Page 64 of WITSEC
“Can you reach that?” I asked Logan as I pointed to the small metal ring that dangled a few inches from the ceiling.
Logan reached up and hooked his fingers in the ring. When he yanked down, the ring pulled a rope out of the ceiling until it went taut, and the attic door opened.
I took over for Logan and opened the attic door enough to pull down the ladder. “Climb, Logan, and hurry.”
While Logan struggled but did his best to climb up the ladder, I took my knife out of my boot and cut the ring and rope from the door, all while staring toward the stairs.
As soon as Logan was far enough up, he pulled himself into the attic by rolling his body inside. “Hurry, Shi,” he said between pants.
I returned my knife to my boot and started to push up the folding ladder. “I’m not coming up.”
“What?” he said and tried to roll over to look down at me.
“Stay there until I come for you. If you try to come out, I will shoot you in your legs and lock you in a closet.”
“Damn it, Shi!”
I ignored his arguments as I finished closing the attic door. Without the rope to pull it down, he should be safe up there. Turning to face the other end of the hall, where the stairs were, I pulled out my gun from my shoulder holster and headed in that direction.
When I reached the stairs, I glanced down at the foyer. Mr. X was nowhere to be seen and it looked like he’d shut the front door. Which meant he was hiding somewhere downstairs. I racked my brain on what to do as I went down a few steps. This house was so big and boxy. The moment I started to look for him, he could come upstairs and try to look for Logan.
The sun coming in from the windows above the front door made the crystal chandelier that hung above the foyer sparkle. Then I eyed the lights on the top of the hall wall leading to the kitchen. I aimed my gun at the chain that anchored the chandelier to the ceiling and pulled the trigger twice. The chain snapped and the beautiful light fixture fell. Glass shattered and scattered, covering the foyer floor.
I moved down the stairs. “Ooooh, Mr. X!” I shouted through the house. I was no longer the mouse in this terrifying game he forced me to play; I was the cat. I paused my descent to aim at the light fixture on the hall wall and shot it. More glass hit the ground. “Come out! Come out, wherever you are!” I shot the next light farther down the hall.
As I stepped off the stairs, my boots crunched on the glass. Gun out in front of me, I looked into the living room. He wasn’t in there. Beyond the living room was my dad’s office. It was dark because it didn’t have any windows. Going in there looking for him would be too much of a risk. It would be better to draw him out into the open. So I moved across the foyer to my mom’s office. Glass crunched under my boots with each step. I glanced into the Jack-and-Jill bathroom before moving to the other side of the office. My mom’s desk faced the foyer. I knelt behind it. From my vantage point, I could see into the foyer, a little bit of the living room, and the entrance to the bathroom.
Now we’d see who would catch who.
Chapter Twenty-One
I didn’t knowhow much time had passed. Ten minutes? Fifteen? Maybe it had been an hour and I couldn’t tell. Time moved and felt differently when adrenaline bumped through your whole body and your heart pounded out of fear in your chest.
The sound of glass crunching echoed in the hall near the kitchen. I stood up from behind the desk, gun aimed toward the foyer as I listened. I didn’t hear the sound of glass crunching again. Therefore, the only route Mr. X could take would be through the Jack-and-Jill bathroom. I pointed my gun toward there and waited.
“Is your heart racing like mine?” Mr. X said loudly from the back of the house. I couldn’t tell if he was down the hall or near the other entrance to the bathroom. “I’m enjoying myself so much, it’s tempting to leave so we can draw out this game we’re playing.”
“What a cowardly thing to do,” I said loudly as I stepped out from behind my mom’s desk and slowly walked across the room. “No wonder you have to kidnap young women to sleep with you.”
“I had to do that because you ran away from me!” he snarled.
Just as I was about to step into view of the entrance to the bathroom, I stilled. “You did that because you are nothing more than a pathetic, disgusting man who can’t tell the difference between reality and delusion.”
Finding courage, I leaned forward and looked in and through the bathroom. When I didn’t see him, I quickly moved toward the foyer. I led with my gun as I glanced down the hall. He wasn’t there, either.
The sound of something shattering came from the back of the house.
Is he leaving?
I moved back into my mom’s office and headed for the bathroom. Walking quickly but quietly, I went through the bathroom until I reached the hall that led to the mudroom and kitchen. When I stepped out into that hall, I’d be able to look slightly right and immediately see inside the kitchen’s entrance, while the entrance to the mudroom would be all the way to the right. I’d have to pick one to search first.
Before I moved out of the bathroom, I got the feeling like I was walking into a trap. That him breaking the glass had been his way to lure me out.
I backed up a step, unsure what to do. Then I heard glass crunch in the foyer.
How?
I rushed out into the hall, turned left, walked a few feet, and turned left again to see down the hall toward the front door. To my disbelief, Knox and Creed were standing in my foyer. Knox had his pistol aimed in front of him while Creed held a bat.
