Page 79 of Trick's Trap

He opened his eyes to see Ethan standing over him with a bag. Trick examined his surroundings, sitting up slowly when his head swam. He was on a gurney in the back of a van. An ambulance to be more precise.

“Where’s Tahlia? Where am I?”

Ethan leaned against the ambulance door. “You’re in hell house’s driveway,” he answered. “And don’t worry. Tahlia’s fine. She’s in another ambulance. You’ve been out for over an hour. The coroner is here. He’s started picking up the pieces.”

What the hell did that mean? Trick unclipped the belt.

Ethan waved him back down. “The paramedics said you shouldn’t move.”

“Fuck that.” He staggered to his feet, hopping unsteadily.

She was only a few feet away. Tahlia had eschewed the gurney, too. She was sitting on the rear bumper of her ambulance while a paramedic took her vitals.

She turned, her eyes lighting up when she saw him. “What happened?”

He joined her on the bumper, throwing an arm around her shoulders. “That’s what I would like to know.”

They both turned to Ethan. The agent put his hands and his hips. “Basically, everyone’s dead and you’re both recovering from an opium overdose.”

“Shit,” he muttered. It felt as if his head was stuffed with cotton wool and his tongue was dry.I need water.

Ethan gestured back to the house with his thumb. “Those were some seriously crazy fuckers.”

“Were?” Tahlia asked, blinking dazedly. She must have missed his earlier statement.

“Yeah. Both are dead. We’re rounding up the guards. Apparently, all but the head of security had been ordered to keep clear of the house.”

Tahlia’s brow creased. “By both do you mean my cousins Dante and Cain?”

“Um, probably.” Ethan shrugged. “Two guys in their twenties. They didn’t exactly have I.D. on them.” He pursed his lips. “And one of them didn’t have a head…” He turned to Trick. “I don’t suppose you did that?”

Trick stared at him openmouthed. He was speechless.

Ethan sighed. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. Not enough blood on you. Which means twin two did it. Now, he’s got plenty of blood on him, but that’s mostly because I shot him. He was coming at you with a knife.”

“Oh.” Tahlia gripped his hand. She looked as confused as he felt. “What about my uncle Lucas? I was kind of out of it when I woke up here, but he was in the room. He didn’t stay, though. After that, I lost track of…well, everything.”

“That would have been the incense. I got a blast of it, too, when the door opened. It nearly knocked me on my ass. I needed to open the window just to see straight. I can’t believe those two psycho cousins of yours could even walk in there, but they did have some weird cowl-mask thing over their mouths. Still…that shit was fucked up.”

He reached over to pat Tahlia on the shoulder. “I don’t think you have to worry about those a-holes anymore.”

“Except for Uncle Lucas,” she pointed out.

“We’ll find him,” Ethan assured her. “I’ve got local agents scouring the place. And Jason and Liam are ten minutes out.”

An agent wearing one of those blue windbreakers with the yellow letters hailed him from the door of the mansion. They met halfway up the drive and had a hurried convo.

Ethan jogged back to them. “Tahlia, do you have the code for the panic room?”

She stared at him blankly. “There’s a panic room? Where is it?”

“It’s behind the library, in the room next to your father’s office. I think your uncle is hiding there. We’ve searched everywhere else, and the garage is full. Every car registered to this address is there.”

Trick squeezed Tahlia, pressing her closer to him. Once they were done here, he was going to burn this place to the ground.

“I’m sure the code is written down somewhere. Or we can guess it,” he said, rubbing Tahlia’s back. “She’s pretty good with numbers.”

Ethan smiled. “We can try that. Just stay out of creep central, aka your father’s office.”

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