Page 11 of One Step Sideways

“Okay,” I said and looked at Rawlings. “How about you take the front?”

He looked at me for a heartbeat. I wasn’t admitting anything. “I can see when they focus.” I could, but it wouldn’t help with what I had in mind.

“How will you get in if it’s locked?”

“Fuck,” I swore. Rawlings nodded to the dash and I opened it, drawing out a bunch of keys. They looked weird, like they had been filed down.

“If it’s a regular lock, there’s a bunch of skeleton keys,” Rawlings said. I glanced over. “They will fit most locks, or an old-fashioned credit card will do.” I huffed in mild amusement. “If it's an old house, she’s not going to have any thumbprint electronic code shit.”

Rawlings parked out of sight, and I headed for the woods. I had five minutes to get to the door before Rawlings went to the front. I raced ahead and paused at the edge of the fence, knowing it would take some scaling, then I looked at the cameras a good quarter of a mile away. All except two had a steady green light on them. The two that were flashing were the one above the sliding doors and the one in the farthest corner. I stared at both and in my head plotted the angle of vision and where precisely I had to run in order to be missed.

Easy, and I got to the sliding doors. This didn’t need any eyesight expertise, and I silently thanked Archie for the few tricks he’d taught me and got out my ‘gate money’ debit card. It took fifteen seconds to slide the door open. I did and stepped into the large sunroom area, then turned to slide the door closed behind me.

For the second fucking time in twenty-four hours, I heard the unmistakable sound of a gun loading.

Chapter Five

Kane

I turned, hands in the air automatically and to my utter astonishment, met the gaze of the missing kid. She didn’t take her finger off the trigger of what looked to be some sort of hunting rifle that was way too big for her, and I wasn’t thrilled to see her fingers trembling a little. “Rain” I tried.

“How do you know my name?” she snapped out. But she hadn’t shot me yet, and as I’d broken in, she could easily. I heard a doorbell ring and knew it was Diesel. “That’s my partner.”

“In crime?” she asked sarcastically.

“No, Rain, we’re just looking for you.”

“Really?” she sounded bored. “And who sent you?”

“Your mom,” I answered. “Who is terrified you’ve gone missing.”

Rain scoffed, then tightened her hands. I knew the weight of the gun would be getting to her.

“Where’s your grandmother?”

She didn’t answer, but we both heard a door close and footsteps clicking across the hall. “There, that’s the suitcases…” Her words trailed off as she walked in and saw me. “Rain,” she said carefully. “Give me the gun.”

“No, Nana. Go get in the car.”

The doorbell rang again. “That’s my partner, ma’am. We’ve been sent to secure your granddaughter.”

She frowned. “But she’s not in any danger with me.” She genuinely seemed to believe that, so Itook a gamble.

“Ma’am, did you know your son escaped prison yesterday?” The cops had supposedly been over.

She jerked a nod, but I saw her eyes widen maybe two sixteenths of an inch, and I catalogued the same tight press of her lips, the slight paling of her cheeks, and I realized we’d been wrong. Mrs. Saunders wasn’t helping her son, she was running from him.

Knowing I was now a hundred percent out of my depth, I wished Rawlings would stop fucking about with the doorbell and just come in and take over. Or come around to the back. The sliding door was still wide open. He had to know I’d gotten in.

“Ma’am, we need to get you both to safety. It’s likely he’s heading this way.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” she snapped. “What did you think we were doing?”

I stopped. “But the cops would have put you in a safe house, or…” But they hadn’t. There wasn’t even a uniform guarding the property, which made no sense to me, but what did I know?

Nana scoffed. “Of course, they would.” Then she sighed. “Look, I know you’re just doing your job, but I have to protect my granddaughter, so—”

“But why do you think running away from her mom will achieve that?”

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