Girl of Lies Read Online Free PDF Page A

girl who’s been kidnapped!”
    Sarah groaned and stayed low in her seat. She didn’t want to remind them she was here, because right now, she had some clue what was going on. If they made her leave, she’d lose that. For the last ten minutes she’d been sending text updates to her sisters: Carrie in Maryland, Alexandra in New York, Julia in Los Angeles and Jessica in San Francisco. Jessica hadn’t responded, but then again, she didn’t much lately.
    Carrie had reminded her in a message that their father, recently called out of retirement by the President, was on Capitol Hill today preparing for his confirmation hearings. He wouldn’t take any phone calls, but Carrie thought she could reach him through the Pentagon.
    “Lieutenant!” one of the cops called. “State patrol spotted the vehicle. They’re in pursuit.”
    Miller covered the receiver of the phone he’d been shouting into. “Any visual?”
    The cop shook his head. “Audio only.”
    “Put it up.”
    Sarah shook. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She started to send another text message to her sisters.
    The room filled with sounds from the state patrol dispatchers. A lot of unrelated radio chatter. Then a loud, strong voice calling, “Shots fired, four-four-four, shots fired.”
    More voices, calling in locations, more cars responding.
    Miller hung up on whoever he was talking with, and Sarah dropped her phone. The glass front of the phone shattered.

4. Andrea. April 28. 5:02 pm
    Andrea felt her stomach lurch as the car swerved left, right, left again. Hairy Chest was yelling now, cursing in Arabic at the following cars. She stayed hunched down as tightly as possible, ignoring the rushing wind, the stomach churning swaying of the car, the sound of the tires screeching—she was focused only on survival. Terror threatened to paralyze her as she thought of never being able to see Javier again, the thought of losing her sisters, of not being there for them.
    Then it happened. Hairy Chest’s body jerked, then spasmed. Blood splattered on the windshield in a splotchy pattern, and he fell awkwardly against Crew Cut, who swerved again, shoving him away. Hairy Chest’s face was dark with blood, his lips swollen, as he fell between the seats. Hairy Chest’s head came to rest right next to Andrea, who let out a scream as blood poured from his mouth.
    The scream was cut short a second later when the driver fired a shot, unaimed, a wild shot, right through the seat. At her.
    She jerked up behind the seat, powered by adrenaline and fear, grabbing his gun hand from behind and covering his eyes with the other. He screamed and she did too as he lost control of the car and then he pulled the trigger once, twice, three more times. The bullets flew randomly, all of them missing her. The sickening screech of tires grew lower in pitch, the car moving sideways now, threatening to roll. As the car reached a stop she realized her mistake. The police were behind them, but there was nothing to prevent the son of a bitch from shooting her right now.
    In desperation, she leaned forward, over his shoulder, and sank her teeth into his cheek. She felt her teeth break the skin, salty, copper tasting blood spurting into her mouth as he jerked and howled in pain, and then it happened. His hand released the pistol.
    Instantly, she grabbed it, diving into the back seat.
    And then the driver was gone, running, the front door of the car swinging open.
    She sagged into the seat, spitting out her kidnapper’s blood, and dropped the gun. Her eyes went to Hairy Chest. His bloodshot, dead eyes stared up at the roof of the car. Did he wonder what had happened? Did he wonder how two armed men managed to lose control of their prisoner, a sixteen-year-old girl?
    Well, fuck him.
    She flinched at the sound of gunshots outside. A lot of shots, followed by silence.
    A few seconds later, a police officer appeared in the window, shouting, “Step out of the car now!”
    She exhaled slowly,