Free The Dark Gate by Pamela Palmer Page B

then get David and Sabrina in the bathroom where they can’t get shot.”
    â€œJack—”
    But he was already heading out the door. Larsen stared at the closing door, the blood pounding in her ears. She could leave. For the first time in two days, she was without a jailer.
    Behind her, the little boy whimpered. Larsen shook her head. She locked the door as Jack instructed and helped David into the bathroom, the only room without a window. Sabrina followed and perched on the edge of the tub. David curled up on the rug, holding his stomach, tears in his eyes.
    Larsen knelt beside him. “It still hurts?”
    He nodded, tears sliding down his cheeks to drip on the rug. “He shot me.”
    â€œWith an arrow?”
    â€œNah-unh. It was invisible.” His face screwed up in a mask of pain. “He flicked it off his thumb.”
    It didn’t make any sense. But she couldn’t deny his pain, nor the fact that nothing about this nightmare had made any sense from the beginning. She was all too afraid the little bald people had come after her. Why had they attacked the children?
    Larsen had badly misjudged the cancer girl. She’d appeared so fragile when Larsen had first seen her in the church. Sweet.
    â€œWhat are you doing here?” Sabrina asked sharply.
    Larsen looked up and met the teen’s glare. She was a pretty girl, though Larsen didn’t much care for the look in her eyes.
    â€œI’m a guest of Jack’s.”
    â€œWhy?” Dark eyes flashed with unfriendliness.
    Larsen watched the girl with interest. She knew jealousy when she saw it and decided to answer truthfully. “One of those little bald people shot me with an arrow Monday night. Jack’s a cop. He brought me here to keep me safe until he caught her.”
    â€œShe followed you, then. It’s your fault David got hurt.”
    â€œIt’s not my fault.”
    â€œIt’s not my fault either! David shouldn’t have yelled at them.”
    The girl’s sudden defensiveness took Larsen by surprise.
    The teen’s face crumpled, tears welling in her eyes. “My dad’s going to be so mad.”
    â€œHe told her…” David began, then gripped his stomach and grimaced. “He told her not to leave the house without him or Mom. But she wouldn’t listen.”
    â€œIt’s Jack’s birthday,” Sabrina said through lips tensed and trembling. “We always surprise him on his birthday.”
    â€œMaybe you should have sent him a card,” Larsen murmured.
    The girl stared at her, then began to cry in earnest.
    Larsen sighed. “Sabrina, please don’t cry. It won’t help anything.” But she might as well have been talking to the sink. She rose and went to stand in the open doorway where she might hear Jack when he returned. Finally the rap sounded on the front door.
    â€œLarsen, open up. It’s me.”
    She hurried to the door and let Jack in. “Did you catch them?”
    â€œNo.” He met her gaze for one brittle moment, his eyes revealing a wealth of anger…and a deep vein of hurt. He brushed past her and went to the bathroom where Sabrina still cried. The bathroom where she’d experienced the most amazing kiss of her life.
    She followed him and stood in the doorway, watching him kneel beside David, his dark head bent with concern. Whatever had been growing between them was gone. There would be no more kisses. No more sexy smiles. No more warm arms holding her through the night. All that was left between them was blame and anger and guilt. A fist-size lump of regret lodged in her chest. If only things could have been different. If only she were different.
    If only she were normal. But she wasn’t and she had to get away from Jack and his cops before they figured that out, even if it meant risking another arrow.
    While Jack comforted the children, Larsen walked to the bedroom and closed the door, then grabbed her