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“But there could be—”
“Iwillget you out of here,perla,” he cut in like I’d called the possibility into question.
“I know,” I said, nodding.
How he intended to do it, I hadn’t any idea, but if anyone could, it was Amadeo.
His lips quirked in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“What?”
He shook his head. “We’ll talk about it later,” he said. He glanced up toward the door, then back again.
“My men should be here by now, but you’re going to stay here until—”
“No,” I said, shaking my head for emphasis.
The exasperated look on his face reminded me he wasn’t used to being told no.
But while my heart was pounding, and I was terrified of what—or who—we would run into on the other side of that door, I wasn’t leaving him.
“I know the help I can offer is limited, but even the most inexperienced nurse or technician can mean the difference between life and death so long as she keeps her wits about her. Iwillkeep my head clear, Amadeo.”
He eyed me, and I could feel every one of my inadequacies. I wasn’t a skilled fighter. I had no training with weapons. My hearing impediment meant my use as a lookout would be limited. But this was what he had to work with. So, he could take it, because leaving it wasn’t an option.
“I need you to stay right behind me,” he said, acquiescing with far less difficulty than I’d expected.
Perhaps he’d recognized my merits as a human shield, I thought morbidly.
“If I move, you move,” he continued. “You keep your eyes on me,perla;I need you watching in case I have to tell you to do something.”
I nodded.
“And if I give you an order, you do it,si?”
I nodded again. I’m not sure what it was he expected.
If he was worried I was going to transform into G.I. Jane and start flouting his directions in favor of my own extensive knowledge of daring escapes, then perhaps, he’d confused me with someone else.
“I mean it, Heidi. Tell me you understand that no matter what I tell you to do, you’ll do it.”
If it meant getting out of this horrid basement and far away from the spider-man who claimed to be family, I think I would have been willing to two-step, duck-walk, and flap my arms like a bird if that was what he asked me to do.
“I understand,” I said, though the moment the words were out, an uncomfortable sensation prickled along the back of my neck.
He took hold of my hand, gripping tight but carefully, his fingers away from my wrist, then led us up the stairs to what looked like a heavy, metal door. He stood there on the top step, his body turned slightly sideways, enough I could see the look of concentration on his face. He was listening while tension rolled off his body in waves.
After a moment, I took hold of his free hand and leaned forward to place his palm against the metal door.
He looked at me, eyes questioning.
“If they’re quiet, you might feel the vibrations of movement before you hear it,” I whispered, nodding to the door.
He nodded, and even when he motioned for me to drop my hand, he kept his against the door.
Seconds passed.
I could hear them ticking, like the sound of my father’s wristwatch.Ticktock. Ticktock. Ticktock.
