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“Polly, I’m not even sure how to use one of these.”
“That’s okay. I do. It’s pretty simple. You load it, cock it, take aim, pull the trigger. Make sure the business end is pointing at the bad guy. Oh, and don’t miss.” She forces the gun into my hand. “Don’t worry—the safety’s on.”
I squirm in my skin. Since the moment I climbed that fence, it’s been like Alice down the rabbit hole. In my world, laundry day is on Sunday and I spend a lot of time thinking about if the sparrows will come to the bird feeder outside my window in the morning. In Polina’s world, there are rooms full of guns and bad men in white vans coming to kidnap her brother.
Things are different here.
“Come on,” Polly says urgently, tugging me forward. “The coast is clear.”
We have a shockingly easy time getting through the house. The south lawn is clear in every direction, save for when one harried guard hustles through on a lightspeed lap of the perimeter. But he’s alone and when he disappears towards the north gardens, Polly and I are able to scale the fence without a problem. No loose nails to ruin my life this time around.
Once we clear the fence, Polly and I rush around the house to my tiny garage. I locate the spare key and pray that my gas tank has some juice left in it.
“Please work, please work, please work…”
It’s not until the engine sputters to life that I let myself take a breath. Polly jumps in the passenger seat quickly and I get the feeling she’s worried I’ll leave her behind. I might have seriously considered it if I didn’t think she was totally capable of shooting my wheels and siccing her brothers on me.
I take a deep breath. “Are you ready?”
Polly nods. “I’m ready.”
And so it begins.
Kind of anticlimactically, though. It’s forty-two minutes of the most silent, boring drive ever. It feels like we’re commuting to war, which is a hilarious contradiction of mind-numbing and heart-attack-inducing.
But forty-two minutes pass one way or another. By the time we arrive, my hands are sweaty enough to slide right off the wheel.
When the houses start thinning out, I park the car on a lonely corner of the street and Polly and I head up the hill towards the location the tablet pointed out.
We see the house once we crest the hilltop. It looks nonthreatening, totally normal—but that’s probably the exact reason Lev was brought here. No one who didn’t know better would turn an eye.
Anxiety prickles at my skin as I turn to Polly. “This is the plan: we poke around, try to figure out where they’re keeping Lev. Once we’ve found him, we try to get him out as fast as possible. If anyone comes at you, shoot. Until then, stay behind me.”
“I’m the one who knows how to shoot. Shouldn’t you be behind me?”
I narrow my eyes at her. “There’s no negotiation on this one. I’m the adult here and you’re gonna listen to me.”
Polly sighs. “Fine. I’ll cover you.”
“Come on. There’s no one on this side of the house. We can sneak up to the windows and try to see if we can see inside.”
So far, I haven’t seen a single person on the property. I’m hoping that Lev’s abductors are so confident in their anonymity that they’re taking it easy. If we can take them by surprise, we might have a chance of rescuing Lev.
I glance down at the foreign weapon in my hand. I really don’t want to have to use the gun. But I know that if it comes down to protecting Lev or Polly…
I won’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
I force Polly behind me as I prepare to round the corner. Stupidly, I have my eyes on her when we turn. Which is why I don’t see the huge man looming directly in my path. I knock right into his hard chest and as I do, I have three distinct thoughts in quick succession.
I’ve failed Lev.
I’ve failed Polly.
How could I have failed so soon?
61
URI
