by C. L. Stone
“Sort of,” I said. “We need you to come to Ethan Murdock’s house.”
“Why?” he said, his voice deep.
I glanced at Raven, who was splitting his attention between the car outside and me on the phone. When he caught my eye, his eyebrows went up, asking me quietly what I wanted.
“We’re going to get the bad guys to come here and negotiate for Brandon’s and the other’s lives.”
“What?” Kevin asked loudly into the phone. “What the hell is going on? Where’s Raven?”
“We’re at Ethan’s house,” I said. “Raven’s right here.”
“Give the phone to him.”
I cringed. He wasn’t happy. I held out the phone.
Raven motioned I should take his place at the window. We traded spots and Raven took up the phone. “Kev,” he said. “No. No. No. Come here. Bring some people. Big people. But don’t run in.”
“Found it!” Corey exclaimed. He dug his fingernails into a wood beam, scraping at it. “It is in the floor. I just need to figure out how to open it. There’s probably a switch somewhere.”
“No,” Raven said into the phone. “That’s just Corey.”
There was movement outside and I watched another car pull up. This one was a ritzy long limo. It stopped, the driver jumping out quickly after it parked behind the first car. He raced over to the back seat and opened the door.
Out stepped Alice. She wore a slim-fitting suit, and her hair was tied up in a bun on her head.
“Alice is here,” I said.
“Shit,” Raven said, he tried to walk across the room and then couldn’t drag the phone that far. He talked into it. “Just shut up and get here. Bring a gun. Or two.” He threw the phone down until it cracked on the floor. He jogged over to the window. “You go help Corey. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
I ran over to Corey, who was wedging the wood between the floor and his discovered panel. “It’s stuck. I don’t know if it rolls down and to the side, or if it comes up.”
“If you had a secret computer in the floor,” I said, “behind a security panel, where would you hide the button?”
Corey stopped his scratching and thought about it, glancing around the room. “It’d probably be another security panel. Something you could enter a code into? Or another face scanner?”
“She’s coming in,” Raven said. “I can’t see who she’s got with her, but the people in the first car are staying put. She’s got two guys coming through the front.”
“We’ll have to be quiet,” I said. “We’re on the third floor.”
Corey got up, and went to the security panel near the door. “This might be it,” he said. “It’s in the same panel.”
“We don’t have time to guess,” I said. I thought about it and went back to the phone.
Kevin had hung up. I dialed Avery’s number from memory this time. I sat on the sofa as another wave of dizziness hit me. I bit back the sensation. Just a little longer…
Two rings and the phone clicked. “Tell me this is Kayli,” Avery said on the line.
“How’d you know?”
“You’re the only one who calls,” he said.
Was his giving out business cards not working for him as a taxi driver? “Where are you guys?” I asked. “Is Ethan with you?”
“Yeah. We went to go check on the priest that married them to talk about the wedding license, but he’s not home. He wanted to ask him about Alice’s license. He tried calling her but she’s not answering. Where are you?”
“At Ethan’s house with Raven and Corey,” I said. “We’re upstairs. Alice is downstairs. She’s with two guys. Bodyguards maybe.”
Avery relayed the information to Ethan. Ethan said something back but it was muffled. “Okay, okay,” Avery said. “We’ll go there. Settle down. No need to bark.”
“We need to know how to access the computer to the core,” I said. “We need to make it look like we have something to negotiate with.”
Avery didn’t say anything for a minute, but then relayed, “She says Alice is helping them get to the bottom of it with Eddie.” I almost corrected him, but then realized Avery was telling him exactly what he needed to hear to cooperate. “But they don’t know how to access the computer. The one upstairs?”
There was more muffled conversation. I waited, listening for noises downstairs. I couldn’t hear anything. Corey waited by the door, his ear pressed to it. Raven kept an eye on the car. My heart was in my throat, sending waves of dizziness through my tired brain.
“He says you use the security panel by the door,” Avery said. “It comes up through the floor. Use code: 979627. It’ll check for his face, though. Maybe you should wait.”
“We’ve got that covered,” I said and I relayed the information to Corey.
Corey picked up the paper with Ethan’s face, and then entered in the digits. “Got it,” he said.
The floor that Corey had picked out as the computer started to shift. From it arose a framework, servers that connected to each other, and wires running from each side back into the floor. With it came a small desk, and on it were two monitors.
“We got it,” I said into the phone.
“Shit!” Raven said. “Eddie just pulled up. He’s got three guys with them. They’re surrounding the first car…One of them has Brandon.”
Corey and I looked at each other. How? Brandon was with Alice. I groaned. If Corey needed more time, we had to give that to him. “Raven,” I said, pulling the phone away from my ear. “Let’s let them in. We’ll go deal with them.”
“No,” Raven said. His fists clenched and he held them up like a boxer. He took a few swings toward the glass without striking at it. “Let’s knock them out and take him.”
“They aren’t going to shoot Brandon if he can pretend to work on this core for a short time…” I gulped. We really had run out of time. “Corey needs more time to set it up. We’ll stall them. Brandon won’t work without leverage…And I guess I’m it.”
“That’s not an option,” Avery said into the phone. “Kayli, don’t you dare.”
I dropped the phone further to smother out Avery’s shouting. I focused on Raven, whose wild eyes were firing bullets down at the German team below. I dropped the phone to check out what was going on. Two of the goons had guns pointed in the first car that had stopped. The other people were trying to wrestle Brandon up the steps as he struggled against his bindings. Who was in the car?
Alice was inside, too. Eddie was going to run into her. There might be a firefight. Brandon would be in the middle of it.
“Raven,” I said carefully, feeling his intensity. I reached for his arm, holding it firmly. “Listen, I need you to stay with Corey. Go help him and maybe call Kevin and update him.”
“Why? I can’t hold my gun steady if I’m not using two hands.”
“Don’t shoot them,” I said. “If I give myself up, I think I can get Brandon to at least pretend to be hacking at this core. Or there might be another way. We might still get out of this.” What I was having problems with was how Eddie got Brandon. Did he escape Alice only to run into Eddie?
Raven shook his head. “I’ll be bait.”
“I’m bait,” I told him. “You’re going to hide and shoot them if they try to kill us. You’re the one with the gun.”
Raven grumbled, long and loud, uttering words in Russian. “I don’t like your plan,” Raven said.
“You don’t like planning, anyway.”
He sighed looking down at the commotion going on. Brandon was still resisting. “That’s going to be a lot of bodies to cart off. I should probably get a boat.”
“No bodies!” I cried. I went and picked up the phone. “Avery?”
“I got you,” he said. “What are you doing?”
“I’m handing you over to Raven.”
“Uh oh.”
“Raven will fill you in.” I nodded to Raven and passed the phone over.
Raven gripped it in a fist. Then he grabbed me by
my shirt, pulled me in and kissed my mouth. It was a short, but hard kiss, and he nipped my lip quickly at the end. He pulled back and stared at me. “Don’t… die.”
“Oh-kay,” I said, exaggerating the word to match his tone, but I understood. I didn’t want anyone to die either.
I looked over at Corey, who was by the computer. He touched the monitor which popped up with another password field.
I stopped by him just long enough to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. “You don’t die, either.”
Corey chuckled. “You’re the one going down to the firing squad,” he said. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a thick plastic Taser. “Take this with you, but don’t let them see it. And be careful. I really don’t like your plan, either.”
Neither did I.
SNEAKY
I had to use the security code and picture to get back out. Eddie and his team were making a racket downstairs. I slunk down the first flight of steps, using their noise to cover my footsteps. I stuck the Taser into my pocket. I couldn’t use it to take out everyone, so I’d have to use it sparingly.
On the second floor landing, I snuck over into the hallway to hide myself from view. I didn’t want to just run in.
I had gotten out of sight when I heard more voices, this time it was Alice.
“It’s like the party hasn’t ended,” she said. “It was quite the wedding, wasn’t it?”
“Do we really want to talk about that?” a voice said, that sounded like Eddie. “It was disgusting.”
Alice spoke. “The champagne wasn’t bad.”
“It was French,” Eddie said. “Should have picked a Cordon Rouge. Something from home.”
Eddie didn’t talk to Alice like he was afraid of her. He was here for the party?
I crouched down, crawling toward the stairwell, wanting to see what was going on.
I got a partial view of the room. Alice was confronting Eddie ahead of the two guys that must have followed her inside. One had a head full of white hair, no jacket, the other had dark hair, the clothes were more formal and stiff.
Another big man was nearby, holding onto Brandon. I imagined that was Mack Truck. Eddie and the other guy that had come in with him, I couldn’t see.
Brandon was sweating, with duct tape over his mouth and his hands bound behind his back. He glared at Alice and at the others in the room around him.
“That’s enough of that,” the old man with Alice said. “Shouldn’t we get down to business? We don’t have much time.”
“Don’t we need your son?” Eddie asked. “To get inside the third floor?”
“Don’t I look enough like my son?” the old man said.
My heart dropped. Ethan’s father. He was working with Alice? It was hard to tell. Eddie didn’t sound nervous and afraid of her, either.
Alice took Mr. Murdock’s arm. Mr. Murdock, wore leather shoes, and expensive clothes. His lips were heavily lined as he frowned, his eyes beady. He was an old man who gave off the look of someone about to croak, but stood tall and those eyes could kill you if you stepped on his lawn.
“It may not be good enough,” Alice said. “But if it isn’t, your son is on the way. He sent me a text not too long ago.”
I bit back a curse. We should have detoured Ethan. I considered going back and having Raven make a call to get them to hold back. Maybe they’d get delayed and we’d have more time.
“We don’t want to involve him,” Mr. Murdock said.
“What’s one more body?” Eddie asked. “We’ve got three here to deal with after everything is over.”
My heart sunk. This wasn’t good. Three. Axel and Marc and Brandon. If Brandon was in here, where were the other two?
“What about the two outside?” Mr. Murdock asked. “The set in the car?”
“They wanted a piece of the action,” Alice said. “One claimed he could give us access to the core if this one won’t participate. They called to negotiate.”
Who was in the car?
Brandon said something, unintelligible. Mack Truck shook him and jabbed him in the stomach.
“Nothing from the peanut gallery,” Eddie said. He sighed. “We might need them. He’s not willing, not even with his friends at risk.”
“Let’s get him and his buddies upstairs,” Mr. Murdock said. “He may change his mind if we put a couple of holes in his friends while he’s right there next to the computer.”
Brandon shouted something through his taped mouth. I could almost hear the cursing flying, matching my own thoughts.
I weighed my options. They had Axel and Marc here, possibly in the trunks. Either Alice was negotiating with Eddie, or they were on the same team. Either way, this wasn’t good. Mr. Murdock was involved, too.
Ethan had spent years defending his father from rumors. I got the feeling maybe Raven was right, and the rumors were true. And now he was duping his own son for a project he was working on.
Poor Ethan.
What could I do? I needed to distract them from going upstairs. The alarm might stall them a little, but if Mr. Murdock was able to dupe the face scanner… did he know about the computer in the floor? Could he access that, too?
I needed another set of hands. I wanted to get outside and see who was helping them, and at the same time, stall them from going upstairs to give Corey and Raven a chance to finish up what Corey needed to do.
Dizziness threatened to make me fall over. I clutched the wall. I needed to hurry before I couldn’t stay awake any more.
ONE DOWN, MORE TO GO
I retreated, taking the back staircase, and ended up in the kitchen. I glanced at the microwave. If I blew up this one, they might shoot first and ask questions later. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be in the room, but I wasn’t sure it was enough. I couldn’t risk blowing up the entire thing like at Blake’s house, and then have the police come in. I’d need just enough time to distract them downstairs so I could get outside and maybe free Axel and Marc.
Near the kitchen, on the other side of the hallway, was an entertainment room with a large television. I spotted a remote on a side table near the sofa. Two distractions. That might work. I needed one more, but I thought I could get Brandon to help me.
I started by sneaking over to grab the remote. In the kitchen, I took out just three eggs and put them in the microwave. Now I just needed my extra set of eyes and hands.
I crept as quietly as I could through the house while Alice and Eddie were still discussing things with Mr. Murdock downstairs.
I didn’t want to get caught, but I needed Brandon’s attention without the guards becoming aware so I could let him know help was here and that he had to distract them for as long as possible.
I found a door that led to the garage, and then came up with my plan. With my foot on the rear stairwell, I aimed the remote toward the widescreen television in the back room and hit the power button, and then pressed the volume up, hoping something interesting was on.
I got the news. The voice of the anchor reporting the weather got very loud really quickly. Good enough.
I shuffled up the stairs when I heard Eddie and someone else asking what the noise was about.
At the top of the stairs, Mack Truck was still holding onto Brandon, this time closer to the front door, like he was ready to take Brandon away if needed. Eddie, Alice’s guard, Alice and Mr. Murdock were out of sight. I didn’t know about the third guy with Eddie, but I assumed he was standing nearby still.
I angled myself on the steps to be in for Brandon’s line of sight, but just out of view for Mack. I waved, and used the light in the remote that lit up to try to get his attention.
He blinked and his eyes drifted up. I smashed buttons on the remote, blinking at him again and again.
Finally he picked up his head, looking up at me.
I grinned, waved.
He started to shake his head, but dropped it quickly, checking himself. Slowly, his eyes went up but he kept his head even. He wasn’t going to alert the guards
that I was there. His eyes were dark now, cursing at me for risking my neck.
I pointed up. I made a C with my hand, and then a bird with both hands and pointed upstairs.
He gave me a microscopic nod.
I did my best to hand gesture. Pointing at my wrist to indicate time. I pointed at him and then at his goon and the ones in the living room and pointed to the ground floor. Keep them downstairs.
He paused as he looked at me, and then looked down. I wasn’t sure if he understood that time.
Then suddenly Brandon dropped. He became a dead weight against Mack Truck. Mack Truck moved to catch him, but Brandon fell to the floor, almost face down. Pretending to have fainted?
Mack Truck shouted. Someone nearby, the third to Eddie’s party, joined in. The TV was still running loud, and then cut off. They must have finally found the power buttons. More footsteps in the hallway. They were responding to Mack Truck.
At least Brandon would keep them busy. Hopefully he didn’t get shot.
I raced back down the rear steps, stopping to scan the kitchen. It was empty. The TV was off. They were all probably back in the foyer.
Still, I snuck to the microwave. I hit the five minute button and then went for the hallway. The microwave hummed. How much time did it need before it blew?
For the fun of it, as I stood in the garage, I leaned over and I powered up the TV again. This time the sound was loud instantly.
I ducked into the garage and closed the door. Hopefully Brandon used this chaos to keep them contained. Time for round two.
HELP
I slunk my way to the front of the garage doors, where there were windows, and peered out.
There were two men standing by the first car that had driven up. They had guns out, but were talking to each other. In the car, there were two more guys sitting in the driver and passenger seats.
Behind them were Blake and Doyle. Doyle looked like he was asleep with his head back against the seat. Blake had his arm up against the window of the car, his head on his palm. He was watching the guards, waiting.