Option to Kill (Nathan McBride 3) Read Online Free PDF Page A

We’re in.”
    “You want to get rid of me.”
    “Lauren, listen to me very carefully. I’m not trying to get rid of you.” He put a hand over his heart. “I give you my word as a marine. Soldier’s honor.”
    “Promise?”
    “I promise. We’re in this together. We need to keep moving. Do you hear the siren?”
    She nodded.
    “I know this may be difficult, given everything you’ve been through, but you need to trust me, okay?”
    “Okay.”
    The siren came from the southwest, probably down on Friars Road. If the man walking his dog kept going, he’d discover the accident scene and probably tell the arriving officer he’d seen a man and a girl walking away from the accident. Nathan estimated the SDPD cruiser would be at the wrecked SUV in ninety seconds. Within ten minutes, this entire neighborhood could be crawling with cops. He didn’t plan on being around for the party.
    They turned south on a street just west of the tennis courts. The street’s surface changed from asphalt to concrete.
    “Are you okay?”
    “I didn’t mean to make you mad.”
    “I wasn’t mad. You know, like, angry mad. Don’t worry about it.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “We need to blend in and look like a father-daughter team. It’s really important. If you see a cop, don’t react at all. Pretend like we haven’t done anything wrong. A little farther ahead, we’re going to hike down a small canyon and head across the street into the mall.”
    “Are you sure you’re not mad at me?”
    “I’m sure.”
    “I made the man in the black car mad at me. I told him since I was just a kid, he should disable the passenger-side airbag.”
    “What did he say?”
    “He told me I was stupid and to shut up.”
    Nathan didn’t respond.
    “I’m not stupid,” she said loudly.
    “Hey, I didn’t say you were. Keep your voice down.”
    “I don’t like being called stupid.”
    “Nobody does.” He surveyed their surroundings. “Let’s stop running and walk quickly.”
    “The man said he was going to teach me to be smart.”
    Nathan didn’t like the sound of that.
    “What happened to your face?” Lauren asked after a short silence.
    “I’d rather not talk about it.”
    “Why not? It’s no big deal.”
    “If you say so.”
    “You don’t have any children, do you.” It wasn’t a question.
    “What makes you say that?”
    “I can just tell.”
    “Are we going to walk or talk?”
    “We can do both, you know.”
    “No, I don’t have any children.”
    “Why not?”
    “It’s complicated.”
    “It’s okay, you don’t have to talk to me.”
    He did his best R. Lee Ermey imitation. “Well, thank you very much. May I be in charge for a while?”
    “I don’t like that movie.”
    “You’ve seen Full Metal Jacket ? And you remember that line? You’re not old enough to watch that movie.”
    “My stepdad liked it. He watched it a bunch of times. I don’t like the bathroom scene.”
    “Yeah, that’s hard to watch. Who’s your stepdad?”
    “He’s dead.”
    “I’m sorry.”
    “I didn’t know him very well.”
    “How did he die?”
    “I’m not supposed to talk about it, but he was murdered.”
    “Murdered?” Once more, Nathan wondered what he was getting himself into. Too many things didn’t make sense. “How long ago?”
    “Last night.”
    Nathan stopped and faced her. “Last night?”
    “Uh-huh.”
    “I’m really sorry, Lauren.”
    This poor kid had been through the wringer . He toyed with the idea that she could be a pathological liar playing some elaborate mind game, but his instincts said no. The men with the machine guns weren’t lies, nor was her abductor.
    “You promise you won’t ditch me?”
    “I promise.”
    On the south side of the street, a short hedge followed the contour of the canyon’s rim. Below that, Friars Road and the Fashion Valley Mall awaited.
    One hundred feet lower on Friars Road, the siren they’d heard materialized from the west in the form of a police cruiser. Its