I know it will take him around thirty-five minutes, so I let him get going.
I watch him walk out and then, on the screen from the closed-circuit security feed, I see the garage door open. Declan strolls out with his bike and clasps his helmet on before he mounts the bike and speeds away. I push the button to close the garage and set the security system.
I know the time will fly by, so I do my best to tidy. I pull the sheets from the bed and drop them in a hamper along with the clothes from last night. I’m not sure who does the cleaning here, but I want to make it easy for them. As I put things back the way I found them, I wonder what I’ll say the next time I talk to my parents and they ask me about work. Or what I will say to Ana when she gets back to the office on Monday. She’s certainly picked up on the vibes between me and Declan and now I have updates!Or do I?I so want to chat with her about this. How can I disclose this development without spilling the beans on the secret operations?
I move to the living-room area and gather some of Declan’s things. I grab my cavernous purse, the traitor that it is for hiding that tiny tracking device, and pack away my work clothes and Declan’s as well. I’m guessing he’ll go to the office in his cycling kit.
About twenty minutes after Declan leaves, the front door buzzes. I know Declan is an excellent athlete, but there is no way he finished that quickly, even if he sprinted the whole time.
I see Ian through the security feed. “Charlie, I’ve got breakfast and updates,” he announces through the intercom. He has a pink box in his arm that is likely filled with glutenous pastries I shouldn’t have.
“Is this man trying to kill me?” I mutter to myself and press the buzzer to let him in.
I pad barefoot over to the front door and wait for him to enter.
“Hi, Ian,” I say brightly as he enters. “There’s coffee in the pot if you want some.” Then I continue to gather up my items.
“Thank you, Charlie,” Ian replies and he heads to the kitchen in my peripheral view. He sets the pink box on the counter and opens it.
“Sure thing,” I respond. “What’s the update?” I ask, half listening, half tidying. I relock the safehouse just as Declan showed me.
“There’s been a security breach,” Ian tells me as he stands across the counter from me.No shit, I think, given the tracking device we discovered last night. But maybe Ian is referring to a new one. The smell of fresh pastries wafts over to me.
The kitchen is the last room for me to clean up. I need to wash the dishes we used and sweep away some crumbs. I reach for my cell phone in the pockets of the borrowed pants. “Let me tell Declan so we can get on this right away,” I say.
“Oh, don’t worry,” Ian says.
His words catch me by surprise. I stop what I am doing and look up at him. That’s when Ian pulls a gun out of the pink box and a silencer as well. He methodically twists the silencer onto the front of the gun as he walks toward me.
“Declan won’t be back in time to help,” Ian adds matter-of-factly before he takes aim at me.
40
CHARLIE
I don’t have seconds to think, or even milliseconds. I have to act.
The dirty oatmeal bowl in front of me is my only weapon. I chuck the bowl at Ian’s head and it connects, knocking him back and then shattering on the ground. He stumbles and goes down as well.
I don’t have time to check what damage it did to him; I have to run.
If I head for the front door, which I first have to unlock via the security panel, I will cross Ian. If he has any degree of consciousness, he could easily shoot me before I leave.
The tunnels!I race for the back wall and don’t dare look behind me. I make it to the massive door and heave it open. I think I can hear Ian moving, but I have to ignore it. Once I’m in the tunnel, I pull the door as hard as I can.
OK, that noise is definitely Ian moving. I have seconds before he can stop me from shutting the door.
The metal door is hefty, but I lean back with all my weight to get it to close. I’m not sure if it latched. I move the wheel lock to try to seal it, but it won’t budge.
Shit!
I lean and pull again.Thud.Something has landed against the other side of the door. Ian.
He pounds on it. That is what snaps the final centimeter closed. The doorthunksinto place and I push on the wheel.
The lock engages and I take a deep exhale. I’m safe.
An alarm starts to sound on the other side of the door, dampened by the thick metal barrier.
