Page 92 of Hidden Chance

“Stay quiet,” Jemi said while keeping her eyes on the door. “Climb out.”

Hannah leaned out the window, her heart hammering. She wasn’t a fan of heights. “Are you sure this is necessary? Maybe Su Su dropped something on her toe.” They heard a bang and a louder scream. Hannah clung to the window. “Shouldn’t we do something to help her?”

“I will. But not you. I need to get you safe first.”

“Let me help you.”

“You can help by climbing out the window. One of us needs to tell Peter and Robby what happened. Just in case I don’t make it out.”

“I won’t let you go. I can’t let you die.”

Jemi fisted Hannah’s shirt in her hands and yanked her close. “This is not up for discussion,” she hissed. “Get out the window now, or else we’re both dead.”She shoved Hannah toward the window. “Go.”

The carefree, confident Jemi that Hannah knew was gone. This was the soldier. It was a side she’d never seen before, and it made her obey, carefully climbing out onto a rusty pipe. It gave way as she put her weight onto it, and she grabbed the windowsill to keep from plummeting to the ground.

Jemi leaned out over her. “There’s another foothold to the right. Quickly.”

Hannah’s foot probed the wall beside her and found it, testing her weight. This one held.

“Go. Now.” Jemi squeezed her arm. “Find help, but don’t put yourself in danger.”

“I’ll hide out here and wait for you.”

“No—” A loud bang rattled the walls, and Jemi disappeared from the window.

A moment of indecision kept Hannah frozen in place, but when she heard the gunshot, she shimmied to the ground, her heart broken. God wouldn’t let Jemi die after healing her. That didn’t make any sense.

Another loud bang was followed by shouting as Hannah moved into the shadows, watching the window for any sign of what was happening. A man appeared above, and she sank back farther out of sight until he disappeared again.

Jemi had said to get help, but she wasn’t sure where to look for it. She tapped her pocket, looking for a phone she knew wasn’t there, but she felt the small bulge of the keychain. Pulling it out, she ran her thumb along the carving. Su Su could already be dead. And for what?

Stuffing the trinket back into her pocket, she clenched her hands into fists, wanting to scream at theunfairness of it all. Why was she the one who was spared? She shouldn’t have left when Jemi commanded her to. She was a coward. If she had stayed, maybe she could have caused a distraction long enough to give Jemi an opportunity to defend herself.

What do I do? How can I fix this? What am I supposed to do?

When Peter and Robby returned, she’d have nothing to tell them but how she hid. That wasn’t good enough.

She could hear voices from inside, so she climbed over a fence and snuck around to the front of the building, checking the street. Two cars were parked at the front of the shop. They were nice ones that didn’t belong in this part of town.

“Seven-B-one-nine-five-three.” She repeated the license plate she could see, memorizing it. They could trace the cars. There would be a way to find them and make them pay. She would make sure Jemi and Su Su’s deaths weren’t for nothing.

The door to one of the cars opened, and she ducked low, pulling back to make sure she was out of view, but she wanted to get a look at as many of them as she could. The man who got out was wearing jeans and a T-shirt. He had short, dark hair, but he never turned to face her before going inside. She’d wait until they came out, and she’d sear the images of their faces in her mind.

If only Peter and Robby came back now, they’d know what to do. They’d know how to handle these murderers. But the pain of imagining Peter finding out his wife was dead was excruciating. Just the thought ofher and Su Su’s lifeless eyes was enough to sicken her. Her arms and legs felt like lead.

“What do I do, God? What more can I do?”

She heard a click from behind and spun around, nearly falling out onto the street. But it didn’t matter. The man, holding a gun, swung at her head. It connected, and she dropped.

Chapter 23

“I’ve got this,”Peter said as he crouched in front of the back door. They’d found some security on the building, but it was manageable. “I might be rusty on a few things, but picking locks has always been easy for me.”

Robby made a show of checking his watch. “You sure? This is taking an awfully long time.”

Peter smirked. Then, the lock clicked. “Piece of cake.”

With their weapons drawn, they entered.

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