Above All Else by Jeff Ross Read Free Book Online

me to one side. I turned around to find Jared sitting on top of Doug Richards. Oz was beside him. Two other guys I recognized from the Rebels team were closing in. Everyone had their flashlights pointed at one another as if they were guns and this was the end of some badass Tarantino movie.
    â€œWe have them outnumbered,” Riley said. “Anything happens and it’s you and me, all right?” I really, really didn’t want anything to happen. I wasn’t much for violence. I’d never even punched anyone before, and I wasn’t looking to start just then.
    â€œDoug Richards,” Jared said.
    â€œGet off me,” Doug replied.
    â€œI just have a couple of questions,” Jared said. One of Doug’s friends came over and shoved Jared. He flew forward, and Doug scrambled back to his feet.
    â€œWhat the hell are you doing?” Doug said. He had a cut on his cheek. He wiped at it, then stared at his hand.
    â€œWhat happened, Richards?” Jared said. “Tell us where you were when Romano was taken out.”
    â€œNowhere near him, you asshat.”
    â€œThen why was your car seen tearing away from the scene?”
    Doug was regaining some of his composure. Up to that point, it had seemed as if he could cry at any moment. “I was nowhere near that idiot’s restaurant.”
    â€œOh, so you know where it happened, then?” Jared said.
    â€œYeah, I know. The police have already been to visit me because of something someone told them. Something that was utter bullshit.”
    â€œWhere were you, Richards?” Jared said. “That’s all we’re asking.”
    â€œNot there.” Doug pulled the tail of his shirt up to his forehead and dabbed at the cut.
    â€œProve it,” Jared said.
    â€œI was with Evan,” Doug said. Evan, Elsa’s brother, took a little step forward. I could see the resemblance. Though Evan was shorter than Elsa, he was way more thick and muscular. He was wearing a hoodie and, for some reason, a pair of winter gloves.
    â€œThat’s bullshit,” Jared said. “We already know it. Where were you really?”
    â€œWhat do you know?” Evan said.
    To Jared’s credit, he did not give me up. “We know. And the police will know soon too.” Jared took a step toward Doug. Jared was a lot bigger than Doug, and he looked really pumped up by the situation.
    â€œYou don’t have any proof,” Evan said.
    â€œHow do you know we don’t have any proof?” Jared said.
    â€œBecause we have—” Evan began.
    â€œShut up,” Doug interrupted.
    â€œWhat do you have?” Jared asked.
    I felt Riley tense up beside me. “Del,” he said.
    â€œWhat?” Then I saw it too. Three large, bright beams of light were tracking the wall behind Doug and his crew.
    Someone yelled, “Hey, what’s going on down here?”
    Jared shone his light down the corridor. I didn’t know who the guys were because their flashlights were so bright. But there were at least three of them. Whether they had any reason to be in the mall or not, we definitely didn’t.
    One of them yelled something, but I had no idea what. Before he’d even finished the sentence, we were all running as fast as humanly possible.

chapter ten
    One set of lights lit up Doug and his group, while another came up behind us. Going out the way we’d come in wasn’t an option. Not that anyone was thinking strategically. We all just started running whichever way we were facing.
    Someone behind me yelled, “Got one!” and I briefly wondered who it was that’d been caught.
    â€œRun, Del,” Riley said. He was right beside me.
    â€œWhere?” I yelled. He didn’t respond. We were in an every-man-for-himself situation.
    I could vaguely recall the layout of the mall. There were two corridors I remembered getting lost in as a kid, one up on the left, the other around the corner, on