EIGHTEEN
“Jesus Christ,” Ross said, still staring out the bedroom window. “Who is that?”
The Tahoe stopped and a middle-aged man stepped outside. Heavy coat. Hair so blond it looked white. He was hefty but not really overweight. He shut the door behind him and hurriedly walked up to the front door.
The doorbell rang. Ross glanced down at Amber. “I don’t like this.”
“Ignore it,” she said.
He shook his head and pulled the gun from the waistband of his pants. “He sees the cars in the driveway. He knows they’re home.”
Ross left the bedroom. The doorbell rang again.
A moment later, she heard the door open. Ross’s voice in the living room: “Hands in the air. Don’t move.”
“What the—”
“Who are you?”
“Jesus, is that a gun?”
“Yeah, it’s a fucking gun. Who are you?”
“What is—”
“Who the hell are you?”
There was some yelling and warbled commotion. The voice that wasn’t Ross’s yelled out: “My son. Joshua. Where is he?”
“You’re the kid’s dad?” Ross said.
“Yes. Where—”
“Step inside,” Ross said. “Shut the door behind you.”
The front door slammed shut.
“Now, answer me,” Ross said. “What are you doing here?”
“My son. He’s not answering his phone. I—”
“Anybody know you’re here?”
“No, I—”
“Walk down the hallway,” Ross said. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Karen recognized Teddy’s voice in the living room, but she refused to believe he was here. There was yelling in the living room, frantic talking. Teddy’s voice, Ross’s voice. Then footsteps, coming down the hallway.
Teddy appeared at the door, Ross pointing the gun at the back of his head.
The moment Teddy entered the room and saw her and Joshua tied up, he froze. “Oh my God.”
“Shut up,” Ross said.
“Are you hurt or—”
“I said shut up,” Ross said. “Now, go over to that closet. Grab a chair from inside. Don’t do nothing stupid.”
Teddy walked across the room. He opened the closet door and grabbed a folding chair from inside.
“Set it over there,” Ross said. “Right next to the kid.”
Teddy unfolded the chair and placed it beside Joshua.
“Take your coat off. Sit down. Put your arms behind you.”
Teddy took off his heavy coat and sat in the chair. Ross grabbed the box of zip ties and secured Teddy’s ankles to the chair, just like Karen’s.
“Bad time for a drop-in, Pops. You said no one knows you’re here? That’s not bullshit?”
“No.”
“Because I don’t want no more surprises. Another surprise, and that’s it. I’m sick of pissing around.”
“I promise you, no one knows I’m here,” Teddy said. “I called Joshua’s phone a few times this afternoon.”
“Yeah, I know. I had the phone. I heard it ringing.”
“I got worried when there was no answer, so I came over.”
“Better not be lying.”
Ross gave them each a hard glare and left the room.
They sat in the room in a triangle, a few feet apart, facing one another, Joshua and Teddy with their hands tied behind them, Karen with her wrists secured to the armrests of her chair, all of them with their feet zip-tied to their chairs.
Teddy looked back and forth between them. “My God,” he said. “Who is this guy? What is going on?”
“I went back to the forest,” Joshua said. “My glove was missing.”
“Your glove? That text you sent—”
“It was a lie. I couldn’t find it. I figured I’d go back and grab it quick. And these people, they were out there. The guy you just saw, and a woman. The woman got shot. Mom took her to the hospital, then broke her out.”
“We’re just waiting for them to leave,” Karen said. “She’s in the other room, in my bed. She’s in bad shape. I think they’re leaving soon. Someone’s coming to pick them up.”
Teddy squirmed in his seat, yanking and pulling his arms against the zip ties behind him.
“It’s no use, Teddy,” she said to him. “You’re not breaking free.”
“Then what?” Teddy asked. “What are we supposed to do?”
“We wait,” she said. “I wish I had a better answer than that.”
Ross returned to Amber’s room. He sat down on the edge of her bed.
“That was the kid’s dad,” he said. “Looks like a damn party’s going on in there.”
Ross shook his head. He pulled the baggie of pills from his pocket and popped one.
“The lady, she said if we let them live, they’ll tell the cops whatever we want,” Ross said. “Could throw the cops off our tail. Help us get a nice head start. Just don’t know if we can trust her. Because if she’s lying, there ain’t no reason to keep them alive.”
“D-don’t kill them.”
“Might have to. Might not have a choice. I—”
Ross’s phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and looked at the screen.
“It’s Shane.”
He put the call on speaker.
“I’m about forty miles away from the address you gave me,” Shane said. “Should be there in, like, half an hour.”