Blind Run by Patricia Lewin

down the back stairs and wait there for as long as you can. If things start going bad, get out. Head for the
Dallas Morning News
and tell them your story. Understand?”
    Danny nodded, took Callie’s hand, and headed for the kitchen.
    “No, wait.” Sydney blocked their way. “You can’t just go off by yourselves.”
    “Dr. Decker.” The booming voice came from outside her apartment. “Police. Open up.”
    The children slipped past her.
    “Wait,” she said, but they didn’t even slow down.
    “Dr. Decker, are you in there?”
    Unable to stop the children, she started for the front door, but Ethan caught her hand. “They can’t protect you, Sydney.”
    She looked into his eyes, and it was as if time itself stopped breathing. Once she would have followed this man to hell and back without question. Now she wasn’t sure. Yet an eerie sensation crept up her spine, a certainty that he spoke the truth. “Can you, Ethan? Can you protect me?”
    He didn’t answer immediately. “Maybe.”
    She frowned, tugged her hand free, and backed away.
    The door burst open, and two uniformed officers scrambled into her apartment, guns extended, finding and aiming at Ethan. “Hands where we can see them.”
    He obeyed, slowly. “You’re making a mistake, officers.”
    “Are you okay, Dr. Decker?” One of the men stepped to her side.
    Sydney kept her eyes on Ethan, who seemed remarkably calm considering the circumstances. And dangerous. “Yes, I—”
    “Tell them you made a mistake, Sydney,” Ethan warned. “Explain that I’m your husband and have been out of town. I surprised you this morning and that’s why you called.”
    The officers appeared uneasy. “What’s going on here, Dr. Decker?”
    Sydney hesitated, torn. Part of her wanted to trust him, to put her faith in the man who’d been her husband, the man she’d promised to love, honor, and cherish. Another part, the rational part, balked. Three years ago he’d abandoned that oath, and now he’d all but broken into her apartment, brandishing a gun and talking about someone coming to kill her. How could she trust him?
    “I’m fine,” she said to the uniformed man at her side. “But this man isn’t my husband. Not anymore.”
    Ethan went very still, the shift subtle but frightening. With her denial of their relationship, he’d grown calmer and more alert, ready. Had the others sensed it? She glanced at the police officers, realizing they hadn’t noticed, and felt a chill ripple through her. Ethan had no intention of allowing these officers to arrest him.
    Then she remembered the gun. “Watch out, he has—”
    Behind her a muffled creak, and Ethan spun toward the sound, a weapon already in his hand. “Get down!”
    His words had barely reached her when she heard a soft thud, and a bright crimson rose blossomed on the chest of the officer at her side. Sydney jerked backward, a scream caught in her throat. The young man tumbled to the floor, eyes wide.
    Gunshots exploded and glass shattered as Ethan shoved her to the floor, the impact forcing the scream from her throat. The second officer went down, his gun hand jerking upward without pulling the trigger, a grunt of surprise escaping his open lips.
    Reflexively, she moved toward him, but Ethan had her pinned, covering her as he fired toward the balcony. One shot. Two. And the panel erupted outward, showering glass fragments on a dark figure as it disappeared over the railing.
    Then Ethan was off her, moving to first one officer then the other, checking for life. Sydney scrambled to help, going to the young man who seconds earlier had stood by her side. Before she could do more than press trembling fingers to the pulse point in his neck, Ethan grabbed her arm and dragged her to her feet.
    “We have to get out of here,” he said.
    “No, wait.” She tried to break free. “Let me go—”
    He tightened his hold on her arm. “There’s nothing you can do for them.”
    “No, I—”
    “They’re dead,