“Go,” Lizzie said, already pulling out her phone to call an ambulance, “I’ll stay with her.”
We practically ran out of the house and back to the SUV, hopping in before peeling out of the driveway of the cabin.
“Call their cells.” Theo ordered, “We need to warn them.”
I didn’t have to be told twice. I tried my agents first, but there was no answer. Then I went down the line from Aria, to Matteo, and finally to Tibby, my panic rising with each unanswered call.
“No answer.” I told Theo and felt the car accelerate even more as he floored the gas pedal.
Behind us, flashing blue and red lights started up as a cop began to follow us.
“Put the lights in the SUV on.” I told Theo, but he was too focused on the road, so I flipped them on. The cop continued to follow us, but now to provide backup rather than to pull us over.
“We should never have left them.” He said, gripping the steering wheel until I heard his knuckles pop. “We should have sent Keilar and Smart instead. We left them like sitting ducks in that house.”
I didn’t say anything. I had already said everything that he was saying out loud inside of my own head. Guilt, fear, and anger mingled inside of my chest as we sped back towards the lodge.
The previously twenty minute trip took fifteen thanks to Theo’s lead foot.
As we pulled into the driveway, great plumes of smoke and ash greeted us, and Theo screeched to a stop. We looked up and were faced with something out of our worst nightmares.
The lodge, with everyone we loved inside, was on fire.
CHAPTER 41
It had been thirtyminutes since Theo and Cobb had left to help Emerson. Aria took Tibby upstairs to call the prosecutor on the Hezekiah Jordan case so that they could begin to prepare her for trial, and the two remaining agents had made themselves scarce.
I was standing in the kitchen with a glass of wine, and staring out into the shadowy woods. Dusk in the forest was always a bit creepy to me because such green, cheerful forests could turn at the drop of the hat into something out of your worst nightmare. Anything could be creeping out there in the darkness, not only that, with the big windows that the lodge featured, it was easier to see inside the house at night, than for us to see out.
With a little shiver I forced myself to look away from the window. “Stop creeping yourself out, Matteo.” I chastised myself, taking a page out of Tibby’s book and talking to myself. “Nothing is hiding in the forest waiting to eat you.”
Shaking the thoughts away I took my wine and headed upstairs in search of one of the agents to see if they could update me on Cobb and Theo’s situation. Passing by Aria’s room, I could hear Tibby’s voice as she sat on the skype call with Aria chiming in every once in a while to answer the prosecutor's questions.
The end of the hallway was dark, and when I finally reached the door at the end I knocked a few times. “Yo, Keilar. Are you in there?”
There was no answer which was strange, he for sure told me he was going to hang out in his room for a bit before dinner. I knocked again before finally reaching for the doorknob and opening the door. The room was similar to my own with a big wooden canopy bed. There was also a matching chest of drawers and wardrobe. The only difference between this room and my own?
