Page 13 of Protected from Malice
If this were a regular op and I were tracking a tango, I’d go for stealth. My priority would be to get inside undetected and capture the enemy.
But Eden’s inside, too. And I need to get to her before anything else.
As soon as I get to the front door, I whisper harshly into the phone, “I have to hang up. I’m coming in now. Just hang tight. I’ll be right there.”
Eden’s muffled tears carve out my chest. “Okay. Just… be careful.”
It’s torture to end the call.
Then I lift my leg and kick the door as hard as I can.
The wood splinters.
I kick it again.
The hinges snap.
As the door flies open, I raise my weapon.
Eden first.
But if I find the asshole who broke in…
They’ll find out they fucked with thewrongperson.
CHAPTER 3
EDEN
Can this really be happening?
Is there really an intruder in my house?
Or could it be the nagging paranoia I haven’t been able to shake no matter how many counseling sessions I’ve been to?
I’m terrified it’s all in my head.
But.
I’m more terrified that it’s real.
That the noises I heard really were someone walking through my house. Searching for… what? A place to vandalize? Valuables?Me?
Right now, it’s hard to hear anything above the panicked thundering of my heart. Above the shallow gasps I keep trying to muffle by burying my face in the crook of my arm.
My phone is clutched in one hand, taunting me with its silence.
In the other, a pair of scissors I found in the drawer.
They keep slipping in my grasp, the handles slick with blood from when I cut myself searching for them.
Stupid me, not even looking, just reaching into the drawer and grabbing, gouging my hand in the process.
I’m wedged so tightly between the washer and the wall I’m not sure how I’ll get out. I just kept working my way further back, terror urging me to hide even more.
On the plus side, if the intruder does get in here, he’ll have a hard time getting me out, too.
Unless he just shoots me.
