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No, Cami decided firmly. This time – no. She was going to wait for him to come in, and then, she was going to ambush him.
There it was, the soft squeak of the hinge as the door opened. He was working so slowly, so quietly. Almost soundlessly. If she hadn’t been wide awake and quivering with adrenaline, she’d never have heard him.
Kieran was still asleep. He’d had an exhausting day, she guessed, and now he was in the midst of a deep sleep.
An idea was starting to form in Cami’s mind as she scrambled softly out of bed, shaking all over but absolutely determined to see this through.
A weapon. She needed something with weight to it. The only thing heavy and solid enough was her gaming laptop. She grabbed it off the wire. Then, holding it, she padded to the bedroom door and stood at the ready, waiting for it to open. When it did, she’d be behind it. Whoever was walking inside wouldn’t see her immediately, and she would have a chance.
Adrenaline flooded her veins. Her head was swimming with it, her heart was racing, but she felt strangely focused, and now that she was in place and waiting, she was surprisingly free from fear.
The glint of a muted flashlight cut the dark. She barely heard his footsteps as he moved across the floor. It was more the apartment itself, she heard. That tiny creak that the floorboard nearest the door made, the soft rustle of a heavy sole landing on the knotted rag rug that she'd bought to decorate the living room.
He was treading over it on a deadly mission.
Now, the bedroom door handle eased downward, and Cami felt horror fill her. For a moment, she didn't know if she'd have the strength and the will to do what she needed to. If she messed up, this was all over. All over. She and Kieran would both die.
She edged back as the door opened so slowly. He was being so very careful. Cami held her laptop tightly in a two-handed grip. Raising it above her head, her arms were shaking.
An outline appeared in the door – a pistol, its barrel looking long and unwieldy looking because of the silencer attached. Her heart was banging in her throat. He stepped inside. His focus was on the bed, on the sleeping form there. He raised the flashlight, and in its muted beam, she saw him note that there was only one person there. Only one, when he needed two.
He froze.
And with all her force, Cami brought the laptop down on his head, edge first. She drove it into his skull with all the strength she possessed, knowing that she had to take him down, had to stun him at least, because otherwise, they would die.
It hit his head with a loud, solid crack.
And Bill Oertel’s knees buckled. The gun pointed downward and then slipped from his grasp as he slumped to the floor. In the bed, Kieran was now awake, bursting out with a yell, rushing toward her. She was shouting now, with relief and reaction. They grabbed makeshift ropes – a belt, a dressing gown cord. Tied his hands behind him. Cami kicked that heavy, silenced gun all the way to the other end of the room. She called 911. And then, she called Connor.
“We’ve got him,” she said breathlessly. She was sobbing now, collapsed on the bed, Kieran holding her hand, both of them staring at the unconscious Oertel. “He came in to try to kill us and we’ve got him!”
***
It was a month later, and Cami Lark was getting dressed for work. The choice of clothes was fairly easy. She picked an outfit from the large, overstuffed closet that she and Kieran shared, that had been much like yesterday’s one.
Black pants, Doc Martens, a plain, form-fitting top, and a jacket. Simple and unpretentious. Her hair, freshly shaven on the side and freshly dyed jet black, swung shinily over its shoulder.
She liked working in a job where she could wear her hair the way she wanted it, even though using her skills was what inspired her the most.
She kissed Kieran goodbye and headed out, going down to the basement and getting behind the wheel of the nippy little red Fiat that she'd bought brand new. It was seven-thirty a.m. and already light. Spring was in the air, and the breeze had a light feel to it. The trees were wreathed in bright green leaves, and there were flowers in the gardens and along the grassy sidewalks.
It wasn’t far to go to her work. Only a few miles, and she was there.
Walking in the offices she’d come to know and to like so well. Greeting the security guard, who knew her by name.
And then, walking upstairs. Not to Connor’s office any longer. She had her own office on the third floor, adjoining Jacenta’s. The office of Cami Lark, IT Special Agent. She had her own desk, with a photo of herself and Kieran on it, and another of their new cat, Ginger.
There had been no choice at all. When the chips were down, and she’d thought about where her heart lay, Cami had turned down the astonishing salary that Steve Billings had offered her, and she’d taken the role that Connor and the FBI had created especially for her.
Her diary was extremely full. Next week, she'd be traveling out of state to help with a case. This week, most of her focus was still on wrapping up the loose ends in the Bill Oertel case. He was in a maximum security cell. The network had been tracked down, the kingpins arrested, and some of the victims found. The more recent ones. Traumatized and abused, they would need months of therapy to reintegrate with society.
Each time that she’d heard about a new rescue, Cami had felt her heart leap with hope. But as the days had gone by, she’d realized that there was no more hope, that her sister was gone.
It was a sadness in her life that she knew she'd have to live with, and perhaps one day she could put behind her. But for now, she was doing what she loved – using her IT skills to track down the bad guys and help put them behind bars. She didn't want any other victim to suffer the way she knew Jenna must have done. She didn’t want any other family to suffer the way she and her parents had done.
“Good morning!” Jacenta was also an early bird, and gave Cami a welcoming grin as she walked in.
“Morning,” Cami replied.
