Stress Test (42 page)
“Wait a minute!” Carrie pulled her cell phone from her purse and held it out to him. “We can’t leave. We need to call 911.”
Adam took her arm, perhaps a bit more firmly than necessary, and pushed the phone away. He shook his head. “No!”
She flinched at his response, at the tone as much as the word. “Why? Someone shot at us. We should call the police.”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain. Now can we go?” Adam’s voice was low, but the way he said them made the words an order, not a request.
What’s the matter with him
? She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Twice she started to speak. Twice she stopped.
Adam turned the key and reached for the gearshift lever.
Carrie saw his jaw clench. She was terrified, but Adam wasn’t so much scared as—she searched for the right word—he was cold and determined. The change frightened her. “If this was a drive-by, we need to report it. Maybe the police can catch them before they kill someone.”
Although Adam’s voice was low, there was intensity to his words that Carrie had never heard before. “You have to trust me. There are things you don’t know, things that make dangerous for me to deal with the police right now.” He pointed to her seat belt. “Buckle up and let’s leave. I’ll explain soon.”
Carrie wanted to argue further, but she could see it was no use. She put away her phone and fastened her seat belt.
The lights on the theatre marquee went out. In the distance, a siren sounded, faint at first but growing louder. “ We’re out of here,” Adam said. He put the car in gear and eased out of the parking lot, peering through the starred windshield to navigate the dark streets.
Carrie studied Adam as he drove. Most men would be shaking after such a close encounter with death. He wasn’t. Maybe she didn’t know Adam as well as she thought. Maybe she didn’t know him at all. And that scared her even more than what they’d just experienced.
They rode in silence for a few moments, and during that time, Carrie recreated the shooting in her mind. Then something clicked—something strange. She turned to Adam. “You pushed me down before the shots were fired. You didn’t react to the shots. You knew they were coming.”
Adam glanced at her but didn’t respond.
Carrie thought about it once more. “I’m sure of it. First you shoved me below the dashboard. After that I heard three shots. How did you know what was about to happen?
He continued to peer into the night. “I was backed into the parking
space, so I had a good view of the cars moving down the aisle in front of us. A black SUV pulled even with us, and the barrel of a pistol came out the driver’s side window. That’s when I pushed you down.”
“Lucky you saw it.”
Adam shook his head. “Luck had nothing to do with it. I’m always watching.”
His response made her shiver. She hugged herself and sat silent for the balance of the trip.
When they slowed for the turn into Carrie’s driveway, Adam said, “Is there room in your garage for my car?”
“I suppose so. It’s a two-car garage, and one side is empty. Why?”
“I don’t want to leave my car where someone can see it. Open the garage, and let me pull in. We’ll talk once we’re safely in your house.”
Carrie found the garage remote on her key ring and raised the door. When they were inside the house with the garage door closed, she took a seat on the living room sofa. She watched and listened with increasing puzzlement as Adam went through the small house drawing drapes, closing blinds, and making sure all the doors were locked.
Finally, Adam returned to where Carrie waited. He started to sit beside her on the sofa, apparently thought better of it, and sank into a chair. “I’ve wrestled with this all the way home. I thought I was finally safe, but maybe I’m not. I know what I’m going to tell you may change things between us, but you deserve an explanation.”
That was the understatement of the year. Thirty minutes ago, she and Adam were a newly engaged couple, winding down a enjoyable evening. She figured that by now they’d be feeding each other ice cream like two lovebirds, talking seriously and making plans about their future together. But instead . . . “Yes, you owe me an explanation, a big one. So explain.”
“Let me say this first. What I’m about to tell you started long before I met you. My life has changed in the past eight months. I’m different, and it’s because of you. I’m . . .” Adam leaned toward her. He clenched and unclenched his fists. “To begin with, Adam Davidson isn’t my real name.”
A retired physician, Dr. Richard Mabry is the author of four critically acclaimed novels of medical suspense. His previous works have been finalists for the Carol Award and Romantic Times Reader’s Choice Award, and have won the Selah Award. He is a past Vice President of American Christian Fiction Writers and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He and his wife live in North Texas.