Birthright Read online

  Chapter Two

  Jordan staggered through the automatic doors of Walmart, out of the brutal June heat in Las Vegas. She maneuvered her way through the hordes of people entering and exiting in the afternoon rush. Her chest throbbed with every intake of breath and she hugged an oversized camouflage jacket around herself despite the triple digit temperature. Jordan paused to take it all in. People talked on cellphones while carelessly throwing items in their carts. A toddler dodged behind Jordan while pelting his mom with grapes.

  “Move it!” someone snapped.

  Jordan moved off to the side and tried to block out the booming voice on the PA. It seemed as if thousands of people pressed in around her. She ran a hand over her pocket to make sure the wad of cash was still there. Jordan pulled the bill of her ratty hat lower over her face. She splayed a hand over her middle and prayed for death, away from the unrelenting pain.

  Jordan scanned the crowd for a moment before she lurched into motion. She needed pain killers. She navigated her way through and around long checkout lines. At this time of day, the store was packed to capacity with nagging wagons and harried people just off of work. Callus people bumped into her and sent ricochets of agony through her. Barely suppressing a scream, she took refuge in women’s clothing. An unsympathetic lady huffed impatiently when Jordan blocked her way and muttered to herself in Spanish as she passed. Jordan hobbled to the lingerie section, which was less populated and leaned heavily against a rack of pajamas on sale. A worker wearing the Walmart blue vest over jeans and a white tee frowned, but made no comment as she hung bras on the correct racks.

  Jordan rested her forehead on her arm and tried to stop the panic that rose to choke her. Sweat trickled down her face and she tried to block out the overload on her senses. The lights in the store flickered on and off. The volume of the crowd rose in surprise and alarm.

  Jordan stared at the sizzling lights and forced herself to focus. She was running out of time. She moved to the main aisle and took in roadblocks in the form of women, children and wagons. She took note of where the crowd was heaviest and where two workers muttered over a spill. She eased forward and looked right and left. As she raised her foot to step into the masses, a chill ran down her spine. Instinct whipped her head to the right and her eyes moved frantically over the crowd. Her mind screamed at her to run, but she had to be sure. And then she saw him. Standing near the checkout lines, predator still with his black eyes on her was her worst nightmare. William.

  Terror flooded her body along with a healthy dose of adrenaline. Without pausing another second, she leapt into the most condensed areas amidst loud curses and shouts of “Hey, watch it!” She blocked out everything and concentrated on losing herself in the crowd. It was the worst feeling in the world to be surrounded by people and feel utterly alone. No one could save her from him. She clenched her hands into fists as she ran. He wouldn’t get his hands on her again. She crouched in the crowd, peeking through elbows and between couples into aisles when a hand closed firmly around her arm. Jordan opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Her heart felt as if it would pound out of her chest. She whirled, fist flying.

  A man in a basketball jersey dodged her swing and stepped back with his hands up. “Jesus, I thought you were my girlfriend.” When she didn’t relax her fighting stance, he shook his head and muttered, “Crazy,” beneath his breath before he walked away.

  Weak with relief, she staggered into an empty aisle lined with picture frames and mirrors. People ignored Jordan who bent over, gasping for breath. Someone paused and Jordan looked up as a woman threatened to glue her kid’s butt to the wagon if he didn’t sit.

  The mirrors Jordan stood in front of showed eyes dilated with fright and a ghost white complexion. Jordan looked right and left, monitoring both entrances into her aisle. To her left was a shelf running perpendicular filled with stools and chairs. To the right was the main aisle.

  “Think, Jordan. Think,” she chanted to herself.

  The people in this store had no idea that a monster walked among them, a man who would kill to get to her. Her skin rippled with goose bumps. How did he find her so fast? She wouldn’t go back. Jordan blew out a breath and didn’t notice the surface of the mirror frost with ice.

  “Have to get out,” Jordan whispered.

  There’s more than one exit, Jordan thought. Back entrance, garden. When she tried to move, she found herself paralyzed with fear. Jordan flexed tingling palms, looked at her reflection and froze. Her image blurred as the mirror began to vibrate. She took a step back as the shelf shuddered. Metal squeaked in protest and hooks holding mirrors of all shapes and sizes began to bend. Two huge mirrors fell forward and shattered. Jordan covered her face with one arm as mirror shards flew like shrapnel. The shelf screeched as the ground began to tremble. She tumbled to her knees on a mirror and gasped in pain.

  Shelves holding picture frames crashed to the ground and glass exploded around her. Jordan yanked a jagged chunk of mirror from her knee and forced herself up. Jordan ran out of the aisle, arms shielding her face as glass cascaded overhead and slid down the back of her shirt. Jordan hit the ground hard as the tile beneath her pitched. She cried out as her injured knee hit the ground.

  Displays toppled and canned food rained down, knocking people unconscious. People lay on the ground, protecting themselves from products. With heavy groans, several shelves tipped forward, causing a domino effect and crushing people beneath their weight. People flailed wildly as the ground rolled beneath them and then everything stopped. Sobs and crying broke out as strangers looked into one another’s shocked faces. They stayed on the ground, waiting to see if there would be an aftershock. Jordan looked down the main aisle where she sprawled and jerked.

  While everyone lay prone and dazed on the floor, one man in jeans and a navy shirt walked calmly amidst the chaos. William was unconcerned and unaffected by the recent earthquake. He didn’t look down as he stepped over products with people buried beneath. Even across the distance, his eyes were fixed on her.

  Jordan scrambled backwards as people began to rise, obstacles that stood in his way. She forced herself up and groaned when she put weight on her right knee. She looked back and poised herself to run when bone-chilling shrieks pierced the air. Those around her fell to the ground, clutching their chests. Everyone writhed as if they were being hit by gunfire. Blood spurted over cracked white tile as people keeled over, bodies destroyed by weapons she couldn’t see. William appeared in her line of vision, oblivious to the pandemonium taking place around them.

  Jordan couldn’t make sense of what was happening and she didn’t have time to analyze. She turned and ran, sprinting over bodies of the fallen. Her knee protested and her jeans rubbed against the raw wound, but she didn’t slow.

  “Jordan!” William roared.

  Jordan dodged blindly into an aisle and scrambled over containers of laundry detergent. Halfway down the aisle, she fell hard as her feet slipped in liquid washing soap. With frenzied hands, she pushed her way through the heavy bottles and slime like an amateur swimmer, determined and desperate. The smell of fabric softeners and cleaning products burned her nostrils. She slithered out of that aisle and dodged into another, forcing her shoes to find purchase on the floor. Breath came in short, panicked gasps. Everywhere her eyes settled, people lay still and unmoving with pools of blood around their bodies.

  Jordan sprinted towards the women’s clothes for cover. The store was deadly silent. Jordan crouched down on all fours and tried to breathe. She splayed her hands flat and leaned forward so her forehead touched the carpet. The silence crushed in on her senses, forcing her ears to strain for any hint of sound. She turned her head to the side and covered her mouth to stifle a scream. At floor level, she could see bodies sprawled on the carpet beside racks of clothes and between bra aisles. The worker Jordan saw earlier lay several feet away, white shirt soaked with blood. This can’t be happening, Jordan thought and tried to focus, but everything w
ithin her screamed in hysterical fear.

  A hand clamped around the back of Jordan’s neck and jerked her upwards. Jordan let out an ear-piercing scream that echoed in the complete silence. She stared up at William whose black eyes were unnaturally wide and crazed. His body was covered in sweat and he trembled as his hand spanned her throat. Jordan clutched his wrist and yanked with no results. He leaned his rough cheek against hers and inhaled deeply.

  “You won’t escape me again,” he whispered.