Chapter Twelve
Grace discovered that everything really did seem to go in slow motion when horrible things were happening. But it was a strange slow motion. Some things stretched out forever, while others sped by too fast.
Nick threw himself down too slowly, but it surprised Old Annie, who stumbled sideways as she fired. Grace’s finger seemed to take eons to pull the trigger with Old Annie Taggart in her sights and Old Annie went to her knees with fluffy white holes in her stupid puffy coat.
Annie had shot Nick.
Grace saw the bloom of dark red at Nick’s waist—soaking through his clothes as he crawled for cover, shooting at where Annie had been, shooting at Mitch. Annie was behind cover now, but Mitch went down with a squeal.
Grace ran out of the trees where she had taken position—too d
