Spies in Stilettos [Book Two]

Chapter Ten: Planning Pazzini's Gravestone Quote

Hello! So I'm home sick today - okay, if I'm gonna be honest, I have a cold but my mom let me stay home cuz I felt like skipping school so yeah. But hey, I got to upload! I'm actually on the last chapter of SiStilettos (chapter 12) so hopefully I can finish it soon. This is crazy because I've never written a full book this fast...it's been just over a month and almost 50,000 words! That isn't really a lot for me, but usually I take like a year to write a book, so that's weird. But anyway, I hope you like this chapter - I'm sorry that there hasn't been much humor in this book; I guess it's more action this time around :/ and please vote and comment!

Gracias! <3 vb123321

Chapter Ten

Planning Pazzini's Gravestone Quote

"Zach," I mumbled around the airbag. "Zach..."

When the stars stopped popping behind my eyelids, I shoved the folds of the airbag out of my face and gasped for breath, trying to calm the adrenaline racing through my veins. The trunk of a massive tree crushed the windshield, its branches cracking it in a spider-web pattern, and my wrists hurt from slamming against the dashboard. As the dark edges around my vision cleared, I looked to my left.

Zach sat huddled in his air bag, his head lolling to one side. Fear shot through me, almost choking me as I struggled to get out of my seat to get to him. None of my limbs hurt enough to be seriously injured, so I ignored the dull pain as I pulled the airbag away from Zach's face, terrified that he wasn't breathing. I took his shoulders and tugged him back in the seat, his head flopping against the headrest.

"Can you hear me?" I asked, placing one hand on the side of his face. "Zach, please, answer me!"

Damn it, where was my phone?

Light flooded the dark van suddenly, and I looked out the driver's window to see dark figures making their way down the little slope to our vehicle. Pazzini. Shaking Zach's shoulders, I begged him, "Zach, wake up, please wake up..."

There was no way we could get away from them, not in this crashed van in half a foot of snow. Two men yanked open the driver's door, their faces illuminated in the headlights of Pazzini's car, and for the second time that night a gun was shoved in my face as they ordered gruffly, "Get out."

"He's not conscious –"

Without a word, one of the men seized Zach by the shirt and dragged him out of the van. I tumbled out after him, pleading with the man to put him down, but he ignored me as the other man grabbed my arms. Not bothering to fight him, I allowed him to pull me to the back of the van, where he threw me to the ground. Shivering, I tried to sit so that no skin touched the freezing snow, arranging my skirt under my bare legs.

The other man dropped Zach next to me. The pain of transportation seemed to have awoken Zach: He pulled himself into one of the tire tracks with one arm and leaned against the van's bumper, panting heavily and hugging his arm to his body. His face was so pale that I couldn't see the snowflakes land on it, and he didn't react as I took his hand in mine.

Wrapping Zach's suit jacket more tightly around my body, I raised my head to look defiantly at Pazzini as he walked towards us, his black suit stark against the snow. Hands tucked deep in his pockets, he had a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he looked down at us.

"I knew you wouldn't let my men kill you," he said, shaking his head. "Pity, really – I had so much faith in Hunter. I knew how much he wants to kill you, Sullivan."

"I don't care," said Zach, his voice exhausted. "You keep talking to me like you're trying to affect me, but I don't care."

Pazzini rolled his eyes with a smile. "You're still such a child. Nothing has changed – and I know that you're listening to me, even if you say you don't care. I just wanted to thank you two for bringing me the painting – turns out you dumb kids were more helpful than any of my men, even my top."