The Furies Read Online Free PDF Page B

another barrage smashed into the back of the car, the bullets thunking into the trunk and the rear fender, but an instant later he was barreling down Evergreen Avenue, his foot stomping the accelerator, zero to sixty in seven seconds. He made a sharp shrieking left turn on Halsey Street, then blew through three red lights and made a right on Howard Avenue.
    John drove like a madman, making left and right turns every couple of blocks. He didn’t slow down until they were miles away from Bushwick and he was certain that no one was following. They were in an industrial part of Brooklyn now, surrounded by warehouses. John was hopelessly lost, but up ahead he saw a square blue sign with an H on it and an arrow pointing left. They were close to a hospital.
    He looked in the rearview mirror. Ariel lay on her side, half on and half off the backseat. She was motionless and her face was very pale. John couldn’t tell if she was breathing. “Ariel!” he shouted. “ Ariel! ”
    He glanced at her legs but couldn’t bear to look at them. The Kia’s backseat was slick with her blood. John considered trying to bandage the bullet wounds, but he knew nothing about first aid. Better to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible. He turned left at the sign and hit the gas.
    â€œJust hang on,” he shouted at the backseat. “I’m taking you to the emergency room. We’ll be there in two minutes.”
    John wasn’t really expecting a response, but Ariel opened her eyes and spoke in a loud, commanding voice: “Stop the car.”
    His chest tightened. She was alive! “No, look, we’re going to the—”
    â€œI said stop the car! ” Ariel sat upright. Grimacing in pain, she lifted her right arm and pointed at him. “Stop right now or I’ll throw myself out the door!”
    Bewildered, John hit the brake. He looked over his shoulder as the car lurched to a halt. “Ariel, this is crazy. We have to—”
    â€œYou saw … what they tried to do.” Gasping, she struggled to get the words out. “They’re determined … to kill me. If we go to the hospital … they’ll find us there. They’ll finish me off.”
    â€œThen let’s call the cops. We’ll tell them what happened and they’ll come to the emergency room. No one’s gonna hurt you if there’s cops in the room.”
    She grimaced again, squeezing her eyes shut. John was amazed she could stay conscious, much less talk to him. She still clutched her old brown notebook against her chest. “No … that won’t work. I can’t explain right now … but you have to believe me.”
    John shook his head. “Well, what do you want me to do? I can’t let you bleed to death.”
    â€œThen get back here … and help me stop the bleeding.”
    â€œI’m not a doctor! I don’t know how to help you!”
    Ariel’s eyelids fluttered, and for a moment it looked like she was going to pass out again. But she bit her lower lip and managed to hang on. “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you what to do.”

THREE
    Two hours later John drove across the Betsy Ross Bridge. The Delaware River was coal black under the 2:00 A.M. sky. The skyscrapers of downtown Philly stood on the horizon, about six miles to the southwest, still glittering even at this hour of the night. But John didn’t plan to go that far. Kensington was two miles closer, a patchwork of dark streets between downtown and the river.
    He looked in the rearview mirror for what must’ve been the hundredth time. Ariel was still asleep. If he listened carefully he could hear her breathing. She’d drifted off soon after they left Brooklyn, after John bandaged her legs using strips of fabric torn from her blouse. But it was a fitful sleep, because she was in terrible pain. She moaned and whimpered and occasionally spoke a few delirious