Free Both Ends Burning (Whistleblower Trilogy Book 3) by Jim Heskett Page A

and on the other side, Edgar Hartford’s wife stood there, fifty feet away in the dining room. Her hand was still on the light switch.
    Our eyes met. She hesitated, blank-faced. Then her face pulled down as the whites of her eyes grew. She gulped in a breath and screamed.
    “Eddie! He’s right there!”
    Edgar, who was behind her and with his back turned away, turned to face us. I saw it happen in slow-motion, then I planted my foot and jumped left, into the laundry room. Had he seen me? With one look, he’d know who I was. He’d probably know why I was here, too.
    If he saw me, it was all over. Total failure. Death for my family.
    A door on the other side of the laundry room led outside. I raced for the door, hopped over a basket of folded clothes, and threw it open. A second alarm sounded. The two alarms competed with each other, bouncing back and forth. My ears rang and my head throbbed from the barrage of noise.
    I ran past a small concrete patio, then across the tennis court. I nearly ran straight into the net, but spun and changed course at the last second. I set my sights on a row of shrubs at the edge of the tennis court. Lifted my knees and swung my arms to run faster than I’d thought possible.
    As I tumbled over the shrubs, hidden spiked branches tearing my latex gloves to pieces, the laundry room door opened behind me. Heard some garbled yelling, then a gunshot rang out. It echoed through the night air. My foot caught on a low branch, and I landed on my face.
    I got to my feet and ran as fast as I could across the lawn as a few more gunshots added a third noise to compete with the alarms.
    Nestled in the shack in South Point, huddled next to Omar, Glenning had claimed that Edgar was an idealist. The idealist was shooting at me and screaming bloody murder.
    I hit the edge of the property and spun to make sure he wasn’t directly behind me. Took a half second to catch my breath. I stuffed the loot down the back of my pants and scrambled up the stone pillar to reach the other side.
    I landed in a bed of mulch past the fence. My chest heaved and my hands tingled, like the sensation of sticking them in hot water after spending a long time in the cold.
    I dashed into the street, not bothering to look. I barely heard the sound of screeching tires as something pushed me and I felt my body twist. As I went sailing into the air, I stole a look at a woman behind the wheel of a white BMW, and the expression of horror on her face.
    I landed on my shoulder, the same one still sore from Jed’s blast of shotgun birdshot. I felt myself skidding along the pavement, then rolling over and bumping into the curb. My head throbbed.
    A car door open and shut. “Oh my lord, are you okay? I didn’t see you there. What are you doing running out into the street like that?”
    I looked up at a silver-haired woman with a foofy perm, clutching her purse in her hands. Pushed myself up onto my feet, felt around for broken bones. My shoulder ached, but aside from that, I seemed to be okay. Checked the back of my pants, and the goods were still there.
    I cast one look at the lady and took off in the opposite direction. She called after me, but I kept running.
    A few other houses on the street had turned on their porch lights. I put my head down and commanded my legs to work harder. Sprinted as fast as I could, as far as I could, not bothering to stop or look where I was going or pay any attention to what was behind me.
     
    ***
     
    Eventually, I came to a stop. I’d run a mile, maybe more. My pulse thumped against my neck with such a percussive ferocity that I couldn’t hear anything else, and I coughed until I thought I might choke.
    I dropped to my hands and knees and gulped air, then turned to survey the area. Felt cold and damp grass under me. Heard the sounds of cars whooshing by on a major street behind me. I focused until I could see the brakes and headlights of the cars, but no shouts came, no gunmen jumped from those cars with