Page 48 of Cash

Through the opening of the door Cara had come out of, a bright pink JanSport caught my eye.

Of course, Lore would have a go-bag for the little girl.

I pushed the door open farther and was impressed.

Lore’s saferoom looked more like a compact command central. A desk with an iMac taking up most of the surface area, three burner phones—two still plugged in—sat to the left of the door. To the right were three file boxes. A lone laptop sat on one of the boxes next to a roll of bio-bags, next to the boxes was a red bucket. Two backpacks—one pink, one black. A case of water, boxes of granola bars, MREs, fruit snacks, and a bag of cashews rested against the wall directly in front of me.

I moved to the desk, shook the mouse, and hoped the computer wasn’t password protected. Not that Kira couldn’t crack the code but time wasn’t on our side.

The screen came to life. Ten squares filled the screen, five on top, five on the bottom—Lore’s room, Cara’s, the living room-slash-dining area, kitchen, all four sides of her house, and lastly the garage. The cameras were active; I could see Easton standing outside of the pantry talking to Smith. Jonas was in the living room using the toe of his boot to move a demolished cushion out of his way.

“Sweetheart, I have to set you down.”

All four of her limbs tightened. “No.”

“I need⁠—”

“No!”

I could of course unwrap her arms and legs and set her down so I could get the computer ready for transport but the thought of forcing the little girl to let me go was appalling.

I made my way back to the opening in the pantry. “Yo! I need you to rip out the pantry.”

“Just send her through, I’m right here,” Easton said, punctuating his statement by shoving an arm through the opening.

“There’s computers and sh…stuff.”

“Just pass⁠—”

“Just break out the shelving unit,” I practically growled my demand.

A few minutes later Easton and Smith had the pantry unit torn out. I kept Cara’s back to the damaged kitchen not wanting her to see the devastation and told her, “My friends are coming to help.”

“No!” she squealed and nearly suffocated me with her arms around my neck and her forehead in my throat.

“Cara, sweetheart, I’m going to set you down. My friends are coming in to help me carry some of this stuff out.”

She didn’t answer.

Easton just nodded and got to work.

Smith hung back staring at Cara. There was no way he missed the way she was trembling. Therefore, when his eyes finally met mine, they were tight with unmasked fury.

“Why don’t you take her to the truck? We’ll load up and meet you out there.”

I reached down, grabbed the pink backpack, and nodded. “Grab the other one, will ya?”

Lore would want it when we found her.

“I need a favor, sweetheart.”

She immediately shook her head.

“I’m not letting you go,” I promised. “But I need you to keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them. Can you do that for me?”

She nodded.

Or at least I hoped it was a nod. I needed to get her out of the saferoom to give the guys room to move and I didn’t want her to see what had come of her home.