Ashes - Book 1 Read Free Page B

kicking it shut with my foot before lunging for the lock, just as it shudders under the man’s weight.
    I’m on my feet again and push the metal file cabinet with all my strength and yell for the girl to help me. She doesn’t move, just lies on the floor. Oh no. Please no. He shot her; blood is spreading across her shirt. With another surge of adrenaline, I’m able to push the cabinet over. It crashes into the wall, angled in front of the door.
    I search for the phone I dropped. The dispatcher is still there. “He shot her. He shot the girl. I need an ambulance. Hurry.”
    My office door shudders and I pull the girl away, dragging her to the furthest corner. She moans. Thank God, she’s still alive, but she’s nowhere close to conscious. I can’t do anything for her now. I have to make our area secure, if that’s even possible.
    Running behind my desk, I push with all my strength. The heavy wood barely budges and I’m pissed at how weak and ineffective I am. Finally, it moves an inch, then another. The door shudders and the man screams in rage moments before the lock shatters from a bullet.
    How many shots has he fired? I try to remember, but I’m just not sure. I also don’t know what kind of gun he has, how many bullets it holds. Maybe he has extras? I nearly choke on a sob from not knowing.
    Sweat is pouring from me in streams by the time I have the desk against the door. The lock is broken, but he’s unable to get in. He grows more furious, pounding and kicking at the wood. To my horror, it splinters down the middle. I look around, but there’s nothing else I can use to block it. I can do nothing but stand there and watch it splinter again.
    Sirens.
    Somehow over the noise, I hear blessed sirens drawing closer. I jump as the door cracks again. I find the phone, but the line is dead; we’ve been disconnected. I jump when it vibrates in my hand.
    It’s Gage!
    The girl moans and I rush to her as I answer the call. “Gage, oh my god—“
    “I heard,” he interrupts me. “We got the call. We’re two minutes away.” I stick a finger in my other ear so I can hear him a little better.
    Two minutes. I look at the door. I don’t have that long.
    “Cops are pulling in, Beth,” he tells me. “They’re right there. We’re right behind them.”
    “Can’t wait to see you,” I say, trying for a little lightness in my voice. I muffle the squeal that tries to rip from my throat as a piece of the wood door breaks apart.
    “Hang on, Beth. We’ve got a date Friday night, okay.” His voice is calm. So calm. Almost gentle.
    “It’s not a date.” I laugh a little at our ongoing joke, a desperate cackling that I stop before it takes hold and gags me.
    “Right.” He barks out a laugh. “Not a date. What was I thinking?”
    “I’m afraid.” I hate myself for saying the words.
    “You’re a warrior. Look around; what weapon do you have near you?”
    I force myself to focus and see the stun gun where I dropped it. I lunge for it and find the can of mace too.
    “Stun gun and mace. Gage, he’s almost through the door. He has a gun.”
    “Go to the side of the door and if he sticks his hand, head, anything inside, zap the bastard. You have to hold it to his skin for several seconds to take him down. Press hard. Okay?”
    I’m breathing so hard, I begin to grow lightheaded and have to steady myself against the wall. I force myself to breathe out some of the excess oxygen. Then take smaller breaths in through my nose.
    The door shudders and a large section of wood breaks off with a loud crack. My nervous system is on overload; I don’t even react. I drop the phone in my pocket and hold the stun gun with both hands in front of me.
    “Fuckin’ bitch. Fuckin’ bitch. Fuckin’ bitch.” The man chants the words over and over. He’s pulling on the wood, making the hole bigger, but only his fingers are visible and only for a second at a time.
    I wait for my chance and inch closer to the hole he’s created,