For Fallon (26 page)

Fallon

The night’s sky is pitch black, illuminated by a million stars. It’s impossible for me to determine what time it is, but it’s definitely late. I wring my hands together in unease as someone fumbles with the key. I’m silently praying it’s Camilla, and not Luca returning to his room. If it’s Luca, I’m stuck here for another night. And another night of worrying when the trade will take place, or what could happen to me until then, is too much for me to handle.

The door opens and tension instantly recedes when I’m greeted by Camilla. “I’ve got a key,” she announces hesitantly, yet surprised that she did it, and holds up the car device.

I’m instantly on alert and take the few steps toward her. “How? Is Luca still gone?”

“Yes, they’re both away. I had to go really far to get Damian’s car keys. He’s passed out. There’s one guard at the front door. We can only slip into the ca
r when he’s on his break; the car is parked in the driveway.”

“You thought of everything,” I muse aloud.

“Well, they were wrong thinking I’m some delicate flower. Let’s hurry.” She gives me a once over quickly and stops at my bare feet. “Shoes?”

“I don’t have any,” I confess. Wearing only Luca’s t-shirt and boxers, I urge her to start moving. “Come on.” The same trepidation I felt this morning when I dashed out of here is swimming to the surface. I follow Camilla
, who’s leading the way at a quick pace, through the dark hall.

“Almost everybody i
s gone,” she murmurs.

At the top of the staircase, the beating of my heart is accelerating from the adrenaline starting to rush through me. We race down and have to turn the corner to enter the hall leading to the first staircase.

Camilla peeks around the corner and back to me. Unease creeps across her expression. “We have to go the middle of this hall and sprint downstairs. At the last step, turn left, then go straight ahead to the back door in the kitchen, which is unlocked. You have got to trail close behind me, okay?”

I nod my head up and down hurriedly as we catch each other’s worried eyes. This is our window. The urgency to act now and fast is pressing since Luca or someone else could walk in this house at any moment.

Camilla nods too and checks the hall one more time. “Go.” And she races ahead of me.

The paintings hanging on the walls pass me by in a blur while my feet stick to the wooden floor on this warm summer night. To decrease the amount of noise my feet are creating, I run on my tiptoes. One wrong move and I can break my foot, but we’re almost at the staircase.

As soon as Camilla can peek over the banister to make sure the foyer is empty downstairs, she slows down to turn and gestures to me that we’re still safe.

I follow her down the flight of stairs at lightning speed. More artificial lights are lighting this stairwell and foyer, causing me to feel extra exposed. On the last step, I place my left hand on the banister to take a sharp U-turn toward the kitchen, but I slip away, landing hard on my flat palm and bare knee on the marble tiles. The wound on my knee starts to bleed instantly and burns in pain. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stifle my soft cry when I fell. My head whips around to see if anyone is coming into the foyer, and I push back up just as quickly as I fell. Stumbling while I rise, I sprint straight ahead to the kitchen.

Camilla’s holding the door open and waves me to her frantically. “Hurry,” she whisper yells right before I race through it and slouch forward with my palms on my upper thighs to catch my breath in the middle of the dark kitchen. Our heavy and erratic breathing cuts through the silence of the darkness.

Camilla lets the door fall closed silently and moves toward the back exit in this massive state-of-the-art kitchen. She pushes her shoulder into the door and it barely opens, so I push with all my weight as well. The door is ridiculously heavy to open, and I grunt as my shoulder hits the cold surface of it. The outside air flows into my lungs, and for the first time in four days, I feel the natural caress of the cooling summer wind on my cheeks. Shuddering from nervousness, I suck in the night air to calm my nerves.

We’re outside!

Now we have to get to the car. We grimace at each other when the door creaks loudly as we close it, and the porch light flicks on, detecting movement. Camilla dashes to the right side of the house and rounds the planted hedges leading to the front. Jumping after her, I step off the porch onto the soft grass and hunch down next to Camilla. We wait until the light flicks off. For a moment my entire vision goes black as it tries to adjust to the dark. Not a sound but the blowing of the wind passes my ears.

Camilla motions forward with her hand, and we inch toward the driveway. She looks around the corner and pulls her head back immediately. “Guard is still standing at the front entrance,” she mutters. “He’s going to take a break and move inside the house soon. Wait.”

I look past her to the rounded driveway and spot three cars parked on our side.
“Which car?”

She turns the car devic
e that she’s been clutching in her hand and checks the logo. “A BMW.”

But as the device hangs off the key chain, it clinks in the stillness of the night and the guard’s head whips to me.

I rear back instantly and Camilla clutches the device again. Our eyes widen in horror, and I mouth, “Guard heard.” I don’t dare to look again, afraid my eyes will meet his.

Camilla grabs my hand and drags me a few feet back, pointing to the hedge under a rounded window with closed curtains. She makes her way through the hedge, thick with leaves, and disappears.

The dry earth creeps between my toes when I follow Camilla. Branches scrape and cut open the bare skin on my arms and legs, but I grit my teeth and wedge myself against her, hunched down into a tiny open space against the wall, hiding behind the hedge.

Dark.
Soundless.

My heart is pounding in my chest so loudly that I’m afraid it can be heard in the deafening silence.

Camilla loses her balance and clutches my thigh, forcing me to plant my fingers in front of me to keep us unmoving and quiet. It’s difficult to remain still above the thunder of my heartbeat.

A blur of light comes into our line of vision through the thick leaves. Footsteps approach. The light shines through the leaves, coming closer and closer to exposing Camilla and me. The light is an inch away from my hand planted in front of me, but I’m afraid to move and cause a noise. The worst thing is that the second before you’re discovered feels like hours.

Oh my god, please don’t let him see me. 

A split second before I would’ve been exposed, another sound coming from the driveway distracts the guard. His directed aim of light recedes quickly and a deep breath rushes out of me. I’ve been adamantly forcing myself to keep some semblance of rational thought, even
through my constant trail of fear. I’m holding my breath again while we stay rooted until we can’t hear the guard’s steps anymore.

We crawl out of the hedge, keeping low. We deny ourselves any time to think to avoid having our fear take control of our actions. Camilla checks the front and swivels around. “He’s gone. We have to go now.” She hits the button on the device to unlock the car. The first black BMW clicks open while Camilla’s already started toward it.

The gravel cuts painfully into the skin of my feet. Opening the car door, Camilla gets in and starts the engine. Checking the front entrance – still no guard or movement, I close the door and fall into the passenger seat. “Go!”

Steering left and out of the driveway, the house shrinks in the rearview mirror and disappears as she steps on the gas when we hit a main road.

“Oh shit,” Camilla voices my thoughts. Full of tension, she’s driving the car anxiously through this deserted place.

My chest is rising and falling heavily.
“How long until we reach the first gas station?”

“Twenty, twenty-five minutes.”
She wipes the glistening sweat from her forehead.

“What are we going to do? Call the police? Go straight to The Loop.
Home? According to Luca, the Syndicate is also part of the police force. I have no idea if that’s true or not.”

Camilla bites her lip. “I don’t know.” She catches my eyes briefly with a lost look similar to mine.

“Let’s just get out of here first and—” My gaze travels forward, and in the far distance, I see headlights approaching. My spine stiffens in alarm.

“Fuck,” Camilla mutters when she spots them too.

“Turn off the lights,” I order and try to buckle my belt with trembling hands, missing.

“What?”

“Cut the lights!” I scream while desperately trying to buckle the seat belt. “The other car won’t see us.”

“Shit. Okay.” She checks the dashboard on her right and turns them off. “Fuck, I can barely see anything!” And automatically she steps on the brake, and the vehicle slows down.

The other headlights are turned off as well, kicking my unease into even higher gear. “Keep hitting the gas, don’t go too slow.” I’m bumped out of my seat from left to right when Camilla drives off the road and then steers us back on the right track.

“The other car should pass us soon.” Camilla’s gripping the steering wheel with deadly force. “I have to slow down, I can’t see shit.”

And just then the other car blazes past us, making us both yell in fear of a collision.

Camilla checks her mirror quickly. “Their lights are still off.”

“Turn on your lights and step on the gas. It’s someone from the Syndicate, or else they wouldn’t have cut their lights too.” Sweat trickles down the side of my face. We’re so close. Do not break down now. Help Camilla stay calm. “Our best chance is to just step on it and reach a populated area as soon as possible.”

Camilla nods hesitantly, eyes glued to the road.

Suddenly we’re engulfed in light from behind. My head swings around, and I’m blinded by the bright white lights of a car now following us.

“What do I do?” Camilla shrieks. “Who is it?”

The car is gaining speed on us quickly and moves in beside us with an absolutely furious Adriano motioning like a rabid dog for us to pull over.

Camilla’
s trying to control this car going over a hundred miles an hour. “What do we do?” she shrieks again.

I grip the door handle to brace myself when I see Luca pulling his steering wheel to the right.
“Brake. NOW!”

She
hits the brake too late, and Luca hits the side of our car, causing us to jerk to the left. Camilla and I both scream as she’s desperately trying to avoid being forced off the road.

I’m jolted sideways and to the front and my temple collapses against the window with a loud bang. A burning pain shoots through the side of my head while
Luca’s Maserati speeds on forward. The tires screech on the asphalt as the BMW comes to a full stop and the seatbelt pushes me back into the seat when I’m thrown forward. Our breathing is irregular and we sink back into our seats.

“You okay?” Camilla asks, with eyes closed, in a regretful tone.

Almost. We we’re so close to get away and my hope is crushed instantly. “Yes.” I rub my aching head.

The Maserati returns and stops sideways, blocking our
car, and both men jump out and flank us in a few determined strides that glow with their fury.

Camilla hurriedly locks the door in response, clearly concerned about the men’s deadly demeanor too. “Shit!” she whispers and turns her head to me just as Adriano stands before her window with a menacing look. “What are we going to do? I’ve never seen them this mad.” Her breathing still mirrors my heavy sighs. Everything happened so quickly, we almost got away.

Adriano roughly pulls the door handle. “Open it, Cam,” he orders in a dangerously low voice.

I’ve been ignoring Luca, who’s silently burning holes into the back of my head while I’m facing Camilla. We just dug ourselves a little deeper in this mess. I cover one hand over the other in my lap to restrain the trembling. “We need to go with them. The longer we wait, the madder they’ll get.”

Luca taps on my window once with his knuckles.

Stoic, I keep my sight on Camilla.

Luca finally speaks in a level voice. “Fallon, open this door or I’ll smash in the window and drag you back by your hair.”

Tears are brimming behind my eyes, and I want to give Camilla a hug or something because she wears the same desolate expression as me, but I don’t want Adriano and Luca to witness our interaction.

Camilla pushes the button and the doors fly open immediately. We’re both yanked out of the vehicle. Adriano inspects Camilla and asks if she’s hurt.

Luca’s fingers curl painfully around my biceps. The wind blows pass us and cools the layer of sweat covering my body. A shiver runs through me
, and I jerk away from Luca’s touch when he tries to check my head injury.

While I can taste his fury, concern is also perceptible in his dark eyes. “Injuries?” he asks in that same level voice.

I shake my head. Wondering what to say to salvage this situation but nothing comes to mind. I softly say, “Luca.”