wrapped her up in a hug. She didn’t shy away. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  She nodded into his chest, too upset to speak. Danny pulled back and looked into her eyes as she blinked back a rush of tears. There was no time to break down now.

  He hugged her again befor
e leading her to the door. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Midge followed Danny in a daze as he rushed down the hall.

  Jessica stood by the door, her face slack with puzzlement. “What’s going on?”

  “We’re getting the hell out of here, that’s what.” Danny took Midge by the hand and dragged her to the door.

  As they reached the cold night air, she gave a start. Where’s the letter opener?

  All at once the horror rushed back. She’d left it lodged inside DuBois.

  Chapter Eleven

  DANNY

  Saturday, 2:00 am CST

  Streets of Chicago

  Danny stuck his arm up, using the moonlight to read his watch. Two in the morning. He let his arm fall to his side. Fear and adrenaline had pushed them all into a near-sprint when they left the pawn shop. He’d been convinced the cops would barrel down on him and Midge with their sirens wailing at any moment. It wasn’t until Jessica called out from a block behind him that he slowed.

  After walking for a block or two, sanity returned. The cops weren’t coming for a pawn shop break-in in this part of town. Without a call to 911 or an alarm notification, how would they even know? He swallowed and glanced at Midge. She stalked down the street, bloodied hands shoved in her hoodie, face trained straight ahead.

  He didn’t know what happened in that back room, but he could guess. He cursed himself for not insisting they leave or that DuBois deal with him instead of Midge. She’d put herself in harm’s way for what?

  He thought about what she’d said to convince DuBois to listen. Nuclear bombs. Was it true? Was that why she’d been so eager to leave the airport and the city? Or had she concocted it all to secure a weapon? Danny didn’t know and now wasn’t the time to ask.

  The gun he lifted from DuBois slipped for the hundredth time and Danny shoved it beneath the waistband of his boxer briefs to keep it steady. It had to weigh two or three pounds and clearly wasn’t meant for this sort of concealment, but Danny didn’t have a choice. He wasn’t about to go walking the streets of Chicago holding a bright silver showpiece in his hand. Giving it up wasn’t an option, either.

  Until they reached somewhere safe, he needed the protection. He glanced back at Jessica, who had fallen behind again. They all did.

  Danny slowed and waited until Jessica joined him. The moonlight accentuated the hunch of her shoulders and the stumble of her steps. She was exhausted and running on fumes.

  At least Caden didn’t seem to mind the trip. While they had waited for Midge in the pawn shop, Jessica had changed him and turned him around so he faced her in the carrier. Now he slept with his head nestled on her chest and one hand tucked beneath his chin.

  Danny leaned toward Jessica and whispered, “How much farther to your place?”

  She frowned and held a hand over Caden’s head to muffle the sound. “The pawn shop was out of the way and when we ran, we should have headed east.” She waited until they neared a street corner to read the sign.

  Her fingers moved as she counted blocks in her head. “Three, maybe four miles.”

  Danny bit back a groan. It might as well be a hundred at the rate they were going. He palmed his head. Most of the fuzziness and pain were gone, but this kind of effort couldn’t be good for him. They needed a different mode of transportation and they needed it now.

  If what Midge said was true, they were racing against an unknown clock. As they crossed another street, a store window caught his eye. He stopped and peered inside. Bikes. A whole store full of them.

  Danny whistled and Midge turned around. He waved her back toward him and he pointed at the window. “We could cover a lot more ground with a few of these.”

  Midge stepped back, assessing the window. “It shouldn’t be that hard to break in. There’s no grate across the glass.”

  “They have a really good alarm and security system,” Jessica said, sounding doubtful. “The video surveillance is wired straight to the police. I remember Raymond talking about it when they put it in. Cost a fortune.”

  Midge snorted. “Lot of good it’ll do them now. The alarm is down. Any connection to the police is fried.”

  “You don’t know that.” Jessica sounded miffed.

  Midge reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone. “Try to get a signal lately? The alarm operates on the same cell towers as your phone. If you can’t get through, neither can anyone or anything else. And it’s not like the nearest police station is running on solar. If they’re dark, then so is their alarm monitoring.”

  Jessica fell silent and stared down at Caden.

  Danny didn’t like the tone Midge had taken, but she was right. No one would come if they broke into the bike shop. No one good, anyway. He looked around them.

  The street was quiet now, but more than one group of guys had passed them in the past hour. Some had even gone so far as to approach, only to be run off at the sight of Danny’s gun. It reminded him of groups of jackals or wild dogs. They didn’t attack the strongest animals; they sniffed out the weak and sick. As long as their little group could present an intimidating front, they would survive this night.

  Midge kicked at a broken chunk of the sidewalk and dislodged it from the dirt. She picked it up, weighing it in her hand. “This should do it.”

  As she rocked her arm back to swing, Jessica stepped forward, hand held out. “Stop! What are you doing?”

  “Breaking and entering. I thought it was obvious.”

  “You can’t! The owners are good people. We bought our mountain bikes here and Caden’s bike carrier. We can’t steal from them just to get home faster.”

  Midge’s mouth twisted. “This isn’t about getting home. It’s about escaping nuclear destruction. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be standing on a street corner when the city is vaporized into radioactive bits.”

  Jessica almost wailed, her hand snapping up to cover her mouth. “I don’t believe you!”

  “Believe what you want, but it’s coming.” Midge pulled her arm back again and Jessica looked away.

  This time, Danny stopped her. “Hey! Before you do that, let’s check the back. Maybe there’s an easier way inside.”

  “We shouldn’t take the time.”

  He held up his hands. “Five minutes. That’s all.” He flashed a smile at Jessica. “That way we can save the owners some damage.”

  Jessica wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “Please, for me.”

  Midge lowered the hunk of concrete. “Fine. But if we can’t get in the back, this is the best option.” Without waiting for a reply, Midge took off toward the end of the building and darted into the alley.

  Danny cursed and followed. He found her a minute later on a small platform three steps off the ground, yanking on a metal door. “It’s locked and there’s no good way to pick it with the safety plate.” She crossed her arms in an I-told-you-so fashion. “The window’s the only way in.”

  “Then we need to be smart.” He stepped forward and lowered his voice. “You might not have noticed with all your brooding and stalking on ahead, but we’re not the only ones out here. As soon as we break that glass, we’ll be targets.”

  Midge stilled. “We’re being followed?”

  Danny shook his head. “Not right now, but for a few blocks back there? Yeah.” He lifted his shirt and tapped DuBois’s gun. “This is the only reason they didn’t rush us.”

  Midge’s shoulders drooped and she pushed her hair off her face with both hands. “I’m sorry. I should have known. I just—” She dropped her arms to her sides. “We’re running out of time.”

  “I know.” In truth, Danny didn’t know anything for sure, but for whatever reason, he trusted Midge. She didn’t hide her punches or sugarcoat the truth. If she thought bombs were coming, then he would believe her until proven otherwise. He held out his hand. “Let’s break it to Jessica first, okay?”

  Midge nodded and followed him back to the front of the store. They found Jessica tucked int
o the front door, hiding in the shadows. Danny explained the situation and Jessica bristled.

  “It’s not right.”

  He motioned to Caden. “He needs to be home, sleeping in his own bed and you need to tell your husband what’s going on.”

  Jessica sniffed and stared down at her child a long moment before nodding. “Okay. For Caden.”

  “Before we smash the window, everyone pick a bike.” Danny glanced behind them at the street. A shiver coursed through him and it wasn’t from the cold. “I get the feeling we’re not as alone out here as we think.”

  Midge and Jessica walked back and forth, cupping their hands around their faces to peer inside the store. Danny wasted no time, picking a large mountain bike in the front that would fit his frame and quicken their escape.

  After a few moments, Jessica stepped back. “I’m ready.”

  Midge hefted the concrete again, backing up a few steps before throwing the chunk at the lower right corner of the glass. The window splintered, huge lines spreading out in all directions, but it didn’t shatter like they all expected.

  “It must be coated to prevent theft.”

  “Makes sense.” Danny picked up the hunk of concrete and hammered away at the site of impact, breaking the glass into little bits. Midge joined in, kicking at the window as Danny pulled back. Sweat broke out on Danny’s forehead and across his back, but after a handful of agonizing minutes, they broke enough of the window away to squeeze inside.

  Jessica climbed in first, followed by Midge. Danny took a moment to survey the dark before folding through the narrow opening. The street appeared empty, for now.

  He grabbed his bike as a light reflected off the front window. “Someone’s coming,” he hissed at the women as he flipped the bike around. “Let’s try to get out the back.”

  Danny wheeled his bike toward the rear of the store and Jessica followed. He’d wanted to grab food and a jacket and even a backpack if he’d had time, but he left it all behind as voices carried through the store. A beam of light tracked across the store wall and Danny ducked to not be seen.