Read Online Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lori Handeland
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Romance, Fantasy, Thrillers, Mystery & Detective, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, paranormal romance
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phone, but fat lot of good it would do me. Who would I call that I could explain this to? Who could I call that was capable of killing whatever was out there and not getting killed themselves?
No one but Jimmy, and I didn’t have his number.
My eyes lifted to the only other exit, that small western window about twelve feet above the ground. This wasn’t going to be easy.
I stowed the knife in my fanny pack, kicked off my shoes, then tossed the mattress off the cot and leaned the metal frame against the wall. If I stood on the top, I should be able to jump and catch hold of a beam, then swing myself onto it, hop over to the ledge and shimmy out the window. Piece of cake.
But what lay outside? A sheer drop or a convenient drainpipe?
“Only one way to find out,” I murmured, and scrambled up the iron frame until I was perched at the precipice.
The sound of my voice seemed to enrage the cat, which shrieked so loudly I wanted to cover my ears. However, I needed my hands for more important things.
I took a deep breath, bent at the knees, said a little prayer—if I missed there was a good chance I’d tumble off the metal contraption and sprain or strain something important—then leaped.
I caught the beam on the first try. I didn’t hesitate, but arched and then swung my legs as if the thick plank were a parallel bar and I was in the middle of the state competition.
My hips rolled over the wood; a splinter sliced through my jeans. I barely felt it. As 1 gained my feet, another resounding crash sounded below and a huge, golden paw swept through the ever-widening hole in the door.
I needed to get a move on before the cat broke all the way in and followed me. Then things would get ugly.
After gauging the distance between the beam and the ledge, I backed up as far as 1 could, accelerated for all of five steps, and performed a stag-split leap over the gap. The jeans made the movement kind of awkward, but I wasn’t being scored, unless I wanted to award myself a ten for making it and a zero for falling and dying by shape-shifter.
A quick glance revealed that the window opened onto the roof of the milking parlor, which ran parallel to the barn. I opened the catch, pushed the long, thin glass outward, and inched through.
Night had fallen while I’d been performing amazing feats of gymnastic excellence. The moon hovered at the edge of the world, spreading a haze of silvery light over the deserted farm. I hurried across the flat roof, thinking I could drop down, shut and lock the barn door, trapping the beast inside, then get in my car and drive away.
However, that left Jimmy with a shape-shifting… whatever locked in his barn instead of me. I had no way of reaching him, of warning him. He’d return to pick me up for our meeting with Springboard and the next thing I knew… cat food.
Maybe I’d just wait in my car until he got back. I could stop myself from running him over.
Really.
Content with the plan, at least for now, I hurried along the bank of windows. Glancing in, I could see nothing but the navy blue sky reflecting off the glass.
A sudden crash and then a thump, followed by ferocious snarling, made me jump. The animal had broken through the door. From the sounds behind me, it was kicking the crap out of the tack room. Now was my chance.
After peeking over the edge to make sure there weren’t more beasts waiting for me, I hung from the roof for an instant, then fell lightly to the earth. I came around the corner and stopped. My car was gone.
“Dammit, Jimmy,” I muttered. Now what?
First things first, I needed to shut the barn door with the cougar inside. I’d taken one step in that direction when the sound of a vehicle turning into the drive made me freeze.
Headlights washed over me. Something crashed inside the barn, closer now than it had been before. I gauged the distance between myself and the door. Too far.
Instead, 1 ran toward the approaching vehicle. Whoever it was, I had to warn them.
No one but Jimmy, and I didn’t have his number.
My eyes lifted to the only other exit, that small western window about twelve feet above the ground. This wasn’t going to be easy.
I stowed the knife in my fanny pack, kicked off my shoes, then tossed the mattress off the cot and leaned the metal frame against the wall. If I stood on the top, I should be able to jump and catch hold of a beam, then swing myself onto it, hop over to the ledge and shimmy out the window. Piece of cake.
But what lay outside? A sheer drop or a convenient drainpipe?
“Only one way to find out,” I murmured, and scrambled up the iron frame until I was perched at the precipice.
The sound of my voice seemed to enrage the cat, which shrieked so loudly I wanted to cover my ears. However, I needed my hands for more important things.
I took a deep breath, bent at the knees, said a little prayer—if I missed there was a good chance I’d tumble off the metal contraption and sprain or strain something important—then leaped.
I caught the beam on the first try. I didn’t hesitate, but arched and then swung my legs as if the thick plank were a parallel bar and I was in the middle of the state competition.
My hips rolled over the wood; a splinter sliced through my jeans. I barely felt it. As 1 gained my feet, another resounding crash sounded below and a huge, golden paw swept through the ever-widening hole in the door.
I needed to get a move on before the cat broke all the way in and followed me. Then things would get ugly.
After gauging the distance between the beam and the ledge, I backed up as far as 1 could, accelerated for all of five steps, and performed a stag-split leap over the gap. The jeans made the movement kind of awkward, but I wasn’t being scored, unless I wanted to award myself a ten for making it and a zero for falling and dying by shape-shifter.
A quick glance revealed that the window opened onto the roof of the milking parlor, which ran parallel to the barn. I opened the catch, pushed the long, thin glass outward, and inched through.
Night had fallen while I’d been performing amazing feats of gymnastic excellence. The moon hovered at the edge of the world, spreading a haze of silvery light over the deserted farm. I hurried across the flat roof, thinking I could drop down, shut and lock the barn door, trapping the beast inside, then get in my car and drive away.
However, that left Jimmy with a shape-shifting… whatever locked in his barn instead of me. I had no way of reaching him, of warning him. He’d return to pick me up for our meeting with Springboard and the next thing I knew… cat food.
Maybe I’d just wait in my car until he got back. I could stop myself from running him over.
Really.
Content with the plan, at least for now, I hurried along the bank of windows. Glancing in, I could see nothing but the navy blue sky reflecting off the glass.
A sudden crash and then a thump, followed by ferocious snarling, made me jump. The animal had broken through the door. From the sounds behind me, it was kicking the crap out of the tack room. Now was my chance.
After peeking over the edge to make sure there weren’t more beasts waiting for me, I hung from the roof for an instant, then fell lightly to the earth. I came around the corner and stopped. My car was gone.
“Dammit, Jimmy,” I muttered. Now what?
First things first, I needed to shut the barn door with the cougar inside. I’d taken one step in that direction when the sound of a vehicle turning into the drive made me freeze.
Headlights washed over me. Something crashed inside the barn, closer now than it had been before. I gauged the distance between myself and the door. Too far.
Instead, 1 ran toward the approaching vehicle. Whoever it was, I had to warn them.
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