Page 43 of Strike Fast

Muttering under his breath, Carlos picked up the bucket, dumped the husks over the fence for her and trudged back toward the house. His night was ruined. The only thing that could save it was getting word of a firm target to strike at.

Chapter Twelve

Autumn’s stomach grumbled as she and her mom stopped at a red light not far from their house. She reached out to turn on the radio and switched to her favorite pop station, pre-game jitters dancing around in her belly, adding to the hunger. “Can we stop somewhere on the way to the park? I’m starving.”

From behind the wheel, her mom shot her an irritated look. “Why didn’t you eat before we left the house?”

“There was nothing to eat.”

Her mom made a frustrated sound before focusing back on the road and proceeding through the intersection now that the light was green. “Right. There weren’t three different kinds of yogurt in the fridge that you asked me to buy the other day, or five different kinds of fruit, or bread, cheese and cereal. Or a big jar of peanut butter in the pantry. You know what that’s called? Laziness.”

Autumn stemmed the urge to roll her eyes and didn’t say anything. Her mom had eyes in the back of her head, so Autumn knew better than to try it.

“There’s a Subway on the way,” her mom finally said in a ticked-off tone that rang with annoyance. “I’ll stop this time. But don’t make a habit of this. From now on you can take ten minutes and make yourself something before we leave the house. You’re old enough to feed yourself a snack, at least.”

“Fine,” Autumn said on a dramatic sigh, secretly pleased that she’d gotten a Subway out of the deal. Then she changed the subject. “Is Dad coming to the game?”

Her mom’s mouth pinched, just like it did every time Autumn brought him up. It was weird to think they’d ever been married, because Autumn sure couldn’t remember them being together. Even now when they talked, all they did was argue, though usually by text or email. “I would imagine so. And Max said he’d try to come by if his meeting finished up in time, too.”

Autumn didn’t care whether Max showed up or not, she only cared whether her dad did. Her mom’s boyfriend was nice enough, and so was his house, but the truth was, Autumn resented having to share her mom with anyone. She didn’t like having to follow all the rules he set just because she and her mom were living in his house. Though again, she didn’t say it aloud. Her mom was really protective of him. “So I’ll go with Dad straight after the game’s over?”

“Yes.”

Awesome. She was super excited about him coming to watch this afternoon. He was gone so much for work, and that meant he missed a lot of the games.

Practices, she didn’t care about him not being there, but for games she did. Her fielding was still iffy because she wasn’t that good with her new glove yet, but her arm was getting better each game and last time she’d even gotten a base hit. She loved it when he was sitting there in the stands, cheering her on. On the opposite side of the field from where her mom sat, but Autumn didn’t mind that. Plus, she had the sleepover to look forward to after.

She loved hanging out with her dad, just the two of them. He’d take her out to eat right after the game, then they’d go home to his place and watch a movie together or play cards or a board game. Sometimes he’d make them popcorn or root beer floats, and he didn’t make her take a shower or bath until the morning. She also loved her bedroom there. He’d let her pick out the paint color and comforter set, and let her arrange all the furniture the way she wanted. At Max’s house, everything had been picked out for her, and she had to keep it perfectly clean or she got in trouble.

Autumn smiled to herself, already looking forward to tonight. Maybe her dad would make her chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. He barely ever burned them anymore. And he’d totally be up for going to the park tomorrow for a game of catch, help her break in her glove more.

The traffic was bad, making her mom uptight, but Autumn didn’t mind the delay because it gave her more time to listen to the music. A few minutes later her mom slowed the Lexus and pulled into the turning lane next to a strip mall. Autumn spotted the Subway sign immediately, over in the corner.

Her mom steered into the lot and parked out front of the shop. “What do you want?” Her tone was a little short, but that was probably because they were running behind with the traffic, and this unexpected stop had added time her mother hadn’t been anticipating. Her mom hated being late, said it was rude.

Autumn was quick with her order. “Six inch turkey on whole wheat, with mustard and mayo. A little lettuce,notomato.” Disgusting things. “And a chocolate milk. Please,” she added politely.

Her mom’s expression softened at the show of manners and appreciation. “Okay, wait here.” She shut off the engine and started to pull the keys out of the ignition, which would kill the radio.

Autumn shot out a hand to stop her. “No, wait! This is my favorite song.”

“Ugh, fine.” Her mom dropped her hand from the keys and left them in the ignition. “I’ll be right back, but lock the doors when I get out.”

Don’t roll your eyes.Her mom was so insanely overprotective sometimes. “Okay, Mom.” Autumn waited until her mom shut the driver’s side door before hitting the automatic lock button. Safe inside the cool interior, she tapped her foot and started singing along with her favorite artist, her nerves about the game forgotten.

The driver’s side door handle jiggled.

Autumn glanced over, expecting to see her mom, but her heart stuttered when she saw the strange man standing there instead. He had a hard, tanned face with a mean expression and tattoos on the front of his neck.

He was a bad man. She could tell just by the look on his face. And the way he was staring at her made prickles crawl up her arms.

He yanked on the door handle again.

Her insides shriveled and she froze in her seat, staring into those dark, evil eyes. She only had a moment to process that he was trying to break into the car, when he raised his arm and smashed something against the window. Glass crunched and tiny bits of it flew inside as he kept bashing at it.

Autumn screamed and undid her seatbelt to scramble away, flattening herself against her door, but the man didn’t stop. In the blink of an eye he reached in, unlocked the driver’s door and was sliding behind the wheel before she could draw another breath to scream.

“Don’t you fucking move,” he snarled at her in an accented voice as he started the engine.

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