careful,” she whispered.
“I will,” he assured her. “Tell him to do whatever he can, and get down as low as possible. The best thing would be to get into one of the cast iron bathtubs to ride out whatever comes afterward. If he can.”
He heard the tap on the screen. “I told him,” she said. “He says, see you on the other side. And whatever happens, thanks. GeekwadX1000 just signed off.”
“Balls of steel,” he said. “A family trait, evidently. Hey, Elisa?”
“Yes?”
“These last couple of days? They meant everything to me.” He waited, holding his breath.
“Me, too,” she whispered.
“I don’t have the time to tell you how I feel about it. Or the privacy, either. Besides, it would take fifty, sixty years to do it justice. I’ll leave it for afterward.”
“Agreed.” Her voice was a strangled, breathy thread of sound. “Afterward.”
“Right.” Nate closed the call, turned off the ringer, and shoved the burner into his pocket. Mace and Jim were both giving him get-off-your-ass looks.
He fastened the thermal poncho over himself, dropped to the ground beside them on the muddy leaves and snow, and started crawling toward the house.
20
Josh looked down at the translation of the last message Lu had inscribed on the Obelisk one last time, willing it to be true. He shook inside.
u can do this. c u soon bro. love love love.
Let it be true. Please, God, let it be true.
He’d spent hours, days, weeks and months fantasizing about this moment. Feeling helpless and trapped. Getting slapped, kicked, punched and insulted by those mouth-breathing troll assholes. For months.
Today, they were going to get a big fucking surprise. And he could not wait.
He looked at Belker, the one he hated the most, and pitched his voice to its most annoying nasal whine. “I’m hungry,” he said. “I want some toast.”
Belker looked up from his phone. “What’s that? The little prince wants a snacky?”
“I’m hungry.” Josh kept his face sullen, slack, dull. Head hanging, mouth slightly open, eyes half closed and clouded. “You don’t have to like, fuckin’ starve me.”
Belker put his phone in his pocket and stood up. He’d gotten that hot, hard glitter in his eye that Josh had come to dread. “Fuck your snack,” he said. “You still think I’m supposed to serve you? You are one fucking slow learner, kid.”
Josh started to snivel. “I just want to eat something,” he whimpered. “I’m just so hungry. I did all my chores today, so I—”
“Shut the fuck up, turd,” Ray called impatiently from the other room. “Shut your trap and go get your own fucking food.”
Josh blinked stupidly in Ray’s direction, then hopefully in Belker’s, sniffling loudly as he wiped his nose with his sleeve. “Can I?”
“Do what you want, shitstain,” Belker growled. “Just get the fuck out of my sight.”
Josh hurried into the kitchen. His feet made no sound, since he wore only socks. One of the first things they’d done when they brought him here was to take his shoes. Even if he did by some crazy chance get outside, he wouldn’t get far, not in the snow. He’d lose his feet to frostbite before he found anyone to help him.
He’d been careful to seem less than bright to these men, though he didn’t push the act very hard when Gil himself was around. Gil knew him too well to fall for it. But the rest of these men, though vicious and meaner than snakes, were not really all that observant. They accepted his behavior at face value. Excellent, for his purposes.
Once in the kitchen, he worked fast. Some of the prep he’d done earlier, after his dinnertime ‘chores.’ He was tasked with loading and unloading the dishwasher after meals. Earlier, he’d pried open a gas lighter that he’d found in the back of a drawer, the one used to light the pilots on the burners, and left it in a cupboard, wedged upright, ready for action. Now he splashed some of the lighter fluid into the toaster, and drizzled what was left onto the bottom of the kitchen curtains.
He shifted the toaster to the edge of the sink, positioning the curtain directly over it, and then grabbed a few paper towels. Shoved them into the toaster as well, making sure they stuck well out the top.
He pushed down the toaster, and prayed. Oh please, God. Please.
Then he pulled the wooden rolling pin out of the drawer, the one with the reindeer carvings that Lu had used for the Christmas cookies. Seconds ticked by.
Suddenly, whoosh. Flames