Dead or Alive Read Free

beautiful body?
    If it was her strategy, it was brilliant.  And it was working.  Remy swallowed hard, willing himself to focus.
    "Back up!" he cried to the dozens of officers surrounding him, guns drawn.  Some moved back, others didn't.  Frustrated, Remy fired two quick rounds in the air. Wails and hollers filled the room, and the woman in his arms almost collapsed to her knees, but he held her steadfast, pressing the barrel of the gun to the side of her waist this time. “Back the fuck up!"
    This time, the gun wielding officers listened. Slowly, guns still pointed directly at him, they began to back away. Some tried to reason with him, and others looked anxious to kill him right where he stood.  Clearly there was a commanding officer somewhere who was ordering them to hold their fire.  If an innocent female reporter was killed in a police shoot-out, with cameras all around, it would be all their asses on the line.
    At that point, Violet wanted them to take the risk.  She would’ve told them, but the lingering shock of this lunatic setting off the gun had left her too stunned to speak.
    Remy backed up into the exit door.  It clicked open, and he dragged Violet in with him.
    The door slammed closed.
     
    ***
     
    Violet’s chest heaved, and sweat droplets began to form on her upper lip as she climbed the exit stairwell, never losing sight of the hand gripping her shoulder, or the gun pressed to the small of her back.  She could hear Remy struggling for air behind her as well.  They’d circled at least five stories, and she was silently thanking god for the gym across the street from her house.  The Stairmaster was her favorite machine, and Violet was sure she could out-climb this bastard any day, if that’s what it came to.
    Regrettably, they reached the top of the stairwell in under a minute, and were met with a bright red door.  The sign on the door was perfectly clear.
     
    RESTRICTED AREA
    ALARM WILL SOUND
    VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED
     
    It was a sign that did not apply to her captor.  Sounding an alarm was surely the least of Remington Archibald’s worries.
    Keeping a firm hold on her shoulder and the gun to her back, Remy shook her.
    “Door.” he ordered.  He could faintly hear the sound of many feet climbing the stairs below them.
    Violet could hear it, too.  She gingerly placed one hand on the door handle, pressing her other hand against the cold steel.  “This is a ten story building.  We’re on the roof. There’s no way you’re going to get out of this, Archibald.”
    The footsteps grew louder, more pronounced, with each passing second.  Remy wasn’t blind to the fact that she was stalling. He pushed the gun harder into her back and leaned in, pressing his lips against her ear.
    Violet’s body rolled with chills when his gravely voice rang softly in her ear.
    “I don’t want to kill you, Violet, but I will.”
    The way her name sounded coming from him sent an arctic freeze across her spine.  Before she could stop herself, she was pushing open the door to the rooftop.  They stepped out into the brutal humid sunlight, and Violet’s heart completely deflated at the sight that awaited her.
    She knew, right at that moment, that all hope was lost.
    Directly in the middle of the rooftop, a mere ten feet away, was an empty police helicopter.

2
     
    Violet couldn’t believe her eyes.  What was sure to be her key to freedom from this madman--getting trapped on a rooftop until help arrived--turned out to be anything but.  From her limited research into his case, she knew Archibald was a former captain of the A380, a monster of a plane that held nearly 800 passengers. Surely he could get this baby bird off the ground with ease, and even more surely, he would take her right with him.
    “Walk.”
    He was jamming that damn gun into her side again.  Violet huffed while allowing him to push her towards the empty aircraft, praying desperately that the police would bust through the doors of