Page 14 of Daddy's Oath
A ski pole.
The studio had paid for her division to go skiing in Nevada last year as a thank you for all their hard work. They’d produced a string of blockbusters that grossed over a billion dollars and had been cool enough to give out those travel bonuses.
That had been Lana’s one and only time on the slopes. She liked it, though, so she bought her own gear, hoping to go back soon.
Now, she was glad she had it. It wasn’t a perfect weapon, but it was better than nothing.
Way better than nothing. Because a strange scraping sound reached her ears again, and she was more convinced than ever that someone was breaking in.
If her hunch was correct, they weren’t inside yet. But she didn’t have long. It sounded as if they were trying to corrupt the lock on her front door.
Crap! What do I do?
Now wasn’t the time to be quiet, she decided. She ran to the door, looked through the peephole, and saw two men in the hallway. The view was limited, so she couldn’t make out what they were doing, but they were clearly messing around her door!
She ran back to her nightstand, grabbed her phone, and called 9-1-1.
The dispatcher answered after two rings. Lana frantically spit out her address and what was going on.
“Ma’am, please stay on the line. Remain calm. Do you have a weapon?”
Lana gripped the phone tightly. “Not really. Just a… ski pole.”
“Help is on the way. We have officers en route. They’re not far.”
There was a banging on the door. For a moment, Lana thought the men were knocking. That was good, right? Someone trying to break in wouldn’t announce their presence like that. Perhaps they thought they were at a friend’s apartment or something. Maybe they were drunk and just had the wrong door.
But then she realized they weren’t knocking at all. It was the sound of someone trying to separate the door from the lock.
Crap! Crap! Crap!
They would most likely be inside at any moment!
Lana’s brain spun furiously as she considered her options.
Going out the front door wouldn’t work. Even if she tried to just ram her way past the guys, the odds were slim she could get away from them. She didn’t have much strength. And there were two of them.
Terrible odds.
She had the ski pole, and that might even things up a bit. But what if they just dodged her blows? They might grab it and yank it away and then use it on her!
That left holing up inside until the cops got there. Remembering she was still on the phone with the 9-1-1 dispatcher, she said, “Are they almost here?”
“Yes, ma’am. Only a couple minutes out.”
“I’m not sure I have a couple of minutes.”
The sound of wood splintering reinforced that fear.
“They’re almost inside!” she cried.
She kept the call connected but placed the phone on her small kitchen table as she hurried past. Going to her sliding patio doors, she unlocked them and stepped out into the night. The fire escape was on the balcony of the next apartment over.
Normally, that brought Lana a sense of comfort. She didn’t want anyone having direct access to her unit. Any random person could just climb up there. But now she wished she had the escape route.
Maybe she could still use it…
It would be a little risky, but the next balcony wasn’t too far, she decided as she studied the scene to her left. In fact, the two balconies were maybe separated by three feet. Four at the max. She could jump that.
