Love and Gravity Read Online Free Page B

hunched over to a beat up Ford Ranger. He hit the window
with the butt of his gun a few times and the window broke. He reached in and
unlocked the doors then waved Margot over.
    “Get in the passenger’s side and
stay down.”
     She did what she was told and
watched as he swiftly hot-wired the car. It roared to life and he sat up behind
the wheel. He drove the car around a corner onto a different street.
    “We need to find Lola,” Jack said
and pressed the pedal down faster.
    It was only when Margot bent down
to hide that she saw Jack’s right arm was bleeding through a small tear in his
suit.
    “Jack, you’re hurt.” Margot
instinctively reached towards his wound but Jack pulled away from her.
    “It’s just a scratch. I’ll deal
with it later.”
    Margot felt a pang of guilt. This
was her fault, she’d been so foolish to eavesdrop on Pop and now she’d ruined
everything. She could have gotten them both killed, not to mention that poor
frightened waitress. She felt embarrassed that she’d reached out to touch him
so instinctively, and a little rejected that he’d pulled away. She bit her lip
to focus on something else.
    Twelve minutes later the car
jerked to a hard stop.  Margot raised her head and looked out the window.
She saw the ocean in the subtle grey morning light. She could smell the salt in
the air. They were near the shipping yard. There were no people on the streets
that Margot could see. Jack opened the driver’s door.
    “Come with me, and stay close
behind,” he said, taking his gun out of his jacket pocket.
    Margot got out of the car and
followed him across the street. There was a building that seemed to be
abandoned. It was covered in graffiti and had some broken windows on the bottom
floor. She could vaguely see the words Bretton & Sons in faded white paint
above the main door. She followed Jack around to the side of the building where
a dented green steel door with a sign that read “Office” on it. The door was
left slightly ajar.
    “Damn,” Jack said, seeing the door
open. He quietly pushed the door open with his gun. Inside the room it was dark
and mostly empty, with just a bit of light coming in through a single corner
window. There were empty wine bottles on the floor alongside a few strewn about
blankets. There was more graffiti along the walls. Jack walked inside and as
Margot followed him she saw the sprawling body of a girl on a pile of blankets
in the corner. Jack walked up to the body and Margot followed him tentatively.
As she got closer she could see the girl’s face. Her eyes were open, her lips
were parted, and she had a gunshot in the center of her forehead. There was a large
dark bloodstain on the blanket beneath the girl’s head.
    “Oh my god,” Margot cried, raising
her hand to her mouth.
    “Let’s go. We need to get out of
here.”
     Jack wrapped his arms around
Margot and turned her towards the door, ushering her outside and back to the
car. He stopped by the door and picked up a cotton shirt from the floor. He
tore a strip off of it and asked Margot to tie it firmly on his arm above the
bullet wound. Margot did as she was told, but felt guilty all over again as she
saw him wince with pain when she pulled the shirt tight.
    When they got back in the truck
Jack started it up again and they headed towards the highway on-ramp. He took
out his phone and dialed.
    “Hey Frankie, it’s Jack. I’ve got
something for you. I need you to meet me so I can hand over a file and a
witness. How soon can you meet me?”
    Margot could hear a thin voice on
the other end of the phone responding, but she couldn’t make out what it was
saying.
    “That’s the soonest,” Jack asked?
“Alright, well if anything changes let me know. We’re heading your way in the
meantime. I’ll be in touch. Thanks Frankie.”
    Jack hung up the phone.
    “Damn,” he said, so quietly Margot
could barely hear him.
     “Frank can’t meet us for two
days. He’s hung up on a trial until then.