The Penalty Box - Teagan Kade Page 0,19

walls, waiting. As soon as the front door opens, we’re going to sprint like all hell to get inside, got it?”

Phoenix is eyeing up the distance. “That’s, what, ten, fifteen yards to cover?”

Peyton smiles, hands gripping and releasing the baseball bat. “Easy-peasy, or have you forgotten how to use those legs of yours since you stopped playing?”

Phoenix scoffs. “Bro, I could run rings around you when I was six. Nothing has changed.”

I pop my door open, watching the van pull into the drive. “Let’s go.”

The time for joking is over. It’s instant focus all around, the three of us moving to the edge of the wall, myself and Phoenix on one side, Peyton on the other.

I look around the corner and squeeze the grip of the hockey stick, adrenaline starting to flow. Linnea is all that matters. We get it, we get her, we get out.

Simple.

I hear the side door of the courier van slide open, spot Dan winking at me as he takes out a random package and heads for the front doors of the house.

I nod, whispering, “Get ready.”

The three of us tense, prepared for action.

I hold my hand up, wait for the front door to open and what looks like a maid to appear.

“Now!”

We duck and move fast together, using the van for cover and then spreading out around it.

Peyton’s quick. He whisks around behind Dan and straight past the maid. Shock lights up her face, her hand moving to close the door.

It’s too late.

Phoenix runs ahead of me, pushes the door wider as he passes, ducking under the maid’s arm.

I follow and suddenly we’re inside.

A bodyguard emerges into the hallway clearly surprised to see Peyton, who swings the bat into his stomach. It’s brutal, even watching it from a distance. The bodyguard goes down and I hear Peyton call out. “Where is she?” in the room beyond.

I almost miss the second bodyguard, a massive guy who’s running at my side from somewhere to the right.

I shift my weight and drive down and upwards, checking him hard into a small alcove. He collides with a pedestal, a vase falling to shatter on the floor.

I don’t know why, but Phoenix swings for the matching vase on the other side of the room, pieces of porcelain spraying out around him.

So much for the element of surprise.

We come into a large room, open at the back where the pool is. I notice a pink, inflatable flamingo in the water, and can’t get over how at odds it seems with everything else.

Linnea is at the table, Peyton on top of another bodyguard, holding him down, while Phoenix rushes to the second standing behind her, dropping the bat and collecting the poor bastard around the knees, lifting him high into the air before dropping him into the middle of the table with a thud.

Rex, on the other side of the table, stands back with enough force to knock his chair over, the pretty boy beside him doing likewise, the two of them looking like some strange comedy duo.

Linnea’s already up, rushing to my side. I tuck her under my arm. “Let’s get you out of here,” I say, nodding to the others.

“You think you can just take her?” says Rex, anger ringing clear in his voice.

I point my stick at him. “That’s rich coming from you, asshole. Just let us leave. No one has to get hurt.”

Pretty Boy looks like he wants to pounce, but he’s soft as butter. He won’t make a move. I’m more concerned about the two we left in the front of the house, but Phoenix is on it, bat swinging around in readiness. “Let’s move.”

The bodyguard Peyton has pinned to the floor is squirming. “You’re dead, all of you.”

Peyton laughs, adding more pressure to the spot between his shoulder blades. “So people keep telling us, yet here we are.”

I turn and start running with Linnea for the front of the house, Phoenix falling in behind us. There’s a grunt as Peyton lifts off the goon he was pinning down, running full tilt for our position. “Go!” he shouts.

The four of us make it to the front door, the two bodyguards in the front still on the floor.

A voice booms, and I know it’s Rex yelling out some ‘You’ll pay!’ supervillain nonsense. He’s angry, all right. Screw him.

We’re halfway across the road when the first shot rings out. It’s close enough for me to shove Linnea in front of me, one hand pressing her head down as I