Rason & Eliza - Cee Bowerman Page 0,40

the tile floor and then down to my hands as glass rained down around me. I shook my head to clear my ringing ears and looked around. Jazmyne was about a foot away from me on her hands and knees just like I was, and she was shaking her head. Her long braids were covered in bits of glass and wood that made a tinkling noise as they fell to the tile below her.

I looked up and saw that Atlas was still in his chair. His mouth was open wide and his face was pale. He was staring over my shoulder in shock.

“What the fuck?” Jazmyne shook her head again and looked at me and then over my shoulder. “Holy shit.”

I turned around, my head pounding and ears buzzing, and saw a hunk of flaming metal that used to be my Jeep embedded in what used to be my living room wall. The front half of my house was caved in and on fire with pieces of wood and metal still raining down all over my yard.

I jumped up from the floor and stood there, stunned, as I realized that if I’d been in that Jeep, the stuff raining down in my yard would have included parts of me.

◆◆◆

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I heard Lout asking his sister from somewhere inside her house. Grunt and Shannon were in there too - here to check on Atlas. I could hear everything they said because there wasn’t a window left along the front of the house.

While I watched the firemen sort through my living room from the porch across the street, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called my dad.

“Son! You missed lunch. We were starting to get worried about you.”

“Dad, I want you to smile and laugh and then walk out to the garage so you can talk to me where Mom can’t hear, okay?”

There were a few seconds of silence and then my dad laughed. “Well, hold on. Let me go check. I think we’ve got plenty, but I’ll make sure.”

I heard Dad tell Mom that it was me on the phone, but he needed to go make sure there was enough bonding material for me to “piece together that rust bucket in the garage.”

My mom told him to “get rid of that ugly car” in Vietnamese and then I heard the back door open and close. I listened to my dad breathing as he jogged down the steps and across the grass, and then another door opened and closed. I knew he was alone inside the garage when he asked, “Rason Dai, what the hell is going on? Are you okay?”

“I’m okay, Dad, but she blew up my Jeep and part of my house.”

“She did what?”

“There was a bomb in my Jeep.”

“Give me a minute and I’ll head your way.”

“No, Dad. Listen, she’s watching me. She has been for a while. She knew where I lived, so she’s been following me for longer than I realized. That means she could know where you live too.”

“Oh, son,” Dad whispered.

“I’m going to be fine, okay? I will. But if something happens to you or Mom, I won’t be able to take it. I need you to get away. Find a way to get Mom out of town.”

“We can’t leave you.”

“Please, Dad,” I urged him, choking back a sob. There were tears streaming down my face and I didn't even care that someone might hear or see me crying. “You’ve gotta take care of the two of you now, okay? I couldn’t take it if she hurt you. Please. Please. Pack up what you need and go. Anywhere.”

“Son, you need us with you. I can’t let you do this alone.”

“If I know the two of you are safe, I’ll be okay. I don’t want to have to worry about you. I can’t.” I sniffed and wiped my face, trying to think of a way to convince him to do this for me, trying to figure out where they could go that would get them well out of Robin’s reach. “Go to Vietnam. Go get Grandma. By the time you’re ready to bring her back, this should all be over. I promise I’ll be careful, but you and Mom are the most important. Please, Dad. Do this for me.”

I looked up and saw Detective Lake walking across the grass, his face grim.

“Dad, hold on. Don’t hang up yet.”

“Son . . .” I could hear the emotion in my dad’s