Page 21

TWENTY-ONE

P enny grabbed her Smith & Wesson Equalizer and shoved the door open with her shoulder. “Libby!”

One of the kids screamed. Sounded like from upstairs.

A deep voice yelled. It wasn’t Dan. He was still on his overseas work trip.

“Harry! Hazel!” She moved toward the stairs, Bryce on her six.

“Get them out of here!”

The sound of the strange man’s voice had her tightening her grip on her gun as they raced up the stairs. She sprinted to Hazel’s room. Gestured to Bryce to check Harry’s next to it.

Hazel’s room was lit with a nightlight. The purple unicorn cast an eerie glow. No lump under the frilly comforter. No one waited behind the door. No one under the bed.

“Where are they?” The words came out a whisper, adrenaline and panic closing off Penny’s voice. She ran and yanked open the closet doors. Nothing.

Two more rooms to clear. A thump sounded from the other side of the wall. Penny ran into the hallway.

She paused outside the doorway of Harry’s room, listening.

Lord, if You’re really there, help. Protect my family. Bryce. Please.

“Bryce?” she whispered.

Gun held in her two hands in standard thumb-forward formation, she stepped into the space-themed bedroom. A force slammed into her, knocking the gun out of her grip as she fell next to Harry’s twin bed. She rolled from her side onto her back. A man with a ski mask stood over her. A shadowed lump lay next to her.

It was Bryce, crumpled on the floor.

This man overpowered Bryce. He wasn’t tall enough to be Alonzo. Who was he? Not that there would be much of him left if he hurt her sister or the kids.

He towered over her, leering. “This will be fun.”

Not tonight. A little closer, buddy. She didn’t have much room—Bryce on one side, the bed on the other—but it was enough.

Penny coiled her muscles and took aim. As he came at her, she kicked him in the gut with both feet and rolled up to standing. Before he could catch his balance, she lunged at her attacker. He crashed into the wall. Action figurines rained down on them.

The man grabbed her as he fell, pulling her down, his grip around her tight and heavy. She landed on her stomach and couldn’t get away.

He rolled her over and sat on her, pinning her to the carpet. Chubby hands found her neck.

Penny jabbed at his exposed middle. Air whooshed out of him. She quickly grabbed him, one of her arms around his shoulder, trapping it, and the other around his waist.

She exploded her hips up and swept her leg around, rolling him over. He cried out. She definitely needed to thank Jude for teaching her that move.

Bryce still wasn’t moving. But the Smith & Wesson the man had knocked out of her hands earlier caught her eye. She reached for it only to be shoved off. A mean right cross to her jaw had her seeing stars for moment. She ducked his next swing and met his chin in an uppercut.

He stumbled backward. She quickly rolled, grabbed the gun, and squeezed off a shot.

The man screamed and grabbed his shoulder where she’d hit him.

Darn, too high. She aimed again.

“Penny!”

At the panicked sound of her sister’s voice, she froze. Gomez, the same man who’d trapped Penny in the warehouse, appeared in the hallway with a gun to Libby’s head and a tight grip on her arm. He stood behind her like a coward. He didn’t come in the room but used her sister to block the doorway.

“You don’t want to do that.” His glare was cold. Heartless. He wasn’t Sosa, but she had no doubt he wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Libby. The man she’d shot stayed against the wall, leaning, moaning. Bryce stirred slightly. Penny wanted to make sure he was okay, but didn’t dare break eye contact with Gomez.

“Where are my niece and nephew?” She ground out the words.

“Being loaded into a vehicle as we speak.” He pointed his weapon at Penny. “Now drop your gun.”

“Fat chance.”

“We already played this game once, and you lost.” He swung the barrel of his gun to point at Libby instead. She whimpered, squeezed her eyes shut. Her whole body trembled.

“Put. Your gun. Down.”

Penny’s jaw clamped tight, her nostrils flared. Was he bluffing? Would he really shoot? She would have more options and less risk if he weren’t holding a gun on her sister.

Gomez’s eyes narrowed, his trigger finger twitched.

“All right!” Penny screamed. She slowly lowered her gun, waiting—hoping he’d loosen his grip on Libby and she could make a move. But he didn’t. She left the gun on the carpet and stood.

“Kick it away.”

She did.

Without breaking eye contact with Penny, Gomez spoke. “Ross, get the gun.”

The man moaned as he pushed off the wall. It took monumental effort for Penny to not kick him in the teeth as he picked up her Smith & Wesson.

“Call Davis and Ortega and have them come up here now. They can take care of our friends here.”

Ross spoke into a radio. Within seconds, another man appeared in the hall. Gomez nodded toward Penny. “Take the girl and the unconscious man over there and lock them in the pantry.”

Penny’s breath stopped.

“I’d rather shoot them both now,” Ross said, still grasping his shoulder, blood dripping down his shirt.

“You know the plan. They need to stay alive. For now.”

Penny couldn’t have them taking Libby and the kids anywhere. “Take me and leave my sister here. Leave the kids. I’ll go wherever?—”

“No! I have no doubt you’ll find a way out of the pantry eventually, but by then we’ll be long gone and our plan will be in place. Meanwhile, you get Emma released for Alonzo, and we’ll keep our little insurance policies nice and close.”

“I have no authority to release Emma.”

“Then you’ll have to get creative. And anything that happens to her will be done to your sister and the kids, so you better make sure she’s not harmed.”

The new guy grabbed Penny by the arm. She yanked it back, ready for a fight. A shot sounded. Libby screamed.

“That was the only warning you’ll get.” Gomez speared her with a look. The hole was in the ceiling, thank God. Not her sister. Not Bryce.

This time Penny walked downstairs, the cold metal of a gun in her back. Another man showed up and picked Bryce up fireman style. They marched to the pantry, Penny’s pulse speeding up with each step. She couldn’t fall apart. Libby. The kids. Bryce. They all needed her to be strong right now. The man dropped Bryce on the floor. Bryce groaned, started to move. Penny was shoved down next to him. As Ross started to close the door, Penny yelled at the one in charge.

“How am I supposed to get ahold of you? If I get Emma.”

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll be keeping an eye on things. We’ll find you.”

The last thing she saw was Libby being dragged away before the door shut, her cries reverberating straight to Penny’s soul. Everything that had been holding her together up until that point drained away.

She sank to the tile floor, ice seeping through her jeans. So much like the basement. Her vision blurred.

No. Please, not now.

Flashes of the corpse, a spider crawling over the wrinkly skin—it all rushed back, consuming her. Screaming from her own voice echoed off the wall.

Something near her moved. Bryce?

But she was trapped.

It was just a nightmare. Not real. She couldn’t get enough air. Nausea rolled through her. Penny curled up tight, head tucked into her knees. Covered her head with her arms, embracing the blackness. Anything to get that image out of her head.

A warmth cut through the ice that had frozen her lungs shut.

“Penny.” The voice was weak, sounded far away. But it called to her, beckoned her out of the dark. Bryce? Was he okay?

“Penny. Breathe, baby. Breathe with me.” He was a little closer now, the warmth moving from her shoulder to her elbow to her tingling hands.

The voice helped. Her heartbeat quieted as she listened and breathed the slow rhythm.

“That’s right.”

Penny lifted her head. She swayed as dizziness overtook her, but eventually Bryce’s face came into focus. “Keep breathing. With me.”

She followed his breathing sequence. In for a three count. Out for a three count.

“There you are. Good. Tell me three things you see now.”

See? “I see your eyes.” Eyes that locked in on her, held her safe. The pitching sensation faded.

“Great. What else? Two more things.”

“I see…blood.” Dark-red blood from a cut on his temple. She snapped out of the fog. “You’re hurt.” She reached out toward his wound. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve got a killer headache where someone clocked me from behind. Knocked me out cold.” He took her hands. “But I’m more worried about you at the moment. How are we doing?”

She took in a longer breath, her lungs thawing. Expanding. “Better.”

“Yeah?” He seemed to be searching her face for something.

She nodded.

He pulled her to his chest and held her. “Thank God. You had me worried there, Mitchell.”

Her ear pressed right at his heart could hear the organ pumping strong and steady. She rested there until her icy bones thawed and she could feel her fingers again. The images of the past hovered, but they didn’t consume her. Here with Bryce, she could find firm footing again in reality, in the present. As long as she didn’t think about the fact that she was trapped in a cold, enclosed space.

At least this time it wasn’t a basement, and she wasn’t alone. Bryce was here.

He sheltered her from that haunting past. Her pulse slowed. Her very breath deepened, and the dizziness faded away.

But then reality kicked in. “Libby! The kids! They?—”

“Whoa. Hold on.” Bryce cradled her face in his hands. “Slowly. What happened? Do you know where we are?”

“We’re at Libby’s. They took her and the kids.”

“Who? Alonzo?”

“No, but it was Gomez and some others who work for him. He wants me to get Emma released. Said anything that happens to her, he’ll do to my sister. My niece and nephew.” Her voice squeaked. The dark corners of the room started collapsing in again. Cold washed over her, flooded her veins.

“Hey, hey, hey. I’m losing you. Penny?”

She locked onto Bryce’s warm gaze. The cadence of his voice drew her. “Come on, baby. You’re okay. Take long…slow…deep breaths.”

Right. Bryce was here. He would help.

They needed to get out of here.

“We have to find them,” she whispered.

His thumb wiped the salty tracks down her cheeks.

“We will. Let’s get your circulation going again.”

She allowed Bryce to pull her up to her feet. The room swayed slightly, then righted. Bryce ran his warm hands up and down her arms, melting the ice there.

“I think I’m okay now. Just don’t leave me.”

“Never.”

He pulled her in and hugged her, a slight pressure to her head as he kissed her there. “I’m right here.”