Page 93 of Talk Birdie to Me

An expression of terror blanketed her face while she held her hands in the air, and Cody wanted to run around to the front of the house and burst through so he could tackle the man. It had been a long time since he’d played Peewee League football, but he figured he could still get the job done.

At what cost, though?

The man didn’t look super confident with that gun, and Cody couldn’t risk it going off and hitting Geena. That would defeat the purpose of trying to save her.

Geena’s gaze shifted toward the window where Cody was standing on his toes. Her eyes widened when she saw a person staring back at her. Cody wasn’t sure whether or not she recognized him, but she quickly returned her line of sight to the man threatening her.

Then, without looking Cody’s way again, she said something to the man and aimed a finger up and across the room, at what Cody guessed was the direction of the room’s door.

Gary.

Was she trying to show him where Gary was? There didn’t seem to be any furniture in the room, so he might have perched on the door frame as best he could if they had let him out of the cage.

But why let him out?

Cody decided it didn’t matter. He needed to help without making things worse.

He had no idea how to do that yet, but there was one thing he could do in the meantime.

He dropped from his toes to stand flat on the ground, then he silenced his phone and sent a text.

Geena stared at Gary, who was bobbing his head up and down from his perch on the bedroom door frame. She wasn’t sure how the big parrot was balancing on that tiny ledge, but he seemed to be fairly sure-footed up there.

“Hey, buddy,” she said in a soft voice. She tried to make herself sound reassuring, but she was pretty sure Gary wasn’t buying it. Maybe James was. That was the hope. “How are you doing?”

She didn’t expect an answer. Not right away, at least. Gary was less puffed up, but he still seemed stressed. Not that she could blame him. She had just entered this situation and was stressed beyond belief. Gary had been stuck in that small cage for days, probably with James barking orders at him.

Gary let out a tiny squawk, then a muffled, “Shit stain.”

Geena smiled up at him and nodded in agreement. “Good to see you again.”

After a few soft clucks, Gary said, “Sorry.”

“Not your fault. It’s mine.” Geena had spent the entire week beating herself up about letting Gary get stolen. She still felt guilty, but she’d let go of the shame. And she was beginning to forgive herself, thanks to her sister and Cody and their assurance that she couldn’t have known this would happen, and that she’d done the best she could. “But I’m here now.”

“Are we done with the reunion?” James sounded annoyed with both of them. “Get him to make the sound, so I can record it and match it later.”

“I’m not making him do anything,” Geena said. “Not when I don’t know if you’re gonna kill us both once you get what you want.”

James rolled his eyes while keeping the gun aimed at her. “Seriously, stop being so dramatic.”

“Sorry, I would be a lot less dramatic if there wasn’t a gun pointed at me.”

Geena still didn’t know how to escape this mess. Her plan at the moment involved keeping James talking while she figured something out.

Or until Cody did.

At least, she assumed that was the top of Cody’s head at the bottom of that window.

She had felt such a sense of relief when she saw he had somehow followed them there. Even if she still couldn’t think of a way out of this for all of them.

She’d tried not to alert James that someone was outside. And she hoped if it was Cody that he caught on that she was pointing at Gary and that he was loose.

If Cody was in an impulsive or protective state of mind, she didn’t want him rushing into the room. Gary might get startled and escape. And as stressed as that parrot was and in unfamiliar territory, they might not get him back.

“I don’t want to kill either of you,” James said. “But I won’t have much of a choice if I don’t get those sounds recorded. I can’t have you going to the cops before I’m out of the country. And I can’t get out of the country until I have that money.”

Geena really didn’t care whether or not James escaped with the PIN or whatever Gary’s beeps and boops were mimicking. She only cared about getting them all out alive.

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