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At this, he snarled through the cloth, and fought so hard against his restraints. He wasn’t getting it. Maybe he thought I was threatening Sara.
“No!” I cried. “We don’t have her with us. We brought her to your grandmother’s. Mrs. Gunther. The old lady with the pies and the computer in the bedroom.”
He stopped his noise-making and stared at me, weighing out the truth.
“We stole Sara from Luanne,” Blake said behind me. I turned to see he his hands up, too, but stood close to the door, still acting as our lookout. “But it won’t take long before they figure out what we did.”
“We need your help to get you both out of this,” I said. I crept forward slowly and Fred didn’t squirm like before. “Can I take the mouth thing off?”
He nodded quickly.
On my knees in front of him, I dug my fingers into the binding. I couldn’t figure out how to untie it so I ended up twisting it enough I could tug it down over his chin.
The moment the binding was clear, he coughed hard. I backed up, giving him space. He spat at the floor, swallowed and spat again.
“Is she okay?” he croaked out. “Sara? Is she…”
“She’s fine,” I said. As proof, I tried to think up something he’d know about her. “Did you know she could spell?”
The corner of his mouth lifted. “She can read, too. Second grade level.”
“Would love to learn more,” Blake said, “but we’re running out of time.”
“We need your help,” I said.
“I can’t really help like this,” Fred said. “A little tied up at the moment. Let me loose. I’ll go get Sara. I’ll take her to Cuba, or anywhere…”
Blake shook his head. “No go. If you two run and you’re caught and go to jail, you may lose Sara.”
“Tell me about it,” his voice rose. “I don’t have a choice. They’re the ones that said I ran in the first place. If I don’t go…”
“We’ve got another plan,” I said. “We need proof that Henry kidnapped you and Luanne helped plan this whole thing.”
Fred stared at me hard, breathing heavily for a moment. The unit was stuffy. I couldn’t imagine how long he’d been in here. “How?”
“Henry’s going to show up any minute,” I said. “We’ve got video cameras on outside, watching the place. We need to catch him coming in for you, and taking you with him.”
Fred shook his head. “That won’t be enough. He could make it look like I was living here and he caught me.”
I bit my lip. That might be true. I turned to Blake.
“We need that confession,” Blake said. “We need a recording. That might be easy enough. The tough part is getting Fred away from Henry after.”
I hadn’t worked that far into the plan yet. “We need to stop him from leaving the lot.”
“Good luck,” Fred said. “He’s got an army. He brings them every time, just in case anyone gets too curious while he’s in here. If he’s on the way…”
“It’s all right,” I said. “We’ve got our own army.”
Fred looked at me and then at Blake. “Two people doesn’t make an army.”
“I don’t know,” Blake said, smirking. He nodded toward me. “Have you seen this girl?”
“We’ve got others out there,” I said. “They’re watching the office and we’ve got more on the way.”
“On the way?” Fred asked. He shook his head. “They aren’t even here? No way. I’m going to get killed.”
“They have to bring you in alive,” Blake said. “I don’t know what they told you…”
“Dead or alive,” he said. “Unless I cooperate.”
“They won’t kill you,” I said. “They can’t. They can’t show up with a dead body.”
“But they can make a dead body be found at the swamp,” he said. He looked up, squinting at me. “If they make it look like suicide or something. Then what happens to Sara?”
Good point. “We have to take a chance,” I said. “If you can get him to talk, then we catch him coming in and dragging you out on video. We’ll swoop in and save you.”
“If he kills me before…”
“He won’t,” I said. “If you pretend to be willing. He won’t think he has to. He’d rather you be compliant. Less trouble. Less of an investigation.”
Fred sucked in a breath.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out.
Corey: They’re here. Stalled them at the gate but it won’t take long.
“We have to do this now,” I said. “They’re here.”
“Let’s go, Kayli,” Blake said.
I started to stand, looking at Fred.
Fred looked at me, like he wasn’t really sure about this. If I were a prisoner, I wouldn’t trust anyone who could walk away so easily. How would he know I wasn’t sent ahead of Henry and posing as a good guy to try to get him to comply?
“I’ll stay,” I said.
Blake dashed forward, grabbing my arm. “Are you insane?”
“I’ll hide,” I said. There weren’t many places to hide. I looked up, to where there was space above our heads, made by 4 by 6 beams. I pointed to them. “I’ll hang out there with the cell phone. I’ll get the whole thing recorded. I’ll be right here.”
“I’ll stay,” Blake said.
“You need to take your car on the other side of the lot,” I said. “Hide it. I may need you to come in after us if things don’t go well.”
“No,” Blake said.
“I’m not asking!” I turned on him. “We don’t have time to argue or for any of your male ego heroics.”
Blake stared at me, those gold flecks in his eyes like needles, piercing at me. His jaw moved like he was grinding his teeth. He looked at Fred and pointed a finger. “She ends up hurt, I’m coming after you.”
“Don’t be a jerk,” I said. I moved to under where one of the beams crossed with another, guessing that would be the strongest point. “Help me up. Hurry.”
Blake boosted me. There was only a few feet between the beams and the roof of the unit. It was much hotter up here.
And it was much harder to keep my flip-flops on. I had to relax carefully on my stomach to spread my weight. I moved my phone, sending a text to Corey to let him know the plan and ask him to record. “Lock us in, Blake.”
“I’m going to end up in jail,” Blake said. He jogged to the door, held it open, looking up at me, frowning.
“Go,” I said.
He shook his head, frowning, but rolled the door down. The sound of the lock snapping into place echoed.
Sealing our fates.
THE DIVIDE BETWEEN
GOOD AND BAD ISN’T
A STRAIGHT LINE
I forgot once I was in the beams that I’d left Fred’s mouth gag down. “You have to put the gag back on,” I said.
“You’re both insane,” Fred murmured. “Who are you guys, anyway? You’re not cops.”
“Something better,” I said.
“FBI?”
I shook my head, gazing down at the floor. I wasn’t very hidden, just above their line of sight. If someone did look up, I was going to be in trouble. “We’re friends of your cousin from Charleston.”
“Cousin?” he asked. “What? You mean Harry? Little Harry sent you?”
“Little?”
Fred stared up at me. “He’s only twelve. How does he know you?”
The lightning strike of information nearly knocked me off the beam I was balanced on. Harry Gunther was a twelve-year-old recruit inside the Academy.
The grandmother had said Little Harry and I assumed she was like all other old ladies who called their own kids little even if they were adults. With Fred being an adult…
Looking from the outside. No wonder Harry couldn’t come for Fred himself.
“He mentioned…” I said and then trailed off, unable to give him an answer.
Fred huffed. “It’s insane.”
“Well I’m in here now,” I said. “Stuck in these r
afters. We’ll just have to trust each other.”
“I don’t know if I should trust you. How do I know it’s not a trick?”
I heard the sound of the gate opening off in the distance. My heart was in my throat and sweat poured down my face. My breathing became faster. I was suffocating in the heat and the adrenaline had kicked in. “You could find out real quick; just tell Henry I’m up here,” I whispered. “But then we both could end up in jail… or worse.”
Fred only nodded in reply, and dipped his face to capture his gag into his mouth. It was loose now but would do for the moment.
Corey sent a quick message back.
