Page 31 of Stay Awhile
VC smirked and stuffed his hands into his pockets before pointing toward the door. “Let’s get the hell out of here first. We don’t have much time to make shit happen.”
I knew he was right, so we stepped out of the room, and instead of heading for the truck, we walked in the opposite direction. We would have to get to wherever we were going another way.
Finally, once we were away from the motel. We made our way to a parking garage where VC lead me over to a covered car in the dark corner of the lot. He walked around to the driver’s side, pulling the brown tarp from on top of it to reveal an all black Mustang with a white stripe going down the side.
“How the hell you knew this was in here?” I asked.
“You think I picked that motel for no reason? Come on now, you know me better than that. I like to make sure I’m always prepared to get the fuck on if I have to. Now get in.”
I shook my head as I walked around the car to the passenger side. In the backseat were a few black duffle bags, which I was certain were filled with everything we could possibly need.
“Aight, so first up, we got a little stop to make. You ready to meet your future in-laws?” he asked.
I ignored him and turned to look out the window as he whipped the car out of the parking garage. We grove an hour before he parked down a dark street surrounded my trees. I watched as VC pulled his computer from the backseat and went to town on the keys.
I waited a moment until he stopped clicking around.
“There,” he announced, pointing at the screen.
I glanced at the computer screen and noticed the many cameras the Daniels had all over their house showing up clearly.We could clearly see where everyone was in the house. It looked as if her entire family was at her parent’s home, but the only people awake were her parents. They seemed to have a deep conversation in the kitchen.
VC changed the view of the cameras to the grounds to see how many people I would have to get by. It seemed as if they beefed up their security. I. was sure they got news that Skye was missing, which caused everyone being there.
“Of course they missed a spot in their guarding. You think you can slip through here?” he asked.
I kissed the front of my teeth because I knew this would be a piece of cake. Her parents didn’t know as much about security as they thought. I reached behind me and grabbed a pistol from the bag in the back seat. Once I was certain I had everything in place, I made my way through the woods until I found the blind spot in their security system.
I had a mic in my ear so VC could be my eyes. All I had to do was make sure my steps were light enough to get through. Once I jumped over the fence, I made my way over to the closest tree, then moved toward the darker part. Before VC told me to move to the next spot. It wasn’t long before I was using my pick to open the side door and entering the house. VC removed the sensors that would alert anyone that I was on the property.
I slowly walked through what looked to be their family living room. There were pictures of the family posing together, smiling and laughing, even pictures of their kids playing different sports. A bitter feeling settled into the pit of my stomach, causing me to look away from the pictures.
My purpose instantly renewed. I continued toward the office further down the hallway. I could still hear her parents talking in the distance as I slipped into their office and more pictures of their kids adorned the walls. I couldn’t help but laugh aloud, notenough that they could hear me. It was crazy the things people would do when they had all of this to come back home to.
I opened file cabinets to find the information I needed because they were going to answer for their part in all of this. It took me a few tries before I finally came across a safe behind a painted family portrait. I stopped briefly before finally removing it from the wall.
“Aye, you think you can open this safe?” I asked.
“Damn, you not trying to do a damn thing, huh?” VC asked then laughed.
I waited for a moment before I heard it click, so I pulled it open to reveal the very files I had been looking for. Project Void was written in bold red letters across the top of the file folder.
“Alert their phones that there’s movement in the office. They will come check it out for themselves.”
“Already ten steps ahead of you. No back up is coming their way, even if they tried,” VC answered.
I strolled over to the front of the desk, then took a seat at the edge as I looked through the files. None of the kids who were part of the program were mentioned in this file, but the things we experienced were all here. The twisting of the door knob let me know I had company. I pulled my pistol from my waist and stepped over into the shadows of the room behind the door.
Gun first, he entered the room with his wife following close behind. Skye’s father looked in every direction with the hope and fear that someone was actually in here. Before his eyes could land on me, I quickly slipped behind his wife, then placed my pistol on her temple.
The air immediately felt sucked out of the room as if time stood still, waiting for either of us to decide how this night would end.
“I’m here to save your daughter. All you have to do is put your gun down,” I instructed.
Her father scoffed and held on tighter to his gun. “I’m supposed to believe a thug who broke into my office and is now holding a gun at my wife’s head? Nah, I’m not stupid enough to believe you can help me. We’re trained for shit like this.”
I chuckle lightly and then look back up at him. I should have known this wouldn’t be easy.
“You know what? I’m glad you bring up training. I’ve had a bit of training myself since I was a little kid, which is why I walk around with a target on my back every day. All thanks to a Richard and Barbara Daniels.”
