Chapter Nineteen
Adam
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GRABBING A SHIRT FROMthe banister where I’d discarded it, I shrugged it over my body and took the stairs two at a time.Whoever was at the door hadn’t stopped knocking, and somehow, the word ‘knocking’ didn’t do the noise justice.The crashing was louder than any polite knock, and its volume spoke of an insistence that concerned me.Whoever was there wanted to get inbadly.
Calm down.The warning resounded in my head.No one knows we’re here.We’re safe.
The thought grounded me as I reached the bottom step.Caroline and I had mainly kept ourselves to ourselves, only leaving the house for a meal or to visit the grocery store.We hadn’t even spoken to a neighbor since we’d arrived, so there was no way we could have upset anyone enough to be causing such a ruckus.
As my feet reached the hard floor of the entrance hall, I pulled in a deep breath.Whoever was there, I’d handle the situation.Until a few days before, I’d been the commander general, responsible for the behavior and welfare of tens of thousands of people, for God’s sake.
I’d manage whatever came our way.
Moving toward the door, I could see the dark silhouettes of multiple figures looming outside, the unexpected outcome stirring my simmering unease.Why would so many people be there?If we’d managed to offend one neighbor, I’d have been surprised, but I couldn’t believe three or four of them would have come calling.
By the time I was close enough to reach the lock, I realized the banging had stopped, and for the first time, I heard the male voices outside.
“Öffne dich!”Even as my head translated the Swiss German instruction into English, the order to ‘open up’ was loud and clear.“Polizei!Öffne dich!”
The police.
I froze at the acknowledgement, time lurching into its slower, protracted pace as I processed the news.The police were outside, and there was only one logical reason they were there.
For me.I gulped down the rising disquiet.They’re here for me.
“Sir?”Caroline’s voice traveled from the top of the staircase, and glancing around, I saw her waiting there, the covers from our bed draped around her as though she was a Grecian goddess.“Have they gone away?”
“No.”I hoped my voice would reach her without me having to raise it.
Whatever we needed to say to each other in those last, fleeting moments before our bubble of paradise was pierced by the law, I longed for the privacy to speak those words.
“No?”Confusion echoed in her voice.“What do you—”
“Polizei!”The call came again, that time accompanied by some sort of battering ram, which smashed hard into the other side of the door.“Öffne dich!”
My heart raced at the unraveling situation, my feet automatically backing me toward the bottom of the staircase as the ram came again.
“Oh my God!”Caroline was halfway down the stairs by then, her hand covering her mouth when the battering ram broke the lock altogether.
Shards of wood splintered in all directions, confirming what I already knew.Whatever we were going to say, it was too late.
“Auf deinen Knien!”
The order for me to drop to my knees was hollered from multiple male voices at once, and peering back, I realized I was staring down the barrels of five menacing-looking semi-automatic weapons.I knew the type well, having authorized the sentries at Fortorus to use similar guns, but I’d never been subjected to that end of them before.
“Ich sagte: Auf deinen Knien!”
The command was growled again, that time by a guy to my right who barely looked old enough to buy an alcoholic drink, let alone use a firearm.Staring at the guy, I lowered slowly, acting on autopilot, but my heart hammered so fast I was surprised everyone in the small hallway couldn’t hear it.
Panic, an unfamiliar foe, clutched at my insides when my knees hit the ground.What was going to happen to me, and more importantly, what about Caroline?
