Miss Ruby turned around and went back to the window. Sean was peering out into the darkness. Neither of them appeared overly concerned. Robert stood still in the middle of the room, watching me. Very still. Like a statue. I really wanted to stand up and get ready to run, but was afraid Sean and his itchy trigger finger would not appreciate it. Besides, Robert also looked like he could squish me like a bug. Croc was here. Which didn’t necessarily mean that Angela was, but I preferred not to think about that. I doubted Croc would have left Angela alone with a gunman. Most of the drug had worn off. I just had to remember to make them think I was still under the influence of it. But now I had a pounding headache and my mouth was really dry.
“You two check this out,” Miss Ruby said. “We had that rabid dog here earlier today, maybe it’s back.”
A rabid dog? I remember Boone saying something about Croc acting like a mad dog while he got inside the house. I just wondered what I was supposed to do, seeing that I was still sitting in a room full of terrorists.
Sean and Robert left the room. Miss Ruby stayed at the window. I eyed my phone that was lying on the desk in place of hers and toyed with the idea of switching it back. But if I could get out of here, there could be a ton of intelligence on her phone. Even direct contacts to the highest leadership of the ghost cell. I had to find a way to hang on to it.
There was a lot of shouting and noise going on outside. The barking, growling, and snapping grew louder. It sounded like a mini riot.
Sean and Robert had left the library door open. And now somebody was knocking on the front door.
Miss Ruby cursed. Apparently there was no one else in the house to answer the door. The knocking continued.
“Oh, for goodness’ sake,” she muttered. She headed for the door but not before turning to give me a warning. “You best …” She stopped, because I was slumped back in the chair, my eyes closed and my body limp. I wanted her to think I’d been fighting the drug as hard as I could, but finally couldn’t hold out any more.
When we were in Kitty Hawk, Malak had told us Bethany had pretended to be unconscious using something called yoga breath. I didn’t know how to do that, but I tried to make my breathing deep and slow. I willed my heart to beat slower but wasn’t sure that would happen.
She was getting closer and I forced myself to stay still. A few moments later her fingertips touched my neck, checking my pulse. She snapped her fingers next to my face a couple of times and I managed not to flinch. After that she shook me by the arm. I let out the best fake snore of my life.
Miss Ruby seemed satisfied because I heard her striding across the library floor and the door creaked slightly as she pushed it farther open. I waited another three seconds before I cracked open an eye. She was gone. I counted to ten to make sure she didn’t pop back in to try and catch me faking her out, but she didn’t. Still, there was very little time.
I stood up. I jammed all my stuff into my pockets and hustled over to the window. It was locked and with no way to open it that I could see. It was dark outside. The library was off to the side of the house and from the angle of this window I couldn’t see the front door, just part of the side yard and the faint outline of the road and fence off in the distance. Though my field of vision was limited, I could hear the noise and commotion outside. Miss Ruby had gone to the front door, but maybe there was a back entrance. But Sean and Robert were who knows where—outside or inside—and I didn’t especially want to run into them. It was a huge house and it had to have more than a couple of ways in and out.
I envied Boone. I’d been trying his little illusion but I still hadn’t figured it out. Now would have been the perfect time to use it.