There was a door leading toward the front of the business, and both men moved through it, finding themselves in a hallway with several offices on either side. They cleared five cramped offices in total, three on one side and two on the opposite side. The hallway then opened into the front area of the business, which was home to Solar Green’s showroom. Jared and John danced about the solar panel displays as they cleared all the areas they couldn’t readily see from the hallway door.
Jared was elated to see a sign that read Authorized Tesla Powerwall Dealer as he moved through the showroom. When they were finished securing the showroom, Jared thrust his rifle in the direction of the sign. John looked at the sign for a moment, then smiled.
“Fucking jackpot, bro.”
Jared pumped his head. “I hope.”
“Don’t piss in my Cheerios, motherfucker,” John growled as he moved past Jared back through the hallway.
Outside, Barry, Devon and the two women waited. Stephani didn’t think she could bear the sound of gunfire if something happened inside with John and Jared. After seeing Dwight dead earlier that day, she’d retreated into her own thoughts. Being kidnapped was by far the worst thing to ever befall her, but Dwight’s death somehow impacted her in its own terrible way. Now she was with John and Jared, who seemed like guys more than capable of protecting themselves as well as their friends, and still Dwight had been murdered.
Stephani’s feelings of protection had been shattered, with Dwight’s death threatening to replace the kidnapping as her worst experience to date. She had taken enough college psychology courses to understand the human mind was the most dangerous yet fragile thing in the world. At what point would her mind fail her, leaving her lying on the ground, unable to go on in this relentlessly hostile world? She didn’t have the answer to this, but needed to talk to someone about it, only there was no one to talk to.
Stephani felt a pang of guilt as she looked at Claire. The poor girl’s hair was matted and her face was streaked as though she’d been crying. Stephani couldn’t remember the girl crying and wondered if she had been so self-absorbed in her own misery, she’d failed to notice Claire going through her own hell. More for herself than Claire, Stephani reached out and laid a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Claire looked up, eyes wide with fright, wondering what evil Stephani was about to warn her of. Stephani smiled at the terrified girl, squeezing her shoulder before releasing her with a wink.
Stephani didn’t know why she’d winked, but it made her feel invigorated. Maybe it was the leadership phenomenon she once read about. A person in a leadership position would deal with the same hardships as their subordinates with far less adverse effects. Maybe she needed to take more of an initiative within this group instead of allowing John and Jared to do all the decision-making along with all the activities deemed too dangerous for women and teens.
She drew a deep breath, vowing to be more involved if it meant keeping her mental state in order. Her thoughts were interrupted as Jared and John exited the rear door.
“Everyone inside,” John ordered, keeping his voice low.
Barry peeled off the corner of the building and nearly ran to meet the rest of the party at the rear door. Once inside, the four newcomers stared about the warehouse as John closed and locked the back door.
“Make sure those glass doors are locked,” John instructed, looking directly at Jared.
Jared lurched forward, disappearing into the hallway, moving to the front of the business, where he paused long enough to ensure no one was out front who would see him. Only after seeing no sign of danger through the glass storefront, Jared checked on the front doors, tugging on them, and to his delight, they didn’t budge an inch. After ensuring the doors were locked, Jared thought briefly about dropping the shades over the glass window, completely blocking off anyone’s view inside the business.
Jared left the shades in the up position, figuring if someone couldn’t see in, they might be more motivated to break through the glass in order to see what was inside. Instead, he moved slowly back to the hallway where the door leading into the hallway was propped open. The door had a small square window roughly at face level, so when it was closed, people could see if they were about to fling the door into a co-worker.
Closer inspection on Jared’s part revealed the door also had a deadbolt lock, but lacked a doorknob. Jared kicked the doorstop out of the way, allowing the door to swing into the shut position. He flipped the deadbolt into the locked position, then peered through the small window.
He had a great view of the showroom and a decent view of the front parking lot area. Jared smiled to himself and was about to go ask John if what he had done was okay, but stopped himself. He turned back, evaluating the setup one last time before deciding to tell John what he’d done instead of asking if what he’d done was okay.
At first Jared was disappointed when John merely grunted his approval; then it hit him. John was beginning to expect more from him. John expected Jared to make decisions for the group like the one Jared made at the front of the business. The reason John didn’t jump up and down with joy
