condescension. “Knowing that makes it easier for me to forgive Amelia. After tonight, the police will be looking for her. Me, too, I guess, since I have her face. I’ve already cut her hair.” She patted her own new, short hairstyle. “Like it? I bought us some coloring, too, Auburn Sunset, it’s called. Blade got Amelia and me fake ID’s, too. I posed for both of us in a wig. Blade thinks he’s running away with us, but I’m leaving him behind. It’s going to be just Amelia and me, the way it always should have been.” She let out a sigh. “You know, my parents used to tell people they’d sent Amelia to live with relatives in Winnipeg. Isn’t that funny? Because I think Amelia and I will end up in Canada someplace.”
Karen rolled over on her side, and stared up at her. “Your plan is flawed, Annabelle,” she said carefully. “You know that, don’t you? Amelia will never get over this…
“That’s why I need you to talk to her for me, Karen. You’ll make her understand.”
Annabelle grabbed her arm, almost breaking it as she pulled her up to a standing position. Karen tried to keep from stumbling. She was dizzy, and her head ached.
“One last counseling session,” Annabelle said. “You’ve done family counseling before, I’m sure. It’s all about understanding, forgiveness, and moving on.”
Pressing the gun to Karen’s back, Annabelle prodded her into the kitchen, and then to the basement door.
With the screwdriver, George pried off the bedroom window screen. He stepped down from the patio seat, and carefully set the screen against the house. Then he grabbed the crowbar, and boosted himself back up again. The window wasn’t locked, but he still had to prod the crowbar along the sill to get the damn thing to move. It resisted, making a loud creaking sound.
Jody suddenly squirmed on the bed and rolled over on his side. His eyes lit up when he saw his father. But George couldn’t help worrying. That little bit of noise could have given him away. Any minute now, he expected Annabelle’s friend to appear in Jody’s doorway with a gun in his hand. He’d just seen what that lowlife had done to Mrs. Bidwell.
His heart racing, George worked quickly. He pulled the window open, stopping only for a moment as it squeaked again. The patio chair beneath him moved, and he almost lost his balance. Grabbing hold of the ledge, George pulled himself up. He climbed through the opening, then into Jody’s bedroom. He could hear the TV more clearly now. And he could hear Jessie, too.
“Would it kill you to go in there and take the tape off their mouths for just a few minutes?” she was saying. “Lord, it’s been over two hours….”
“Get off my fucking back,” the man retorted. “Want to join your friend over there on the couch? Now, you need to give their daddy another call, and find out where this safe is…”
George crept to Jody’s bed. He leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Don’t make a sound, okay?” He carefully peeled the tape off his son’s mouth. Jody gasped, then took several deep breaths.
Taking the kitchen knife, George cut at the tape around his wrists and ankles. With his shaky hands, he was so afraid he might nick him, but he didn’t. Once free, Jody threw his arms around him. George could feel that he’d sweated through his shirt.
He whispered in Jody’s ear again. “I want you to jump out the window and run to Brad’s house. He’s waiting for you.”
Jody shook his head. “I’m not leaving you guys….” Heclimbed off the bed. But his legs must have fallen asleep, because they suddenly buckled underneath him. George caught him before he tripped, and then he helped his son to the window. “I’ll be okay, Dad,” Jody whispered. But he still leaned on him. “Don’t ask me to run out on you guys. I want to help….”
George hesitated. “All right, you wait outside here. I’ll lower Steffie down to you in a few minutes. Then take her to Brad’s. I’ll get Jessie out, and we’ll meet you there. Understand?”
Jody nodded. “I love you, Dad.”
Giving him a kiss on the forehead, George helped him out the window, and then down to the patio chair. From there, Jody hopped to the ground. But his legs gave out on him again, and he stumbled, like a paratrooper landing. Jody seemed to roll with it. He quickly pulled himself up and nodded at his father again.
Moving to the bedroom door, George peeked toward the kitchen. The young man stood in front of Jessie, holding both phones again, one to his own ear, one to Jessie’s. “George, this is Jessie,” she was saying into the kitchen extension. “Are you there? Pick up…”
George darted down the hall to Stephanie’s room. He saw that she’d wet herself, and it incensed him. He just wanted to kill that smug bastard for doing this to his children. He took a few breaths, then moved toward Steffie’s bed. She seemed to be sleeping.
As George started to bend over her, Stephanie suddenly gaped up at him and tried to cry out. “Quiet, sweetie,” he whispered in her ear. “Please, hush. I’m going to cut you loose and take you into Jody’s room. But you mustn’t make a sound.”
George paused for a moment. Jessie had stopped talking. He heard footsteps. The young man was coming toward the children’s bedrooms.
Creeping back to Stephanie’s door, George stood with his back to the wall. He had the knife ready.
It sounded like the man had stepped into Jody’s room, but George wasn’t sure. He glanced over at Stephanie and put his finger over his lips.
Wide-eyed, she stared at him and suddenly became very still. Then a shadow swept over her. She knew enough to look away from her father-and at the man standing in her doorway.
George remained perfectly still.
The shadow moved away, and the footsteps retreated. The young man was headed toward the living room now. George heard a click, like a door opening or closing.
He hurried back to Stephanie. He gingerly cut the tape around her little wrists and ankles, and then lifted her off the bed. It seemed cruel, but he kept the tape over her mouth for now. He couldn’t risk her crying out again as he smuggled her into Jody’s room. Carrying her out to the hallway, he stroked her hair.
He didn’t hear anyone talking in the kitchen. Peering around the corner, he saw only Jessie. Tied to the kitchen chair, she struggled with the tape binding her wrists in back of her, but to no avail. George wondered where the hell the man with the sunglasses had gone.
Ducking into Jody’s room, he carried Steffie to the window. He looked outside, and his heart sank. Jody wasn’t there.
Whimpering, Stephanie clung to him. He couldn’t drop her out the window. It was too high for her, and she was terrified.
Suddenly, the kitchen door slammed.
George swiveled around. He skulked back to Jody’s bedroom doorway and glanced toward the kitchen again. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe. It was as if someone had just punched him in the gut.
He saw the young man holding Jody up by his back collar. Blood trickled from a gash on the corner of Jody’s forehead. He seemed dazed, barely able to stand. The young man pressed a gun to his ear.
George was paralyzed.
Even with those dark glasses on, it was obvious the man was staring right at him. “Hi, Daddy,” he said. “Look who was trying to run away. I think I heard his skull crack when I hit the little bastard.” He smirked. “So, do I get a reward for finding him?”
A flat-edged shovel was wedged under the handle of the fallout shelter door.
That big, heavy door muffled Amelia’s voice. “Who’s out there? Karen? Please, somebody…”
With her hands tied behind her, Karen stood in the Faradays’ cold, clammy cellar. Among the clutter, there was a washer and dryer pushed against the wall, a bicycle, and some boating equipment. Karen noticed a drain in the middle of the concrete floor, and cobwebs on the exposed pipes running along the low ceiling.
Annabelle kicked the shovel aside, and it hit the floor with a loud clang. On the other side of the door, Amelia suddenly fell silent.
Karen felt woozy from the blow to her head earlier, but she fought the nausea and dizziness. She furtively pulled at the cord around her wrists while Annabelle was busy with the door. The hinges groaned as she opened
