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My heart races and I’m overcome with despair. This was all for nothing. If I go back, I am as good as dead. I hang my head, letting the fear wash over me, radiate out. I concentrate on feeling that, and that alone. I don’t let myself think anything.
“There’s no one else,” Sarah says. She sounds like she’s on the couch, too. Darren and the other man are directly in front of me. The woman is near the kitchen. Cole is . . .
“Don’t move,” the other man says, and I hear someone get pushed against the wall. Okay. Cole and Rafael must be near the sliding glass door to the patio.
I am worthless. I am less than worthless. I can’t do anything.
“She’s not lying,” the woman says. “This is everyone. Want me to figure out who those two are?”
“Nah, only the girls matter.” Darren sounds positively gleeful. “I can’t believe Annie’s alive. I’d better call this one in right now.”
Without thinking, I lunge forward, head ducked. My shoulder slams into Darren’s stomach and I throw my arms around his waist and push. We fall to the ground together; I sink my teeth into his bicep and scramble to find his hand.
The side of the gun connects with my head, and everything explodes in brilliant pain. Dazed, I grab for his gun, but he flips me off and onto my stomach, his knee digging into my back.
A loud pop, followed by another.
I brace myself for the pain, but it doesn’t come. Instead the pressure on my back disappears and Darren falls onto my arm. I jerk it out from under him and scramble away.
“It’s all right,” Cole says, putting his tied-together hands on my shoulder. “They’re down.”
Rafael speaks for the first time. “Are you okay, Casey?”
The woman takes a shuddering breath. “Yeah. Thanks.”
“What just happened?” Sarah asks. “Who are you?”
“I’m sorry,” Casey says. “I tried to warn you we were coming, but I was never alone.”
“Casey’s been working with me for months,” Rafael explains. “She’s in deep at Keane.”
I try to stand but am shaking too much, so I sit where I am.
Cole talks from the kitchen, where I hear a soft snicking sound that I assume is him, cutting his wrists free. “How did they find us?”
I am sitting in a room with two dead men. I hate this. I want to be anywhere else.
The woman, Casey, sits on the couch. “Keane’s got a Seer trained on you, Rafael. You’ve got to be more careful.”
Rafael sounds tired. “Okay. Does James know his father sent them after me?”
“I don’t think so. This one was secret. That’s why I couldn’t contact you—they took my cell away and didn’t even tell me where we were going until we were here.”
“But no one knows Annie is alive, right?” Sarah asks.
“Besides her.” I nod in Casey’s general direction.
“Secret is safe with me. The Seer only saw Rafael—good thing you weren’t together at the time. Well, I’m gonna have to request that someone shoot me.”
“What?” Sarah asks, her voice strangled.
“I can’t lose their trust now. The story is, we were ambushed, Darren and Mark were fatally shot, and I got away after being shot in the arm.” She takes a deep breath, whispering either a prayer or a curse to God.
I shake my head. “This is ridiculous. You don’t have to get shot. You were waiting outside in the car while they cleared the house. You heard the shots, saw someone run out with a gun, and drove away. All we have to do is shoot a couple of holes in the car.”
“Oh, I like that idea so much better,” Casey says.
“On it.” Cole walks out the front door.
