Tall, Dork and Handsome

by Remy Richard

  “I thought you said there were only three guys?” Holden breathed in her ear.

  “There are—I mean, there were. Maybe they replaced me?” she offered quietly.

  Holden stayed silent as he watched the screen, tracking the movements of the intruders. The men broke apart, each heading in a different direction as if by a previously made plan.

  Movement on a screenshot in the corner caught her eye. “Look,” Sabrina whispered and pointed to where, on camera, Sam was pushing Lila into a linen closet on the second floor. Although the video didn’t have sound, it was clear that he was telling her to stay put and stay quiet. Lila was on the verge of tears and kept grasping at Sam’s arm and shirt until he was able to get the door closed behind him.

  As she and Holden watched, Sam pulled a gun out from behind his back and started to creep downstairs. When he reached the landing, he jumped over the edge of the banister to the floor below, temporarily leaving one camera view only to enter another. Sabrina winced as she could hear the noise he was making from Holden’s study.

  “He’s drawing them toward him and away from us,” Holden said in a frustrated tone. “He doesn’t know it’s four against one.”

  Holden pulled up another window that obscured the camera views as he told the computer to eject something. A memory card was pushed out from the side of the computer and Holden removed it. Without a glance in her direction, he ripped a piece of tape off of the dispenser on his desk and taped the memory card under the bottom of the desk where it couldn’t be seen. Sabrina knew it was as safe a place as any. Eventually they would look there but it would take them several minutes to get around to it.

  Holden grabbed her hand once again and pulled her to a standing position. She watched in fascination as he opened the bottom desk drawer and removed a small revolver and a can of pepper spray. He handed her the spray and then towed her over to the bookshelves. He reached his hand into a crevice between the shelves and pulled, causing a previously hidden door to swing open silently.

  She stared at him with wondering eyes. “This wasn’t on the floor plans.”

  Holden shrugged. “I have moves you’ve never even dreamt of.”

  She grinned, surprised he could still find humor in the situation. He pushed her gently forward until she stood in the middle of a small alcove. Once he shut the door, she would only have enough room to sit cross-legged on the floor or stand up straight.

  “Stay here and wait for me to come back for you,” Holden said. “Be quiet though, it’s not soundproofed.”

  “Wait,” she protested. “Where are you going?”

  “To help Sam.”

  “Are you crazy?” she hissed, but he had already pushed the shelf closed on her.

  Sabrina blinked and let her eyes adjust to the darkness. He was correct, the space wouldn’t be soundproof. She could see light from the lamp around the edges of the shelving unit. Trying to recall the floor plans for the house, she realized that the tiny space was likely carved out between the bathroom and a closet on the other side.

  As her eyes adjusted, she could see small blocks of light in red and green to either side of her. She leaned closer and squinted until she was able to make out the antennae of a router. This was where Holden kept all of his heavy-duty computing equipment. No wonder it was so damn hot.

  She pressed her ear against the door and strained for any sound, but there was nothing. Nothing she could hear over the alarm anyway, the piercing shriek of which was already was deadening her ears. Somewhere in the house, Holden was playing Lone Ranger with a gun he probably didn’t know how to use and she was cowering in a closet alone.

  Sabrina realized that she was squandering a golden opportunity to make her escape. She had a weapon of sorts, and surely they were all too busy to be worried about one little woman sneaking out. After all, she had done all she could to help them. Now it was time to think of herself.

  Sabrina held her breath as she eased the shelf open enough so that she could slip out. The room was silent and empty. Her gaze fell on the laptop, still sitting on the desk. She moved to Holden’s desk chair and quickly minimized the last screen he had viewed, clearing her view of the camera shots.

  Sam was engaged in what looked like a fistfight-slash-wrestling match with one of the men on the other side of the house. One of the men was rifling through a bedroom on the first floor and a third was heading upstairs. She couldn’t locate either Holden or the fourth burglar.

  Sabrina’s eyes swerved to the camera view trained on Lila’s hiding spot. Of all the complete idiots, Lila took the cake. She had pushed open the door to her hiding spot and was crawling out on her hands and knees, looking worse for the wear.

  “Move, Lila. Run,” Sabrina gritted her teeth as the Lila on screen didn’t follow any of her directions and instead sat on the floor and took deep gulps of air.

  With her heart in her throat, Sabrina located the man who was heading upstairs. Luckily he was using the front stairs and it would take him a few minutes to get to Lila’s side of the hall with how carefully he was moving. The main hall T-boned into two sides that led to different guest suites on either side, so Lila was hidden from view for the time being. But not for very long.

  “Hell,” Sabrina cursed and then gripped her pepper spray tightly. She hadn’t gone through all of this aggravation so that Lila could get herself kidnapped anyway. With one last glance at the camera feed to choose her way, Sabrina eased herself out of the study and down the hallway. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a wisp of movement but when she stopped to look closer, no one was there.

  As she got closer to the kitchen, she could hear Sam and his opponent fighting. A shout from Holden almost made her change direction but he didn’t sound like he was in pain so she pressed on. Finally she emerged on the landing where Lila was still curled, almost in the fetal position.

  She moved closer to the woman, who was only a little younger than herself, and touched her shoulder. Lila started and let out a short yelp until Sabrina covered her mouth.

  “Lila, I’m here to help you,” she whispered, willing her to believe and keep quiet.

  She could feel the other woman’s mouth moving beneath her hand and reluctantly moved it. At least Lila was keeping her voice low. “Who are you?”

  “We really don’t have time to discuss this now—”

  “You’re Sabrina, aren’t you? The criminal my brother is trying to bond with,” she sneered.

  “Yeah, that’s me. We have to go now. There’s an even worse criminal heading our way as we speak.”

  “Why should I trust you?” Lila asked. Sabrina was tempted to roll her eyes, but the sight of Lila’s wide gray eyes, so like her brother’s, and the dried tear tracks on her face made Sabrina think twice.

  “Because I’m the one who alerted your brother to this possibility, remember? Why would I do that if I wanted to harm you?”

  Sabrina could see the other woman thinking over her words, mulling the idea in her mind. Which was all well and good, except that they didn’t really have time for deep thinking.

  “Lila!” she hissed. “We’ve got to go now!”

  Lila nodded slowly and took Sabrina’s hand to stand up. They both turned toward the back stairs when a male voice came from behind them in the hallway. “Where are you two going?”

  Sabrina turned around, hiding the pepper spray behind her leg. Despite the fact that all of the would-be kidnappers had knit stockings over their faces, she could tell from this man’s voice that he was Harry, one of her old accomplices.

  She could hear his indrawn breath when he saw that she was there. It didn’t take him long to put the pieces together. “Double-crossing us, are you?”

  Sabrina pushed Lila behind her and started to move toward the back stairs again. “It’s not what it looks like.” She kept a wary eye on the pistol clutched in his hand. Harry wasn’t the calmest guy on the best of days. Being double-crossed might just put him in a killing mood. After all, they were th
ere for Lila and Sabrina would just be collateral damage.

  “Then hand the girl over. You know she’s why we’re here.”

  She could feel Lila stiffening up behind her, no doubt terrified. Sabrina’s mind whirled. She turned to grab Lila’s arm and pushed her even closer to the steps.

  “She’s right here. I was bringing her to you. They caught me when I broke in yesterday. They’ve been holding me here,” she explained, ignoring Lila’s gasp.

  Harry stepped forward to take a hold of Lila and Sabrina pushed her a little further out of his reach, forcing him to move closer to them to get her.

  As soon as he was within range, Sabrina pulled the pepper spray out and aimed it directly at his face, letting lose a stream of liquid that quickly had all three of them gasping for breath. Harry caught the worst of it though, screaming as tears poured out of his eyes. He dropped his gun to claw frantically as his mask. Sabrina took the moment to push Harry closer to the stairs and then down them.

  Lila winced at the sound of his body hitting every stair and then the hard ceramic landing at the bottom. He must have been out cold because even his whimpering stopped.

  Sabrina wasn’t about to go check on him to be sure. She grabbed the gun he had dropped with one hand and grabbed Lila with the other and propelled them both into the nearest room.

  Quickly she hustled Lila into closet, forcing the other woman to move all the way to the back of the space even though she resisted. Sabrina shut the door behind them and rearranged some old coats and clothes in front of them as best she could. Although if anyone were actually searching, they would be sitting ducks.

  She clenched the gun tighter in her hand, ready to fire at the slightest sound, and pulled Lila closer to her as they sank down to sit on the floor of the closet.

  You should have just left. Instead she was pinned in and waiting for the other shoe to drop. She should know better than to try to help by now. It always just made her situation worse.

  Lila’s quiet sobbing broke Sabrina out of her own pity party. The young woman had held up admirably while she had thought Sabrina was turning her over to Harry. Why was she coming unglued now?

  “What’s wrong?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Cl-claus-cla,” Lila tried to get out while Sabrina bent closer to hear her words.

  “You’re claustrophobic?” Sabrina asked and began to put the pieces together. “Is that why you left the closet earlier?

  Lila nodded miserably. “I tried to tell Sam when he put me in there that I wouldn’t be able to stay for long, but I guess he didn’t understand what I was saying.” Lila rubbed at the tears that fell from her eyes and sighed. “I stayed hidden as long as I could but then I started feeling like there wasn’t any air in there.”

  Sabrina nodded sympathetically. She’d been on several jobs where part of the plan required her to stay cramped and silent in a small space. The feeling of being trapped could overtake anyone, claustrophobic or not.

  Lila continued, “I tried closing my eyes, breathing through my nose, all of the tricks but eventually I just had to get out of there. I’m lucky you came along when you did.” Lila stayed silent for a few moments, both of them listening for any sound they could discern above the clanging alarm, but things were quiet near their little hidey hole.

  “Why did you come up here?” Lila questioned.

  Sabrina struggled to find a plausibly explanation but couldn’t come up with anything other than the truth. “Your brother showed me the surveillance cameras and I saw you leaving the closet. I also saw Harry coming this way. I couldn’t think of any other way to get you to move than to come get you.”

  “That was awfully brave,” Lila said.

  Sabrina shrugged off her praise and stayed silent. Without the distraction of conversation, Lila was able to concentrate on where they were. Her breathing started to pick up speed and then the breaths began to fracture. Her grip on Sabrina’s hand turned painful as she sought to control herself. “How much longer—”

  A gun shot echoed through the house and stopped Lila’s words. Sabrina remembered the gun clenched in her hand and made sure the safety was off. Lila began to softly sob next to her and Sabrina leaned closer to the other woman, hoping to calm her down.

  “You have to get control of your breathing. We may have to make a run for it,” she whispered. Lila nodded and visibly tried to control herself, sucking in a deep breath and holding it.

  Sabrina tried to calculate how much time had passed since the alarm had first gone off. How long ago had it been? Ten minutes? Twenty? Time seemed both slow and fast at the same time. That’s how it always felt on jobs. The danger made every second feel an hour long but the knowledge that someone could be killed in an instant was ever present.

  Both women flinched as two more gunshots sounded along with the tinkle of breaking glass. Sabrina wanted to squeeze her eyes shut like Lila had done, but she knew that one of them needed to be alert and Lila obviously wasn’t up for it.

  Finally, the wild whoop of the alarm system was cut off and the silence left behind seemed especially stark. Lila made a motion to leave their closet but Sabrina held her back. Just because the alarm had stopped, didn’t mean that their side had won. It just meant that someone had disabled the alarm. Any of the men who had broken in had the capability to do so once they were inside.

  Or the police could have arrived and shut it out. The thought chilled Sabrina. Had she stayed behind to help only to be arrested because of it? She knew Holden wouldn’t let that happen, but Holden might not be—

  She quickly cut the thought off. She had way too many problems to go borrowing more. And her main problem was how to get herself and Lila to safety if her old accomplices had emerged victorious.

  The tightening of Lila’s grip on her hand let Sabrina know that something was happening.

  Sabrina leaned closer toward the door and listened carefully. Sure enough, slow footsteps were making their way up the back stairs. The smallest bit of scuffling noise could be heard floating up from the landing. Great, whoever was on their way up had backup.

  The footsteps moved down the hallway past their door and then stopped. Sabrina could hear the faint sound of a well-oiled door being opened. Finally a strangled voice called quietly, “Lila?”

  Holden.

  As if they were of one mind, the women scrambled up and burst through the closet door. While Lila put her hands on her knees and struggled to catch her breath, Sabrina shoved the gun into her waistband at the small of her back.

  Holden peered through the doorway into the bedroom and his faced cleared. He rushed forward and encompassed both women in a tight hug of relief. Sabrina was surprised when he kissed Lila’s forehead and then leaned forward to drop a kiss on her own.

  Before she could rearrange her scrambled thoughts to find out what happened, Lila beat her to it. “Are you okay? Is Sam okay?”

  Holden pulled back so he could look at both of them. “I’m fine, just a little banged up. Sam’s good too. He’s checking the alarm.”

  “What about Harry?” she asked nervously.

  “Who’s that?”

  “The guy on the back landing. The one who’s all beat to hell.”

  He looked at her with concern. “There’s no one there. I just came up that way.”

  Sabrina’s heart sank. Of all the guys to get away, the only one who had seen her was the guy.

  “Let’s head downstairs.” Holden kept an arm around each of them as he led them down the hall to the front stairs and the long way around to his study. Sabrina caught a glimpse of overturned furniture and general chaos as they passed the dining room and kitchen. The glass pane that used to be in the front door was completely missing and shards of glass littered the outside stoop. Apparently at least one of the gunshots had been for the purpose of making an escape.

  Holden seated them both in the study and then made his way to the desk to check on his laptop. Sabrina noticed that he didn’t make a move to check on his
memory card but guessed that he could see as easily as she could that none of the men had made it this far.

  Sam walked into the room a minute later, his dark eyes scanning the room until he found Lila sitting there. Sabrina watched in mute fascination as Lila and Sam devoured each other with their eyes. Clearly there was more than just bickering going on between those two. Very interesting.

  Lila clasped her hands in her lap in what seemed like an effort to keep herself from crossing the room to Sam. Sam, for his part, settled on the edge of Holden’s desk and wiped a hand across his brow. Both men had their fair share of scrapes and bruises. Holden’s cheek looked like it was going to turn some really interesting colors, and Sam’s knuckles were raw and oozing blood. True men, they ignored their complaints and focused on the job at hand.

  “I checked the alarm and it did perform correctly. The police should be arriving any minute,” Sam said to Holden, but made no attempt to lower his voice.

  Sabrina stiffened in her seat.

  Holden just nodded as he concentrated on his computer screen. What he was doing, she didn’t know, but Sabrina would have appreciated some comforting that she wasn’t about to get sent to jail for being a do-gooder.

  “The guy we caught is tied up in the kitchen. The other one got away,” Sam reported.

  “There were four guys,” Holden corrected. “I grappled with one of them in the sunroom before he went out the way he came. Sabrina took one down upstairs, but apparently he recovered and got out. I’m not sure where the other one went.” He stared thoughtfully at the screen for a moment before turning the laptop around to Sam. “Here he is leaving.”

  Holden and Sam exchanged a look that Sabrina couldn’t quite interpret. Lila, bless her soul, voiced the question she most wanted asked.

  “What are we going to do with Sabrina?”

  Holden looked up and caught her gaze, making the breath catch in her throat. “We’re going to put her in the equipment closet and this time she’s going to stay there.”