Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“Hell yeah. You know how long it’s been since I had a good sandwich?”
She burst out laughing. “You’re an ass!” she told me, mock-angry. Then her voice changed. “That’s weird.”
“What’s weird?”
“I swear Max went back upstairs but I just heard him coming in the back door. Hold on...”
I relaxed, listening. Then her scream tore through me.
I sat bolt upright, saying her name, but there was no answer. I reached for her, opening my eyes…and the green jungle and bright sun reminded me I was thousands of miles away.
On the phone, I could hear her pounding up the stairs. “Come on!” she said and grunted, and I heard Max’s breathing very close: she must have scooped him up. She ran again. Then a door slammed. “Help me push this!” she told Max. And the sound of something heavy moving.
“What’s happening?” I begged.
I heard thunder echo outside the house. “Guy in a ski mask,” she said. “He has a gun.”
My skin had gone ice cold. I was going to throw up. I looked around and saw Danny frowning at me, worried. “Where’s the chopper?” I demanded. As if the chopper could somehow magic me back to Texas in a few minutes.
“Twenty minutes,” Danny told me. “What’s wrong?”
I didn’t answer, too busy listening. There was a crash of wood, then another and another. My stomach dropped. He’s trying to break through the door.
There was an electronic beeping. The gun safe. Good girl.
Jillian cursed and the beeping started over again.
“Four-five-three—” I began.
“I know, I know!” She was panting with fear. Then I heard the clunk as the safe door opened.
Wood splintering and falling. There was so much I wanted to tell her: that I loved her, that I loved Max, that I was sorry I wasn’t there. But there wasn’t time. I had to tell her what she needed, not what I needed. “You can do this,” I told her. “Safety off. Aim for the torso.”
A howl of wind from outside. A crash of wood. Then two gunshots, deafeningly loud over the phone. It was quiet for a second. “I don’t know if I hit him,” she said softly.
Then, out of nowhere, two more gunshots from a different gun. Jillian gave a grunt of pain.
“Mom!” yelled Max. I could hear the tears in his voice.
I pressed the phone as tight to my ear as it would go. “Jill?” I begged.
She didn’t answer but I could hear wet rasping as she struggled to breathe.
Wood breaking. The sound of something heavy being scraped along the floor. Then footsteps.
“Daddy?” cried Max, near-hysterical.
“Don’t hurt him!” I yelled. “Don’t hurt him, he’s just a kid. I’ll pay you, I’ll give you whatever you want, just don’t hurt—”
Another shot rang out and I jerked the phone away from my ear and stared at it in horror. I put it to my ear again. “Max? Max? Jill?”
Nothing. Just footsteps, walking off down the stairs.
Then, in the quiet that followed, I heard a faint, ragged breathing. One of them was still alive. “Hold on,” I told them. “Hold on, I’m gonna—I’ll call an ambulance…” I looked at the satphone, furiously debating. We only had one. I’d have to end this call to make another one. “Just hold on.”
Jillian’s voice, terrifyingly weak. She was trying to say something. “Mor— Mor—”
“Don’t talk,” I told her. “Don’t talk, save your energy.” I could feel tears running down my cheeks.
“Mor— Mor— Morkret,” said Jillian. And then her breathing stopped.
52
LORNA
JD was crying, those beautiful, prairie-sky eyes awash. It was scary, to see this rock of man finally crumple and show his vulnerability. Scary and wonderful because I knew, in my gut, that this was the first time he’d let himself cry since it happened.
I was in pieces, listening to him, silent tears running down my cheeks. I needed to throw my arms around him but I didn’t want to risk him stopping: he had to get this out of him.
“The CIA rushed me home,” JD told me, “but it still took nearly twelve hours. By the time I got home, the place was a crime scene and the cops had taken them to the morgue.”
“Did they catch him?”
JD shook his head bitterly. “Never even figured out why. Nothing was missing from the house. The name Morkret didn’t lead the cops anywhere. I spent years trying to figure out what she was trying to tell me but I never did.” He drew in a shaky breath. “I didn’t know how to deal with it. They were gone and It hurt so bad and I just couldn’t…”
Couldn’t let it out, I realized, my heart breaking for him. He’d just bottled it up, all these years. He hadn’t let himself grieve. That’s why he felt like he was still with them. That’s why being with me had felt like cheating on them.