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I tried to ignore that feeling, because I knew that getting inside my head with a million thoughts and worries wasn’t going to help me in this case. I’d be distracted, miss something, and one of the guys could get caught and end up in serious trouble.
So, gripping the walkie-talkie in my hand—something else we’d gotten when Garrett took them from a family’s campsite one day about a year ago—I did my best to focus.
“How’s it looking in there?” Archie asked, his voice coming through on the walkie-talkie.
We’d gotten some upgrades over the last two years. We now had a car. I was still a little skeptical on the details of how it became ours, but Garrett had assured us that he hadn’t stolen it. He claimed he’d worked out an arrangement with the man who’d been providing him with bread at the bakery since before they even met me.
I figured it was best not to question it. The less I knew, the better. I was merely grateful that we had a safer way to transport ourselves from one location to the next.
And in a situation like this, Archie was the one behind the wheel. He was our getaway driver. As always, I stood guard as the lookout.
Garrett was the one who assumed what I believed was the most risk. He was the one who did the actual dirty work. Breaking and entering. Stealing. If something bad ever happened, there was no question that he’d be the one getting the brunt of the charges, where Archie and I would likely just be listed as accomplices. When it came to the legal aspect of it, I didn’t know where that put any of us, but I had to believe that Garrett was going to feel the worst of it, because he was technically an adult now.
For some reason, that didn’t seem to bother him. Maybe it was because he was the oldest, and he felt a sense of responsibility to look out for Archie and me. I didn’t like it, though. I’d have rather we stuck to doing the bare minimum of illegal stuff to survive. If we wanted or needed extras, I’d have preferred we found a legitimate way to earn them. Garrett disagreed.
“I think I got enough in here,” Garrett replied.
“How are we looking, Hanna?” Archie questioned me.
“Still all clear,” I answered.
But the minute I got the words out, it happened. It was later in the evening, so it was dark out. Dark enough that anyone driving down the road that wasn’t committing a crime would have their headlights on.
“Scratch that,” I said, feeling my insides beginning to tremble. “A car just turned in to the driveway.”
This was a bad idea.
Such a bad idea.
We’d all come here at Garrett’s suggestion. A mansion. A freaking mansion. Obviously, I realized he thought this was the best place to get the biggest score, but in my opinion, there was far too much risk. When we’d first arrived and he seemed to get inside easily, I started to think that perhaps I had overreacted when he first told us the news.
But now I knew differently.
This was going to be it.
We were going to get caught, and we were all going to wind up in prison. Staring at a house of this size, there was no question in my mind that whoever the owner was would find a way to get the heftiest fines and charges to stick.
We were doomed.
“I’m coming out,” Garrett whispered. “Head to the car.”
“We’ll leave out the back of the property,” Archie hissed. “I already came up with an alternate exit strategy.”
Thank goodness for that. We had to get out of here.
I hopped down from the stone wall surrounding the property that I’d been standing watch from and started making my way toward where I knew Archie had parked the car. But I hadn’t gotten more than a few feet away when my ankle twisted on something, and I fell.
“Shit,” I hissed, pain searing through my foot.
Pressing my palms into the earth, I attempted to stand up, and that’s when I realized I was stuck. My foot had somehow gotten caught beneath a raised root on the tree. I didn’t even understand how I happened to do it, because if I had attempted to get my foot stuck there on purpose, I was convinced I wouldn’t have been able to manage it.
“Hanna?”
That was Archie.
I lifted the walkie-talkie and said, “I’m stuck. I fell, and my foot is caught underneath a tree root.”
“Where are you? I’ll come and get you,” Garrett replied.
