Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

He whips around, spitting mad, swinging his gun around
toward me.
My bullet catches him square between his eyes.
I wait a split second for his companion to turn and face me,
then shoot him in the chest.
I never shoot a man in the back. It’s unsportsmanlike.
Then I trot across the restaurant toward Sloane and Stavros
as the distant wail of sirens grows closer. When I reach them,
they’re already on their feet.
“You okay?”
Sloane nods. She’s lost the red heels, but other than that,
she doesn’t have a hair out of place. “Where’s Nat?”
“Safe.” I turn to Stavros and command in Russian, “Get
her out of here. No one says a fucking word. You never saw
me tonight. Understood?”
He nods once.
“I’ll be in touch to discuss what the fuck happened here
and how you’ll make it up to me. Now go.”
He drags Sloane off by the arm, headed toward the
entrance.
I run back to the employee lounge and find Natalie pacing,
wringing her hands. As soon as I enter the room and she sees
me, she blurts, “Oh, thank god!”
She’s relieved I’m not dead.
I’d think that feeling expanding inside my chest was
happiness, but I know better. I stopped being able to feel that
particular emotion years ago.
“Hurry. We need to go.”
I grab her hand and lead her from the room. She follows
me without protest, gripping my arm as she hurries beside me.
We take the back way out and reach the SUV just as three
police cars crest the hill and start to tear down the road toward
the restaurant.