Alexei looked totally freaked out but he nodded.
“In your thickest accent?” Reese added.
“Sure?” Alexei agreed, now freaked outandconfused.
Hodges nodded, no doubt understanding what Reese was thinking. They’d talked through a lot of contingencies, but had never once considered how they would respond if neither of them were home but someone else was, let alone someone as precious to them as Mati.
“What do we have in the kitchen that can make noise, aside from the intercom?” Reese asked, racking his brain.
Hodges shrugged. “Some appliances?”
Reese nodded. “Okay, do them all. Ready?”
Alexei stared back wide-eyed.
Good enough.
“Mati,” Reese said, his voice gentle and even, “stay by the door. When I say go, I want you to run down the front stairs and directly into my office. Don’t stop and don’t look back. When you get there, go to the right of the fireplace, and one of the bookcases will swing open.”
“Are you for real?” she whispered furiously.
“I am.”
“Okay,” she agreed, clearly dubious.
Reese nodded at Hodges, and together they watched for the guy to come out of the second bedroom. The guy on the first floor was still searching Reese’s office, including peeking behind the paintings.
The safe is in the floor, asshole, Reese thought with satisfaction. There was no way this guy would find it.
Reese saw a shadow move across the bedroom door on the other video feed and held his breath.
The man stepped out of the bedroom and Hodges hit the button for the intercom.
Alexei’s voice boomed, his Russian accent thick. “What the fuck are you doing in my house! Get out of here, you motherfuckers!”
Both men spun toward the back of the house. Hodges’ fingers flew over the screen, and the blender, of all fucking things, turned on.
The man in Reese’s office ran.
Reese smiled grimly when the trash compactor and dishwasher kicked on. As a defense strategy, it was pathetic, but it was doing the job. He switched to the front hall camera in time to see one guy sprint by. Hodges pumped his fist in triumph when the man in the upstairs hallway took off for the back stairs.
He’d barely disappeared into the stairwell when Reese said, “Run, Matilda. Runnow.”
Mati ran.
She flung herself into the upstairs hallway and took off for the main stairs, sailing down the first three steps before getting a decent grip on the banister to fly down the rest.
She heard strange noises coming from the kitchen, and a Russian voice boomed, “I canseeee youuu!”
That would have been really creepy if Mati didn’t know Alexei’s voice. She swallowed back hysterical laughter as her feet hit the freezing cold floor of the front hallway and she almost landed on her ass.
She clutched the newel post for dear life, got her legs under her, straightened her glasses, and sprinted down the hallway toward Reese’s office.
Reese.She put the phone back to her ear and gasped his name.
“I see you, Mati. I see you. You’re doing great.”
A door slammed somewhere behind her, followed by the echoing thump of running feet on the slate in the front hall.
