Four Blind Mice (Alex Cross 8)

“This can’t wait,” said Griffin. Suddenly, he had his pistol up tight against the girl’s skull.

From the front seat, Brownley Harris had his gun aimed at her chest.

“Dê hai tay lên dâu!” Thomas Starkey screamed, his voice deep and scary.

Hands on your head.

“Ban gap nhieu phien phúc rôi dó.”

You’re in serious trouble, bitch.

Vanessa didn’t understand a word but she sure got the tone. Bad shit was going down. Real bad shit. The girl’s stomach dropped. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have gotten into a car with three guys, but the driver had seemed so nice. Now why was he yelling at her? What kind of messed-up language was it? What was happening? She thought that she might throw up, and she’d had a chili dog and Fritos for dinner.

“Stop, please, stop!” Vanessa said, and started to cry. It was an act, kind of, but usually it worked on the soldiers from Bragg.

Not this time, though. The insane yelling in the car got even louder. The weird language she didn’t understand.

“Ra khoi xe. Ngay bây gio,” said Thomas Starkey.

Get out of the car. Do it now, bitch.

They were waving their scary guns and pointing, and she finally understood that she was supposed to get out of the car. Oh my God, are they going to leave me out here as a sick joke? The bastards!

Or was it worse than that? How much worse could it get?

Then the one in the front seat smacked her with the back of his hand. Why? She was already getting out of the car. Goddamn him! She almost toppled over on her silver platform shoes. Willie Nelson kicked her in the back, and Vanessa gasped in pain.

“Ra khoi xe!” the man in front screamed again. Who were they? Were they terrorists or something?

Vanessa was sobbing, but she understood she was supposed to run, to hightail it into the dark woods and creepy swampland. Jesus, God, I don’t want to go in there! There’ll be snakes for sure!

The one from the backseat punched her in the back again, and Vanessa started to run. What choice did she have?

“Lúc dó mày se den toi!”

She heard shouts behind her.

Oh God, God, God, what are they saying? What is going to happen to me? Why did I let them pick me up? Big mistake, big mistake!

Then all Vanessa could think about was running.

Chapter 20

“LET HER GO,” Thomas Starkey said. “Let’s be fair now. We told Vanessa we’d be good.”

So they leaned against the Suburban and let the frightened girl run off into the swamp, giving her a good head start.

Starkey slid on one of the Rangers’ new tan berets. It had replaced the black beret of the Special Forces once the rest of the army had gone to black. “Here’s the first side bet of the evening. Ol’ Vanessa will be wearing her platform heels when we catch up with her. Or do you boys think she’ll shuck the shoes?” asked Starkey. “Bets, gentlemen?”

“Shuck ’em for sure,” said Griffin. “She’s dumb, but she’s not that stupid. I’ll take your bet. Fifty?”

“She’ll be wearing the shoes,” pronounced Starkey. “Girl that pretty working the street, she’s dumb as a board. A hundred says so.”

Just then they saw a pair of lights veering off the highway. Someone was driving toward where they’d parked. Now who the hell was this?

“Trooper,” said Starkey. Then he raised his hand in a friendly wave at the slow-moving police car.

“Problem here?” the statie said once he’d rolled up close to the big blue Suburban. He didn’t bother to get out of his car.