Prism - By Rachel Moschell Page 0,74
though.”
“How’d you know the funeral was going to be here?” Alejo needed to kill time.
“Facebook,” Gabriel answered, matter-of-factly. “You wouldn’t believe how many friends this guy had. Makes me feel kind of bad. I only have 167.”
“So how did you know we were in here?”
Was only Gabriel outside? If that were the case, a dozen ways he and Wara could get out of here ran through Alejo’s head.
They surely wouldn’t be so stupid, though, as to send only Gabriel over to capture him.
“My thermal imaging goggles.” Gabriel’s voice was light. “There’re all kinds of poky plants in that park across the street. I think they never cut the grass over there. Great hiding spot. I can see up to 1000 meters with these things, so that was plenty close enough.” Alejo saw Gabriel, down below, pointing off to the park across the street, darkened with shady trees and deep green vegetation. “Anyway, I saw two people hiding on the floor of a van that drove in, and figured that wasn’t the usual way guests arrive at funerals. The rest, as they say, is history.”
“So,” Gabriel continued, blithely, “this is the way this is going to go down. Benjamin is over at the Hotel Diplomat, where the deceased’s parents are in their room right now. There’s an empty office space right across from their big plate glass window, which has the drapes wide open, and Benjamin has got all the equipment set up. If you don’t come out with the girl and come with me, he’ll have to take the guys’ parents out.”
Alejo swore under his breath. Now that he had chickened out about killing Wara, they assumed he wouldn’t let Noah’s parents die in the middle of this mess, either.
And he wouldn’t. “I’ll come out, but I can’t let you have Wara,” he told Gabriel. “I’ll go with you and talk to the Khan. She doesn’t know what’s going on. Leave the parents out of this—they have nothing to do with it. What’s gotten into you guys?”
Downstairs, something hissed, smooth wood scraping across tile. Alejo jerked, glancing out the window where Gabriel was still on the street. The sound of a door banging echoed throughout the house and Alejo panicked. Wara was going outside! The phone receiver crashed to the floor as he raced to the stairs and leaped down them, skidding at the bottom and sprinting towards the door. Metal grated and he saw that Wara had already opened the door that led to the street and was walking out like a zombie.
The space between the house and the outer wall was wide, and Alejo yelled, “Wara, shut the door!” as he ran across the grass to try to reach her. What was she doing?
Wara disappeared from view out the door, onto the street, and Alejo dug up clumps of dirt racing after her. He pulled up at the open door in the outer wall and took in Gabriel and Wara, several yards away from the house next to a white delivery truck, staring at each other. Gabriel seemed startled to see her, but then his eyes narrowed when he saw Alejo.
Wara turned around so her back was facing him, holding out her hands to what Alejo saw was a pair of handcuffs in Gabriel’s hands. Within two seconds, less then it would have taken for Alejo to cross the space between him and his friend, Gabriel had the cuffs around Wara’s wrists and pushed her inside the delivery truck. He slammed the heavy door shut with a clang, then Alejo heard a beep as Gabriel pushed something near the door latch.
Numb, Alejo started towards Gabriel, unable to believe that Wara had just disappeared into the truck while he just stood there.
“We’re friends, che, aren’t we?” Gabriel looked at Alejo and shook his head sadly. “Or at least we were. What happened to you?” His eyes flickered as if trying to read Alejo’s expression, and then he sighed. “Because we’re friends, you know that I have the door set to blow up if anyone but me, with the appropriate code, tries to open it. Did you hear that?” Gabriel called louder, banging on the metal side of the truck.
“Yes.” Wara’s single word answer came flatly from inside. Then she added, “Don’t do anything to Noah’s parents. Please.”
“I have to take you back now, che,” Gabriel told Alejo, and his voice was really pained. “If we’re not there in another hour, Benjamin gets to do his little op. So don’t