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Swallowing the sob that convulsed her lungs, Grace held her tongue and prayed for Lena to think faster. The trucks downstairs were going to pull away at any moment, taking Mateo with them. Now and then, she could still hear him shrieking for her.
“Mama!” The cry came again, unmistakable.
A chill cascaded over her. “He spoke.” The irony was too bitter to swallow. Her heart folded over on itself, collapsing.
What could Lena do? Her wrists were taped, just like Grace’s were, to the arms of her chair. The only difference in the way they were restrained was that Grace sat in a rolling office chair.
“Okay.” Lena finally spoke in a calm voice underlined with urgency. “I need you to roll your chair up to mine. Get as close to my right side as possible, then bend over and use your teeth to tear the tape off my right wrist. I have a razor blade in my shoe. I can cut us both free, but not without your help.”
At first, Grace could make no sense of Lena’s instructions because one of the trucks revved its engine.
“Grace, did you hear me?”
“Use my teeth?”
“Yes, but first, roll your chair closer. Hurry.”
Mateo’s distant shriek prodded Grace into motion. She pressed her soles to the linoleum floor and scooted her chair closer to Lena’s. Soon their knees bumped. “Which side?”
Lena gestured with her head. “My right wrist.”
Grace strained forward in her seat and found the edge of the tape at Lena’s wrist with her lips. She bit into it, trying to tear the sticky, stringy duct tape, but it resisted. Spitting out a small piece that came loose, she tried again, jerking her entire upper body to tear the incision she’d made.
“That’s it. You’re getting it.”
It wasn’t easy work, but with the only option being death, the risk of breaking a tooth seemed negligible.
In the quiet of the office, the sudden slamming of truck doors signaled the convoy’s intent to move out soon.
Mateo, I’m coming!
The tape shredded under her teeth, and hope surged into Grace’s bloodstream as she sat back, watching Lena delve a hand into her right boot. A razor blade glinted in the darkness as she slashed the tape from her left wrist. Then she did the same for Grace.
“Listen to me,” Lena told her as she bent over to free her own ankles. “You’re going out the window.”
“What? No, I have to get Mateo.”
Lena straightened abruptly, razor flashing in her hand. Grace gasped as the tip of it pricked her jugular. “Don’t make me kill you.”
Every downy hair on Grace’s body rose straight up.
Lena continued in a steely voice. “It is impossible to get Mateo back. They’ll shoot you the instant they see you. You’re going out the window and you’re running straight for the chain-link fence. Jake will see you and will come for you—understand?”
Grace just gaped at her. Would Lena really kill her? “What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you. I have to get something first.”
Removing the blade from Grace’s throat, she bent down one more time and sliced the tape keeping her ankles together.
“Come on.” She yanked the tape away and, with a fierce grip on Grace’s arm, towed her toward the window.
“Wait. I need the backpack.” It was still lying on the coffee table where the captain had tossed it. She’d fought too hard for Mateo’s dossier to leave it behind.
Lena lunged for it without letting go of her. “Put it on.” She helped Grace thread her arms through the straps. “Now, get up on the table and open the window.”
With rising fear, Grace clambered onto her knees and fumbled with the latch. “It won’t open!” But then, with a squeak, the pane slid to one side, and a gust of humid air wafted in, smelling of smoke and sea. Fortunately, there was no screen to contend with.
Grace peeked through the opening and immediately ducked her head back. “I can’t do this.” Her voice came out high and thin. “It’s like twenty feet to the ground.”
