Page 76 of If Anything Happens To Me

“About two minutes to break the window and climb out,” he said.

I figured that would give us another minute to head down the fire escape and hit the street running.

“How are we going to do all that in such a short time?” I asked.

“You and I are going to take out the cameras,” he said.

“Okay. I’ll tell Hayley and Abigail what’s going on, and that they have to be ready to move as soon as we give the signal,” I said.

“Walk to them slowly—he has a camera app on his phone, not just a monitor inside, so assume you’re being watched. Don’t act like it’s urgent,” he said.

“Right,” I said. “We don’t want Fitch thinking we have anything like a plan.”

He held on tight; letting go of each other was incredibly hard, but I knew time was ticking away, so I forced myself to do it. I strolled over to Hayley and Abigail. Abigail was lying down again, Hayley leaning against the bedpost. Abigail’s eyes were closed, but Hayley had seen me and Matt talking, and she looked scared to death.

“What does he want?” Hayley asked.

“He’s on our side,” I said. “But speak quietly so Fitch doesn’t hear. We have to do this quickly . . .”

“Do what?” Hayley asked.

“Matt and I are going to take down the cameras, and then we’ll break the window. We’ll climb out onto the fire escape and get down to the street.”

“Okay,” Hayley said, her eyes brighter than they’d been since I’d met her. She looked excited. Having a mission will do that—I felt it myself. Then she glanced down at Abigail, who seemed to have fallen asleep again.

“This has been a lot for her,” Hayley said. “Confronting Fitch really got to her. I don’t think she can handle all this.”

“She has to,” I said. “Wake her up.”

“Okay,” Hayley said.

Matt had edged his way around the attic’s perimeter so that he was standing just out of sight of the snowy owl. I meandered over to him. I had no clue about how we were going to get up to the ceiling to get to the surveillance equipment.

“How are we doing this?” I asked.

“Get on my shoulders,” Matt said, pulling his Swiss Army knife from his back pocket. He handed it to me. “Then reach up and cut the ropes that attach the birds to the rafters.”

I followed his thinking: When the first bird fell, it would yank out of the plug. “Once you hit one, I’ll move fast to the second, and we’ll do the same thing,” he said.

Matt knelt down, and I straddled his shoulders. While he stood up, I held the knife and looked overhead. I reached up my arms as high as they would go, but I wasn’t close enough.

“It’s too high,” I whispered. “But hold on. I’m going to try to stand.”

I stuck the knife in my waistband. Matt reached up so I could brace myself against his hands. Using that grip as leverage, I pushed myself up until I was standing. It took teamwork and balance. I could feel the tension in his arms as Matt held them steady. I wobbled, positive I was about to tumble, but then I felt someone pulling me straight up. I felt the softest grip, and I knew it was Eloise.

My sister helped me, I swear she did. I could hear her voice as if she was hovering just above me:You can do it, Oli. You’ve got this.

And I did. Eloise, Matt, and I were doing this together. I rose up, one foot on each of his shoulders, Eloise supporting me on this ladder to the sky, and I grabbed on to the owl’s feathery body. I sliced the cord, and as the owl fell to the floor, so did I. I knew I had Eloise to spot me, so I hit the floor standing, just like a gymnast sticking the landing.

Matt removed the camera from beneath the owl and clicked off the volume control. Then he, I, and Eloise repeated the process with the kestrel.

“Now!” Matt called softly to Abigail and Hayley. “The window!”

But they didn’t move. Hayley was crouched beside Abigail, with Hayley shaking her shoulders.

“Wake up!” Hayley said. “C’mon, Abigail! Now!” She turned to me, panic in her eyes. “She’s having an episode!”

I ran over, and I saw that Abigail had gone rigid, just as she had before. Her eyes were rolled back into her head, and she wasn’t breathing. The color in her face had drained out, and she was turning gray. Hayley kept shaking her, but she didn’t move.

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