AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“From that building, he might.”
A response came in Norwegian instead of English. It sounded like cursing.
I reached the door to the roof. It was locked, but I kicked out with my foot and the frame broke away from the ancient bricks with a cloud of dust. Out into the sunlight I ran, turning to face where I expected the target to be.
The man was sprinting away from me, black jacket fluttering behind him. There was something eerily familiar about him, even from behind. I drew my pistol and shouted an order to him, but before I could finish the command, he was leaping over the edge of the building, disappearing from sight.
“Suspect jumped off the building,” I said while running to the edge. On a building to my right I saw Harrison. His pistol was in his hands, too.
I reached the edge and gazed down. There was an alley below, and another apartment building adjacent to this one. I expected to see a body on the ground, but there was nothing except a pair of alley cats pawing at a bag of trash.
“It’s at least eighty feet to the ground,” I said. “How…”
“He went through a window on the other side,” Harrison said. “Building two-nine-four, across from the market…”
“Suspect is wearing a black jacket and dress pants,” I said. “Dark hair pulled back in a small ponytail.”
“Can confirm,” Harrison added.
“We have two additional teams closing in on the ground,” someone on the radio said. “Hold positions in case he reappears.”
I balled my hand into a fist and slammed it onto the ledge at the edge of the building. The suspect, whoever he was, had gotten away. I was a few seconds too late.
“You recognize him?” I called over to Harrison.
He holstered his weapon and cocked his head. “No. Why would I?”
“No reason,” I said, even though I had the strangest sense of déjà vu. I looked around and then let out another curse.
“Fuck!”
10
Trish
Nannying for Kaylee was incredibly easy. So much easier than taking care of the two children in my previous job. She ate all her food without complaint, and was old enough to take baths by herself—although I still sat at the edge of the tub and helped wash her hair and dry her off.
Kaylee had a unique personality, too. At eight years old, she was opinionated about the strangest things. She liked butter, but hated margarine. She said that frozen yogurt was just ice cream with fewer friends. And for some reason she was passionate that Brexit was a mistake—an opinion she had undoubtedly inherited from one of her fathers. Archer, probably. I doubted that someone her age had a legitimate understanding of the pros and cons of remaining a member of the European Union.
Overall, she was a joy to take care of. It was satisfying on an emotional level, and professionally as well. It was another reminder thatthiswas what I wanted to do with my life, rather than working in retail making coffee for annoying people. It made me want to have a daughter of my own one day—and maybe a boy, too. As long as he wasn’t a little terror.
It was also a tremendous opportunity for me to see the world. I was kind of nervous the first day we were here alone, but by the third day I was taking Kaylee on afternoon strolls around Oslo after lunch. We walked almost a mile—over a kilometer, I should say!—to a local market and bought a few touristy gifts for me to take back home. I knew I would need a peace offering for Lisa since I wasn’t allowed to tell her anything about our location and job while we were here. And my little sisters would definitely be upset if I didn’t bring them something back from my first international trip.
Since I couldn’t tell anyone where I was, I began keeping a journal of everything we did, and all the little quirks about Oslo. Gasoline—which they calledbensin—was very expensive, but fresh seafood was cheap. Not surprising since it was a coastal city, I supposed. The people were incredibly friendly. Norway was apparently one of the happiest countries on earth, however that sort of thing was measured. And most spoke English. Overall, I stopped feeling like an outsider and immediately felt like I was welcome everywhere I went.
When Kaylee and I returned from the market, we were surprised to find the guys were already home. Kaylee dropped her bag of sweets and ran to hug them all.
I could immediately tell that something was wrong. There was a suspenseful feeling in the air, like we had interrupted something. The guys waited until Kaylee ran upstairs to her room before they resumed speaking.
“All I’m saying is I don’t like the rules of engagement,” Harrison said.
“We don’t even know who it was,” Archer replied. “It could have been a harmless local who wanted to catch a glimpse of Justin Trudeau. And you want to put three rounds in his back before identifying if there’s really a threat?” He scoffed loudly.
“What happened?” I asked.
Harrison whipped his head around to face me. “Nothing that fucking concerns you.”
“Hey!” Jordy snapped. “How about you take a walk?”
