Time to Die Read Online Free

she whimpered.
    “I have to,” Brad said. “I’m caught in a crack, and you happen to be my only way out. It sucks, but welcome to my world.”
    “I don’t think I can,” she whined.
    Scotty felt his face and ears turning red with rage. Who did this guy think he was, making Gramma cry?
    Brad said, “You think about it, Gramma. Ask yourself what you asked the kid: is it worth taking the chance?”
    “Please don’t,” she said again.
    Brad gave her a poisonous smile. “You’re in the driver’s seat. Get us out of here safely, and your troubles are nearly over.”
    Gramma made her decision. Scotty felt a surge of pride as he saw the sniveling weakness drain from her face, then to be replaced by the angry set of her jaw that Scotty had become so used to seeing. “Where are we going?” she asked.
    “Out of the parking lot and hang a right. Join that line of cars.” The rain had slackened a bit, but there was plenty left in the clouds.
    Gramma backed out of the parking space, then pulled the transmission into Drive and whirled the wheel to the left to clear the back of the car that had parked next to her. That done, she straightened the vehicle out and headed for the driveway, beyond which the traffic was barely moving.
    Brad climbed back over the seat to join Nicki in the back. “When they stop you, they’re going to ask if you’ve seen us, and that’s when you need to put in an Oscar-winning performance. If they want to know where you’re going or where you’ve been, you just tell them that you took your grandson out to get a movie.”
    “And a video game,” Scotty corrected. He shrank from the heat of Brad’s glare.
    “Just get us through this,” Brad continued, to Gramma, “and everything will be fine. Screw it up and you’ll regret it forever.” He faded farther back into the shadows, pausing to whisper in Scotty’s ear. “Listen here, little man, I’ll tell you what I told your grandmother. If something happens so these cops find out that we’re here, there’s going to be shooting. When that happens, the very first bullet kills your Gramma. The second one kills you. Think about that.”
    Brad turned to Nicki. “Did you find the driver’s license?”
    Actually, she’d forgotten completely about it. With trembling hands, she turned her attention to the mammoth purse. Glancing at the flashing lights of the roadblock, she asked, “Are you really going to shoot if we get stopped up there?” she asked.
    Brad gave her a hard look. “I told you that I’m not going back to prison. You just keep your head down.”
    “But Brad, what about them?” she asked with a sweeping gesture. “They didn’t do anything.”
    He turned away to face front again. “Not yet they haven’t,” he said.

Chapter Two
    N orth Carolina State Trooper Matt Hayes would not have been more soaked if someone had stood on a ladder and poured buckets of water over his head. On typical wet days, his plastic rain slicker kept most of the rain out, but today he might as well not have worn it.
    He handed Hector Nunez back his license and waved him through the roadblock, beckoning the next in line to stop. He’d chosen this spot for the checkpoint because it was only a few hundred yards from the place where the road from Essex split in three. A similar checkpoint had been set up on the northern end of the same road, some thirty miles from here. Getting in and out of Essex required passage on this road, period. If the murderers were traveling by car, their escape route was sealed off. They were either holed up or trapped. Matt couldn’t see a third option.
    Now that he’d been here for three hours, though, things seemed a hell of a lot less sure.
    A battered green Bronco without hubcaps was next in line, complete with a little old lady behind the steering wheel. Matt whirled his fingers in the air to motion her to lower her window. The height of the vehicle allowed him to look her straight in the eye rather than tilting