AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. We have to talk to the local cops and tell them about that trip wire.”
“We’ll need a good story to explain what we were doing out here this morning,” she said.
“Leave it to me,” Ambrose said. “I write fiction for a living.”
“You think you can come up with a version of events that will explain everything to the cops?”
“No problem,” he said. “We used cover stories all the time at Failure Analysis. I wrote a lot of the scripts for the agents.”
“I can’t wait to hear the one you write for us.”
“We’ll talk about it on the way back to town. I don’t want to spend any more time here.”
“Neither do I.” She looked at the tunnel. “Too bad we have to go back up those steps.”
“It’s not just the trip wire that worries me.” He followed her gaze. “I keep thinking about that feeling we got when we arrived.”
“That sense of being watched?”
He did not need to view her aura to know that she was feeling as uneasy as he was about a return trip through the tunnel.
“Yeah, that feeling,” he said.
“We agreed we’ve been living with the sensation of being watched for a while now.”
“The vibe I got out there in the driveway was a little different,” he said. “More intense.”
She sighed. “It was pretty strong, wasn’t it? You do realize how paranoid that makes us sound?”
“We’ve already agreed we’re on that runaway train,” he said.
“Got a better idea?”
He switched his attention to the small craft that had been designed to be a getaway vehicle for a drug dealer. “Maybe. The kayak seats two. We could use it to get out of here, go ashore at that little beach we passed, and walk back to the car. That will give us a chance to take a good look around. If anyone is watching us they’ll be focused on the house. They won’t see us coming.”
“If we’re right about Emery Geddings, that kayak is evidence.”
“So is the go bag. We’ve already decided we’re going to turn it over to the police. Our concern about tripping the wire on the steps is reason enough to explain why we used the kayak.”
She paused, brows lifting a little. “I’m assuming you suggested this plan because you know how to paddle a kayak?”
“I’m not an expert, but I took a class as research forA Fall of Shadows,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to take it out to sea, but I think I can get us out of this sea cave and into the cove.”
The crunch of tires on gravel and the slam of car doors stopped him cold. He did not need to look at Pallas to know she had gone still, too.
Another door slammed—the front door of the house this time. Footsteps pounded on the floor.
“Take the kitchen,” a man yelled. “I’ve got the bedrooms.” Gunshots boomed. “What the fuck?”
“Thought I saw someone in the kitchen,” a second voice called out.
“We know you’re in here,” the first man yelled. “You’re looking for Geddings’s stash. It belongs to us. Come out or you’re both dead.”
Ambrose reached into the go bag and pulled out the pistol.
“They’ll see the entrance to this tunnel when they enter the bedroom at the top of the tunnel,” Pallas said. “We left the panel open.”
“We’re fish in a barrel as long as we stand around in here. Help me with the kayak.”
