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couldn't stem the fear radiating from her eyes.
    "I should, seeing as how you don't remember me and obviously aren't going to apologize for shit after all."
    "Is that what this is about? An apology?"
    "I saved your life," Jaron said, only he sounded tortured. He practically thrust her from him.
    "All these years and you only want an 'I'm sorry'?" Rain couldn't help it; she was still unwilling to believe him.
    "Come on." Jaron took her arm and led her to another apartment building.

Chapter Six
    Thunder boomed and lightning crashed. The night was wild with nature's wrath. The room was stuffy and stale. Jaron cast his glance from the window to Rain. She was asleep on the couch. He hadn't kept her cuffed; the windows were nailed shut and the door triple-bolted. She had seen his weapon. If she screamed, no one would care. Even the cops were afraid to come into this neighborhood.
    Rain had refused to eat anything in the time he'd had her. Before she fell asleep she had declared she'd sat idle long enough. With her hand placed lightly on the kitchen table she had limbered up, swinging her legs, bending.
    Jaron had been feeling cramped himself with the long car ride. Watching a gorgeous ballerina swivel her hips had given him a hard-on and he was still uncomfortable. Out of habit he checked his weapon.
    "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Jaron said when he caught movement from the corner of his eye.
    Rain was up and moving toward the door. She was no longer barefoot. After bandaging a small cut on her foot, Jaron had swiped her some shoes from a line. They were holey and scuffed and no doubt some kid's but too bad.
    Rain reached for the door handle and Jaron watched her jiggle it. Casually he strolled over.
    "It's locked," he said drily. Rain continued to work the handle. "Hello? Are you deaf now as well as senile?"
    Curiously he moved somewhat in front of her. Rain was staring off into space. He waved his hand across her face. Either she was ignoring him—or she was sleepwalking. He guessed the latter.
    Jaron looked back to the window as the storm continued to howl. It was a night like this her parents were gunned down. Rain's grandparents had been working. Her father had been in the apartment. After the fire was set, her mother had apparently climbed from the closet she and Rain were hiding in. The race for their lives had begun, then ended in tragedy—his included.
    Jaron opened the door. Rain moved, dreamlike, down the hall. They were on the first floor, like her parents had been. Out into the wind she stepped without breaking stride. Rain looked to her left and moved toward her old apartment building.
    They were both soaked after a few feet. Lightning crashed overhead and Jaron heard Rain whimper. Her breathing increased. She reached her old building. The look on her face was total confusion—then panic. Jaron lunged for her when Rain bolted.
    Damn. Through the alley she sped, turning and twisting, staying a hairsbreadth in front of him. She leaped over cans and cardboard. Her fingers trailed through left out old clothing sitting on sagging lines. There was oddness to the way she was fleeing from him. Her actions were controlled, rehearsed—or remembered. She was suddenly in a heap on the ground. Jaron stopped dead, almost tripping over her in his haste to keep up.
    Holy shit, she's fast.
    Rain's hands fisted as though grabbing something—no, someone. It didn't take much for Jaron to remember. Those few moments were embedded into his very soul.
    This was the same path Rain's mother had fled trying to escape Carver. The woman had stumbled on this spot and dropped Rain. Both woman and child had cried out. Rain's body arched and her hands dragged up her sides. Rain's mother had been shot in the back. Thankfully the bullet had lodged and not gone straight through her into Rain's tiny body. With her precious child clutched to her breasts, Rain's mother had staggered as Rain now staggered forward. She'd had courage,