Page 127 of The Trust We Broke
Understanding my tone, she hurries to do as I say.
“Haven’t reached him, yet. But I’ll keep trying.”
I don’t hang up, but I look to Mom. “We need to hide. Did Dad have any weapons?”
Mom closes the safe door and puts the false back and contents into the cupboard. “Yes. In his bedside table. He kept it loaded, even though he knows I hated it.”
A faint sound of shattering glass comes from the kitchen.
Mom sobs.
“We need to go,” I hiss. “Go hide in the bathroom off the den. There’s a gap at the bottom of the tub that’s hidden when the door is opened. And if they see an open door, they’ll be less likely to check inside. Go.”
“What about you?” she asks.
“Go,” I hiss.
I creep to Dad’s room and hurry to the bedside table. The drawer in the first one is empty, but I hurry around the bed and open the drawer of the second bedside table. I hate guns, but I’ve never been more relieved to hold its cold, solid weight in my palm.
The alarm system is off so I’m uncertain if the security company will be aware of what is happening.
“Catfish,” I whisper, dropping to the floor.
“Lucy. You good?”
“Armed and hiding. They’re in the house. Can you get Wren to trigger the alarm somehow. It’s currently off. Maybe the noise will scare them.”
“Wren’s saying that they’re going to try. Keep me on the line. I won’t speak. Just listen. Throw me clues, if you can.”
“If it’s in here, I’ll find it,” a man says in the hallway, and I recognize the voice as Adam.
“They’re in,” I whisper, but so close I can’t risk saying another word. The bed is high enough off the floor that I can see if anyone enters the room, but not high enough that I’m able to slide beneath it.
“You were meant to find out where all the files were hidden at the hospital,” a second man says. His voice is gruffer, lower.
Shit.
If they are searching for something, I have only a minute or two before one of them thinks to come and check this side of the bed. Without hanging up on Catfish, I quickly fire off a text message to Grudge.
Me:Help. Dad’s home office. Adam from law office plus one. Hurry.
Me:I love you
“How the hell did I know that two Outlaws would show up?” Adam says, and I hear a drawer slide open in the office. “And it’s not like De Bose can speak, right now. Getting anything out of the guy is like wringing a rock.”
“Yeah. Well. Whether he speaks to us or not, we’ll have to get rid of him. He’s of no use to us like this and knows too much. You check in here, I’m gonna check his bedroom.”
Boots come into sight, and I squeeze my eyes shut, for a second. My life flashes before me. For two seconds, I let myself believe they aren’t going to see me.
Then…
“Who the fuck are you?” A man kicks the gun out of my hand before he drags me to my feet. He’s wearing double denim and has shaggy hair and a scraggly beard.
My feet drag along the wooden floor as I try to stand. By the time I’ve stood, the stranger has his gun pointed straight at me.
Adam comes and stands just inside the room, calm and neat in his all-black outfit. His expression is carefully composed. “That’s De Bose’s daughter. The one I was telling you about.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I demand. I have no clue what happens next. Maybe they hurt me. Maybe they kidnap me. Maybe he’ll blast my face off with that gun. Defiance and terror collide.
