“One question. What does parallel mean?”
“Are you shitting me?” Tallus touched my arm; a reminder to stay quiet.
“Is it the same direction or opposite?”
“Same. As fast as you fucking can.Do notget caught.”
“I won’t.”
I heard the Jeep door slam before the call disconnected. I wished he’d have stayed on the line so I knew where he was and what he saw.
“He won’t make it in time,” Tallus said from somewhere in the dark beside me.
“He will.”
He wouldn’t. The car was upon us, its engine gearing down and coming to a slow stop at the caution tape. I wished I knew if it was the police or hired security. Not that it mattered at this point.
“He’s going to see the chain,” Tallus hissed.
“Maybe not.” It was dark. If the person didn’t expect trouble, they wouldn’t be looking for trouble. I hoped. “Be ready to run. If Darcy succeeds, we won’t have much time.”
Tallus groaned. “I need to invest in a gym membership. This job is far more physical than I expected.”
“And shoes. You need running shoes.”
“Are you giving me permission to go shopping?”
A car door slammed.
“Shh.”
My heart thundered in my ears as I strained, listening for signs that Darcy was nearby, but all I heard was the slow approach of someone walking toward the unit, road grit crunching under their shoes.
Whoever it was must have been close enough to see the chain on the ground, to register that the unit had been compromised. I waited for a radio call or an expletive, but the person stopped on the other side of the door, and nothing happened.
I held my breath, sensing Tallus was doing the same.
His hand groped mine in the dark. Tallus weaved our fingers together and squeezed. I waited for the door to roll up. For some sort of action. A phone call. A man’s voice asking who was inside. A curse. Something. Anything.
The first sound that arose beyond the idling car was the scrape of the chain, and I imagined the person lifting it from the ground, groping for an explanation.
As I considered the possibility that they might lock us inside without bothering to look, a new panic strained my chest. What was happening?
Then, I heard it.
The odd yet familiar slap of Darcy’s busted running shoe.
The chain clattered to the ground. The door rattled, but not because someone lifted it. I envisioned them crouched to investigate and, upon hearing Darcy, placing a hand on the door for leverage as they rose to their feet.
“Hey,” a man’s voice shouted from the other side of the unit. “What are you doing in here?”
The steady slap of Darcy’s shoe stopped abruptly. My instructions to the kid were unclear, so I wasn’t sure how he would react.Distractionwas vague.
The man spoke again. “It’s you.”
My blood turned to ice as Darcy’s croaking voice sounded from a short distance away. “Oh shit.”
The slapping sound of his shoe commenced, fading into the distance as he ran away.
