rips the bags taped from the painting and dumps them inside. “Nice doing business with you, motherfuckers.” They file out, one by one, until it’s just the leader and the smaller guy left. “See you next time.”
The shit-talker is halfway through the door, I seize the opportunity and kick it shut with my foot, trapping the big guy out and the smaller one inside. I use my elbow to hit the button by the floor, clicking the automatic locks in place.
With the intruder’s attention on me, Nine grabs the shotgun from the intruder who spins around, grabbing for his gun. Realizing his gun is now in Nine’s possession, he turns back around. I leap off the floor, grab his shoulders and rear my head back, delivering a headbutt so hard that vibrates through my skull long after his eyes fall back and he slumps to the floor.
Luckily the combination of adrenaline and alcohol dulls my own pain, but I know this fucker felt in. He’s sideways, in a heap, and unconscious, but still breathing. I crouch over him. “Looks like I might have to start believing in God because my fucking prayers might have just been answered,” I say.
Nine jogs over to the monitors next to Thorne’s computer. “Fuckers are gone. Left one of their own like the pussies they are.”
The thief's hood fell slightly off his head in the scuffle, revealing strands of shiny dark hair falling over a high cheekbone.
Wait, a high cheekbone?
“What the actual fuck?” I whisper to myself. It can’t be. He can’t be.
A prickling suspicion takes hold.
I crouch down and pull the hood off completely, exposing a long thick wavy mane.
Holy fucking shit.
My suspicion was right.
“At least, the little guy went down easy,” Nine remarks. He pulls his eyes from the monitors and glances at me over his shoulder.
I lift up a fistful of hair to show him what I’ve found. “That’s probably because he…is a she.”
Chapter Seven
Mickey
“Vacation is over. We have to leave and leave now,” Papa says, rushing around the living room, grabbing his wallet from the table and shrugging on a shirt.
“But vacation isn’t over yet!” Mallory whines. “We still have one more week.”
“It’s over now. Get in the van. All of you. Let’s go.” Papa grabs his keys and holds open the front door.
“We still have to pack,” Mama argues. “What’s going on?”
He answers her with a look I’ll never forget. It’s both a plea and an order.
One she doesn’t argue with as her eyes go wide in understanding. “Girls, listen to your father. Let’s go. Now.” She slings her purse over her shoulder. “You don’t need shoes!” she yells to Mindy who drops her shoes on the ground. She ushers my sisters through the door.
“What about Penny?” I ask, looking under the sofa for our family cat. She’s always hiding somewhere.
“Michaela, now!” my father orders. “Forget the cat.”
I stand up and give him my best pout. It usually works to get what I want, but not today. My father rushes toward me, lifts me off the floor and carries me over his shoulder to the van where my mother and three sisters are already piling in. He sets me inside and slams the door.
My sisters and I exchange worried looks, but none of us dare speak.
Papa gets in and starts the engine, tossing us sideways as he peels out of the shell driveway. “Seat belts!” my mother yells. We struggle to find the buckles tucked into the seats while swaying from one side to the other.
“What’s going on, Papa? You’re scaring us!” Mallory, my youngest sister cries. I help her with her seatbelt before finding my own, clicking it in place.
Papa doesn’t speak until we are on the main road on the way out of town. “We will be fine, girls. We just had to leave. I’ll explain it all later,” he says. He looks at his four teenage girls in the rearview mirror and flashes us a reassuring smile, but I see through to the worry and fear lying beneath. “It’ll be okay,” he adds, reassuring himself as much as he’s reassuring us.
Mama reaches out and grabs his hand, intertwining their fingers on the center console.
A loud sound like a car backfiring booms around us, jerking my spine to jump like it’s on a string.
“What was that?” Maya shouts.
I spin around in my seat and spot the black van tailing us. Inside are two men wearing hoods with black skeleton bandanas covering the lower half of their faces. The