She set down the latte. She grabbed the young woman by the shoulders. The woman was heavy—not like a person, but like a marble statue bolted to the earth. Veronica grunted, digging her heels into the pavement. She pulled. One inch. Two inches. Her muscles screamed. The watch on her wrist grew cold, then hot.
On a whim, she twisted it.
The city roared to life. The siren resumed its wail. The pigeon flapped away. And behind her, the delivery truck slammed into a fire hydrant with a deafening screech of metal and a geyser of water. time freeze veronica leal
She twisted the stem back.
Veronica lay on the cold concrete, gasping. She looked at the watch. The crack in the glass had grown, spiderwebbing across the face. She had one second left. Maybe less. She set down the latte
The gap between the woman and the truck’s grille was barely a foot. Veronica grunted, digging her heels into the pavement