The Fifth Profession by David Morrell Read Free Book Online Page B

myself. But I'll end this to get at
you.
    You son of a bitch!
    His skull throbbed with anger.
    Turning from the door, he saw that Rachel Stone was now dressed.
    He leaned toward her ear, his whisper almost soundless, conscious of her perfume.
“Take the few things you absolutely need.”
    She nodded with determination and leaned close to him, her words as soft as her breath.
“I'll give you anything you want. Just get me out of here.”
    Savage headed toward the door.
    13
    With the grace of a dancer, Rachel Stone rushed soundlessly down the stairs. In the shadowy vestibule, Savage touched her arm to guide her toward the living room, intending to reach the hallway near the kitchen and leave the mansion through the same door he'd used to enter.
    But she twisted away from his grasp, her long, lithe legs taking her quickly toward the front door.
    Savage rushed to stop her before she opened the door and triggered an alarm.
    But she didn't reach for the door, instead for a switch above it, and Savage understood abruptly that, despite her compulsion to escape, she retained sufficient presence of mind to deactivate the alarm.
    She opened the door. Rain lashed beneath a balcony. Savage followed her onto wide white steps and gently shut the door. Feeling exposed by a misty arc light, he turned to give her instructions.
    She was gone, racing past pillars, down the steps, into the storm.
    No! He ran to catch up to her. Christ, doesn't she realize there might be guards out here? She can't just scramble over a fence. She'll trip an alarm!
    The rain was stronger than when he'd entered the mansion, and colder. But though he shivered, he knew that some of the moisture streaming down his face was sweat. From fear.
    He reached her, about to tackle her, intending to drag her toward the cover of a large statue to his left. At once he changed his mind. She wasn't fleeing at random. Rather she stayed on a concrete driveway that curved in front of the mansion. Constantly heading toward the right, she reached a short lane that intersected with the driveway. At the end of the lane, a storm-shrouded arc light revealed a long, narrow, single-story building with six large doors of a type that opened upward.
    The estate's garage.
That
was her destination. They could hide behind it while he explained how he planned to get her past the sensors.
    Gaining speed, Savage flanked her, his voice low but forceful. “Follow me. Toward the back.”
    But she didn't obey and instead lunged toward a door on the side of the garage, in view of the mansion. She twisted the knob. It didn't budge.
    She sobbed. “Jesus, it's locked.”
    “We have to get in back—out of sight.”
    She kept struggling with the doorknob.
    ”Come on,”
Savage said.
    He spun toward a shout from the mansion.
    A guard charged out the front door, pistol raised, scanning the storm.
    Oh, shit, Savage thought.
    A second man charged out.
    Savage hoped that the rain was too dense for the men to see the garage.
    Then a third man charged out, and Savage knew the entire guard force would soon be searching the grounds.
    “No choice,” he said. “Your idea's lousy, Rachel, but right now I can't think of anything better. Stand back.”
    Rain drenched him as he frantically picked the lock. When he opened the door, Rachel shoved past him, reaching for a light switch. He managed to shut the door just in time, before the sudden illumination would have attracted the guards.
    He faced a long row of luxury cars. “Is it too much to hope you brought keys? I can hot-wire one of these cars, but it'll take me a minute, and thanks to you, we don't have that much time.”
    Rachel darted toward a Mercedes sedan. “The keys are already in them.”
    “What?”
    “No thief would dare to steal from my husband.”
    “Then why was the door locked?”
    “Isn't it obvious?”
    “No.”
    “To stop
me
from taking a car if I somehow got out of the house.”
    As they spoke, Savage ran after her toward the Mercedes.