Ыоуве Been Warned   ::   Patterson James

Chapter 106



I STAND UP SLOWLY, taking one last look at Michael, and it hits me -whatI’m seeing right now.

It’s the picture of Michael from my camera. The shot of him sprawled dead on a floor somewhere.

The one I never took.

Yet here it is. Here I am. How could this happen?

It feels as if I’ve been hit with a stun gun. Time has stopped completely. The world has stopped. All that continues is the deadly – really, truly deadly – silence.

Then it’s broken.

The phone by the bed rings, then rings a second time, snapping me out of it.I need to get out of here. To get away!

I bolt from the room and head toward the back stairs. I know the way out of here. I’m halfway to the stairwell when I hear footsteps pounding behind me.

The kids!

Could it be? Dakota? If not – then who? I’m almost afraid to find out.

But I stop and spin around to look. And it’s not her.

It’s him.

The Ponytail.

How could he be here? How does he fit into this? I want to ask him. But not now!

Oh, dear God! Oh, no!

As in -that’s no camera he’s wielding.

“Freeze!” he yells, taking aim at me.

I thrust out my hands in a panic -Don’t shoot! – only to realize immediately I’ve made a mistake. There’s one thing I forgot to do back in the hotel room, before I charged out of there on my getaway run.

Let go of the gun.



Chapter 107



THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS in the next instant -I die.

I don’t feel the bullet as it rips through my body. I’m not even sure I’m shot until I look down and see the bloodstain.

Slowly, I rub the palm of my hand across my shirt. It feels warm, sticky, unreal.

He thought I was going to shoot him. Ridiculous! Except I just shot Penley, didn’t I?

I stumble back a step before my legs give out. Now I’m spinning – at least that’s the feeling I have. I fall hard to the floor, but I don’t feel the impact.

I don’t feel anything, really, and in some ways that’s an improvement.

I’m lying faceup, gazing at the hallway ceiling. A shiny “Exit” sign points to the stairs I never reached. Other than that, it’s a blank picture.

Then a face appears.

The Ponytail hovers over me. He looks at the gun clenched in my hand and ruefully shakes his head. Bending down, he presses two fingers against the side of my neck. What’s he doing? Oh, I see, he’s feeling for a pulse.

“I’m still alive,” I say.

He doesn’t respond in any way. Nothing.