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“Who. Did. This?” My words were clipped, my hands clenched so tight my nails dug into my palms, and I was about to blow a gasket and start killing everyone in this house. With. My. Bare. Hands.
Rueben stared at me, shaking his head. “Doesn’t matter,” he croaked.
“It was him, wasn’t it? Sean said he questioned you. That’s it. I’m taking him out now.” I turned on my heels, the need to punish the brooding asshole downstairs my only focus. Arms wrapped around my waist and lifted me, my feet running in the air like a puppy trying to swim.
“Let me down,” I hissed, barely containing myself from throwing him to the ground.
“Angel, I’m fine. Focus. Then we leave,” Rueben whispered in my ear, his words and use of a pet name quelling some of my anger. “I love you, Raven.” He kissed my cheek before setting me down on my feet and pushed me into Porter, who quickly ushered me into the room.
I took a few minutes to take deep breaths, needing to calm myself before I blew everything. Though each time I thought about the black eye and cut on his lip, the anger returned, and I had to start over. After an hour, I felt calmer and focused on where I was. Blinking, I cursed when I realized I needed to start preparations.
“You’re not late yet. I’ve been watching the time,” Porter said, reminding me he was there. Shoulders sagging, I walked into his arms, needing a hug. A beeping sound started, and Porter reached into his pants to turn off an alarm.
“You ready?” he asked. Nodding, I grabbed my phone as we took seats, so the loop would show us sitting down. Scrambling the cameras, I nodded to Porter when it was clear. He got to work scanning for the safe and removing a picture on the wall. I watched him work, intrigued by his skill as he spun a dial on the safe, opening it a few seconds later.
In the few times Mrs. Duke wasn’t crying, she would open this safe and take things out and put things in. We hadn’t been able to see the combination or where it had been precisely on the wall from the stethoscope camera, but it had been enough to convince us there was something worth looking into here.
Porter cleared the safe, bringing over the contents and hiding them in Mr. Duke’s bed. I glanced at the timer, seeing we only had two minutes left.
“Time to wrap up,” I whispered, bouncing on my toes. Porter nodded, placing the painting back and taking his seat. The alarm went off, and I got up, pretending it was for my patient. As I reviewed his vitals, Porter slipped out the side hallway, using the shadows and dark corridors to sneak into a few other rooms to grab anything he discovered. He had ten minutes before he needed to be back, and the next part of our plan would come into effect.
My heart raced as I waited, hoping he was being careful. I busied myself with the patient and showed a more significant decline on his chart as I uploaded it. Just as I expected, the phone rang on the bedside table.
“Hello?”
“Molly, are you sure these readings are correct?” Mrs. Duke asked.
“Yes. I checked them three times. I think we need to call an ambulance. I’m worried.”
She sucked in a breath. “What does the doctor say? I’ll be right there to talk to him.”
Porter slid into the room, adding some things to my bag and under the patient’s bed. I nodded that Mrs. Duke was on the way. Rueben opened the door a second later, and I kept my eyes off his face so I didn’t go feral again. He stayed inside as Mrs. Duke rushed over to her husband.
“Is there anything you can do, Doctor?” she asked, taking her husband’s hand. If this man hadn’t been responsible for countless deaths, I’d feel bad about the condition he was in now. But as it was, I only felt sorry for his wife.
“No. I think it’s time, Mrs. Duke. We need to call an ambulance.”
After strategizing for hours, I’d concluded the best way for us to get out of here with everything was an ambulance. It doubled as the perfect cover to kill him without being on camera. Otto and Phoenix would pose as paramedics in the borrowed ambulance, ready to intercept our call.
Mrs. Duke cried harder but nodded. I pulled out my phone and called Otto, nerves racing through me. There were so many moving pieces in this plan, and too many people I cared about were at risk.
“911, we need an ambulance at the Duke estate.” I pretended to answer other questions, handing the phone off to Porter as I unplugged the machines to move him. Grabbing my bag, I scanned the room to ensure we had everything. Rueben came over and helped us push the bed toward the stairs. He and Porter lifted it as we descended, my pulse racing a mile a minute. We were almost free and clear.
I could hear the sirens in the distance, hoping that in their shocked states, no one asked questions about how it got here so quickly. I pulled open the front doors, barking at the Commander to move. He sneered at me, jumping back a second later as the gurney appeared.
The lights flashed down the driveway, and I sighed in relief that Mark had let them through, the pot brownies helping to lower his defenses.
So close. We were almost scot-free.
The ambulance stopped, and Otto and Phoenix hopped out as they rushed to open the doors. The gurney was loaded with the loot; again, no one questioned why there hadn’t been one inside the ambulance. The Commander’s eyes bounced back and forth as he tried to figure something out. But it was too late.
Porter jumped into the back of the ambulance as Otto raced around to the front. Mrs. Duke pulled Phoenix aside as she asked questions, demanding to ride in the ambulance. We’d prepared for this, so I stepped outside and touched her arm.
“Rueben will follow along and bring you to the hospital, Mrs. Duke. Okay?”
She started to protest, but my gentle giant took her hand to lead her away. The Commander came into view, his gaze assessing. He knew something was going on, but not what. I stared down the Commander, my eyes wishing death on him.
A pop sounded out in the night a second before Phoenix jumped in front of me, his body slamming into mine. My head bounced off the door as I crashed back. Screams and shouts rang out, my head buzzing with all the noise. Something wet dripped on me, and I reached down to touch it. My hand lifted to my face, red covering it.
