Another round of gunshots rained overhead, and Archer scrambled out quickly. The last I heard from him was, “Five minutes, Ms. Darling. If I don’t hold them, you better.”
Mia
ISHOVED THE LOCKas hard as I could right as Archer closed the floorboards over us. The clicking of metal seemed so secure and final, but the sound of guns firing didn’t leave me with much reassurance.
Hurrying over, I sat down by Franny, who was already deep into a show. She glanced up at me as I folded my hands in my lap. They were shaking uncontrollably, and I didn’t want her to see.
Still, she leaned in and grabbed one before she spoke loudly over her headphones. “Don’t worry, Ms. Darling. Daddy will find us. Right? He doesn’t like games, but he’s great at hide-and-seek.”
I nodded while she kept rambling on like any seven-year-old would, wanting to share all the information.
“Did you know my daddy’s a doctor? He always saves good guys. The bad guys are theonlyones that should be worried.”
“Of course, of course,” I agreed while I patted her little hand. I wasn’t going to disagree with a second grader right then, but there was no way her dad was a doctor. Unless it was for the cartel or something.
Jesus. What if he was in the cartel?
I took a deep breath and pointed to her tablet, trying to get her to focus on that. She was the child, I was the adult. I had toshield her from whatever this was. Her gaze shifted, and I was able to look behind her at the security camera feeds.
I’ll admit, for the past few years, I was voluntarily sheltered. Maybe even abnormally so. My parents were still married, living their best life in the small town I grew up in. Not that I wanted to go back there or that I would talk to them if I did. My older sister knew why I left and why I couldn’t come back.
Her and my parents. But my parents had stopped listening a long time ago, and even still, I tried to make them proud by Bubble Wrapping my life and living out my days watering my plants with not even a pet to commit to and a career that was a safe and noble profession. At least that was what my advisor told me.
Kids couldn’t be monsters, right? Yet, I forgot that parents could be and would be. It was really the only reason I took this job. The public schools weren’t going to have me back any time soon after what had happened.
This job may have been a little different with the abundance of background checks done before I started. Yet, the summer salary was good, good enough that maybe I’d have enough to tide me over for a year and even help my sister out if she ever chose to leave her mess of a husband.
It was supposed to be an easy summer job.
Instead, I was committing to a heart-in-pinkie promise, locked away in a panic room while I watched security feeds, hoping no bad guys would come for us.
One camera showed the horizon we’d been looking at out front. The driveway now had more SUVs flying down it. I squinted and hoped they were Jameson’s. Even if they were, I didn’t know if they’d be fast enough for the yelling I heard above us.
There was thumping of footsteps before I saw one man fly into view, weapon raised as if he were ready to shoot at anything.His boots sounded heavy and large, like he could crush our little panic room below.
Then, Franny giggled at her show. I swung my gaze to a small air vent and then the screen. My breath caught as I winced at him stopping suddenly. And my heart jumped into my throat when his boot thumped one step toward us. As quietly as I could, I tapped her shoulder and put my finger to her mouth, signaling to be quiet.
She shrugged and looked back at the cartoon while I stared at the monitor, stared at that large man with a mask on. I was still staring when I heard a small, almost softthwack, then his whole body crumpled to the ground.
I frowned at the screen and saw that behind a couch, Archer had hidden. He now looked like a man trained to kill rather than talk sweetly to a child. He didn’t move an inch as he waited for the second and third men to enter the room.
None of them he had to touch. He dropped them with the same precise aim. The blood splattering onto the camera lens only looked a dark gray, the black-and-white screen shielding me from the brutal scene.
Archer didn’t drop the fourth man as quickly. He waited, like he didn’t want to kill him immediately. The popping of bullets sounded in the distance, but Archer wasn’t using his gun now. He waited and waited until the fourth masked man walked near his couch, and then he lunged for his weapon. They both fell to the floor, grappling right above our heads.
I glanced at Franny, but those headphones must have been the best soundproof, noise-cancelling kind since she was still smiling.
And just as that masked man was disarmed, Jameson Knight walked into the camera’s view.
I heard his muffled voice talking to Archer and the man as he unbuttoned his navy suit jacket. He placed his jacket on thecouch before he took his time folding up each cuff of his white collared shirt, one fold perfectly bending into place before he started on the next. “Who do you work for?” he asked the man.
The man shook his head even with Archer holding a gun to him. Jameson motioned for Archer to lower his weapon, and as he did, Jameson pulled a knife from his pocket at the same time.
“This is mydaughter’sschool. The only person I care about. You get that?” He stepped close to the man and pulled the mask from his face. “Did you come for her?” he asked.
The man’s eyes widened, but he didn’t admit to anything.
Jameson was professional and cold, but I knew how he was genuinely kind to his daughter. There was no way he would hurt this man, I told myself.
