Eyes in the Sky by Debbie Burke

Author:Debbie Burke [Burke, Debbie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Media Management LLC
Published: 2020-01-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13 - Trapped

Judah sprawled on the entertainment room sofa, half-lying, half-sitting, feet propped on the coffee table. A mixed martial arts contest played on the big-screen TV. Tawny sat close enough to trade occasional fist bumps with the boy when a fighter scored a takedown. When the match ended, she yawned, checking the time on her cell. “Getting late, buddy. You’ve got school tomorrow.”

He grimaced. “And here I was just starting to think you were really cool.”

“Just cross me and watch Maleficent come out.” She rose. “Come on, let’s go to bed.”

He jumped to his feet, leering. “You got it, babe.”

She cuffed his shoulder. “Let me rephrase that. You are going to bed, all by yourself.”

“Aw, you got no sense of adventure.”

He’s his father’s son, all right, Tawny thought. She snagged the TV clicker from his hand, shut it off, and pushed him toward the stairs.

In the lower bedroom wing, she paused at Arielle’s open door. The room was empty except for the litter of clothes and shoes. Tawny called down the hall to Judah, “Do you know where Arielle is?”

He poked his head out of his bedroom. “She disappeared before you could force her into doing the dishes like you enslaved me.”

“Just teaching you a useful trade so you can make a living.”

He snorted. “Arielle probably snuck down to Dad’s suite again. She’s always hanging around in there, looking at his old photo albums. Getting in his liquor cabinet, too. Dumb.”

Tawny hoped Judah was wrong but feared he might have nailed it. “I’ll go look for her. See you in the morning.”

“Don’t I even get a goodnight kiss?”

Little smart ass. She gave him a backwards wave as she skipped up the stairs. At the front entry, she paused to check the alarm panel.

Strange, the light showed green. She was sure she’d reset it after Steve left. She tapped the code. The light should have turned red but didn’t. She tried again. Still green.

From the top of the stairs, she called down, “Judah, would you come here? I think there’s something wrong with the alarm.”

The boy emerged from his room and clomped up the steps. “What is it?”

Tawny demonstrated, carefully pressing the numbers. “Seven, twenty-one, twelve, right?”

He frowned. “Yeah. Let me try clearing it.” He pressed 9-9-9 then entered the code again. Still nothing. “It’s not working.”

Tawny studied the panel. “That red button—is that the panic button?”

“Yeah.” Judah pushed it. Nothing. He kept punching it. “Sirens should be going off.”

“Is there a silent alarm?”

He shook his head.

Something was terribly wrong. “I’m calling the alarm company.” Tawny pulled her cell from her pocket.

An unfamiliar male voice said, “Drop the phone.”

They whirled to see a tall, bulky man dressed in black, a ski mask hiding his face. With gloved hands, he pointed a rifle at them. A thread of green light from the barrel ended in a green dot in the center of Tawny’s chest.

****

The ski mask made Frank Grand’s breath hot on his face. His hands already sweated inside the rubber surgical gloves as he sat at Tillman Rosenbaum’s desktop computer.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.