29. Willa
Chapter 29
Willa
Two Hours Earlier
M y pillow is wet with tears when I wake up. No wonder, really, considering I cried myself to sleep and started crying every time I awoke during the night—which was a lot.
Midnight blinks sleepily from her spot on the pillow beside me. I don’t know when she got on the bed, but it’s not in me to move her off. She probably misses Reid as much as I do.
I’d like nothing better than to stay here and wallow in my self-induced misery, but I need to get to work. Who knows? Maybe today will be the day I finally tell Mom that she’s stuck with me for the foreseeable future, and to lay off me for good.
I get ready for work and feed Midnight, who I know is completely able to stay on her own. Besides, Reid hasn’t come to get her, so that’s that.
I always drive in front of the diner before parking in the back, and today’s no different. What is different, though, is the sign on the door. I slow to peer at it. Closed due to plumbing issues.
That’s odd.
I pull my foot off the brake and am about to pull around to the back when I notice a van down the street .
Maybe I’m being paranoid, but I should drive past it. It’s probably a tourist in a really bad choice of vehicle, but enough time around Reid has finally had an effect, it seems.
I drive past the van, but it’s empty. Still, I should be careful. Just in case.
Not that Reid will care.
Which, fine, that might be unfair, but you know what? A girl gets to be unfair sometimes. Sue me.
I park another block away, giving myself enough distance from the sketchy-looking van to make a run for it if things go south.
Seriously, how is no one on the street right now? I know it’s early, but usually I could count on seeing at least one or two people.
I walk to the diner, then crouch as I near the corner and sneak to the back. I feel a little silly, especially when I see it’s a plumbing van. I’m about to rise and call out through the diner’s back door, but then I freeze, barely stifling a gasp.
Because the skinny creep from the booth with Officer Thompson is here, pointing a gun at my parents and sister, while another guy, super fit and super scary, ties them up.
Fear courses through me like lightning, and my legs shake as I watch with tears streaming down my face.
“Don’t hurt them!” Dad says.
Without a word, the scary one backhands him, sending Dad jerking to the side.
Mom and Goldie scream, then Goldie sobs, “Please let us go, please let us go,” over and over.
Fear turns to rage. Actual, legitimate rage, unlike anything I have ever known. I have never wished that I was some sort of superhero badass, but right now, I’d give anything for some of that power. A third man enters my line of sight, and I go rigid.
Officer Ted fucking Thompson.
“Goldie,” he leers, “I really need you to shut your trap, sweetheart. ”
“Don’t you talk to my daughter like that!” Mom yells as Dad tries to get up from where he’s been shoved onto the floor.
A gunshot goes off.
I scream, but no one hears me because Goldie and Mom scream, too. Dad’s face is white as a sheet, and I frantically scan all three from where I crouch. They all seem fine, but I can’t be sure. My hands shake as I pull my phone out and clutch it.
Thompson stalks to the creep from the diner. “I told you we weren’t killing anyone. What the hell was that?”
I’ve seen enough. I scramble away from my hiding spot and run toward the front. Part of me wants to call Reid, but what if he’s in there and I can’t see him? And if I call and his phone rings, what then?
I can’t take that chance. I call Ox.
“Willa?”
“Officer Thompson and two others have Mom, Dad, and Goldie tied up at the diner. I think it’s got something to do with Reid.” It’s remarkable how calm I sound, given the way the phone is shaking in my hands.
Ox curses. “Where’s Reid?”
“I don’t know. They might—” I can’t say the words. They might have him, too.
The sounds of a car door shutting and engine starting come through the speaker. “Get away from there. I’m two minutes from you.”
Yeah, that’s not happening, but I at least stay near the front with my eyes and ears peeled. When Ox arrives, I hiss at him from my hiding spot and he frowns, approaching me and pulling his gun out.
“Get out of here, Willa!”
I shake my head. “No.”
He sighs as he scans the area. “How many are back there?”
“Three, from what I can tell. At least two have guns.” I hold back a sob. “I’m scared, Ox.”
“I know. I need you to leave, Willa. This is dangerous.” He doesn’t bother waiting for me to answer, instead peeking around the corner of the building before pressing his body against the brick and taking off.
I know I should leave. Obviously. And seeing Ox only made me shake even more, but I’ll be damned if I’m going anywhere. The old Willa might have listened to Ox, but the new one? No way. That’s my family in there.
Tom’s old jalopy of a car pulls up to the front, and he and Jerry get out, utterly ignoring my frantic attempts to wave them away. “Tom! Jerry!” I hiss. “Over here!”
But Jerry’s on a mission, stalking to the door with his hands on his hips, peering at the sign like it’s been written by aliens. After a moment, he huffs and twists away to yell at Tom, sputtering, “Says they’re closed due to plumbing issues!”
“What?” Tom hobbles forward.
Jerry raises his voice. “I said, they’re closed due to plumbing issues!” He curses when he finally spots me, pointing and yelling even louder. “Why didn’t you call me? I’m the damn plumber!” He turns and bangs on the door. “Dean! Barbara! Open up!”
They’re going to get us all killed. “Jerry!” I hiss again, gesturing for him to join me on the side of the building. “Get over here! Bring Tom!”
Ox stalks back from where he’d disappeared. “Get out of here!” he whisper-shouts.
Ignoring him, Tom whacks Jerry on the arm and points back inside. “Someone’s in there. Who is it? Did they get a new plumber?”
Jerry whips toward the door and looks in, cupping his hands around his eyes. “They would never ! Uh-oh.”
My heart sinks as the door opens and the diner creep emerges, gun pointed right at Jerry as he backs him up. “Can I help you?” the creep growls.
Ox steps into view. “Stop! Police!”
Creepy dude looks toward Ox, and it’s just enough time for Jerry, brave idiot that he is, to knock the gun out of the guy’s hand. The guy takes off and Ox gives chase.
Further proving their idiocy, Tom and Jerry run inside.
I hear another set of screams from Mom and Goldie, and that’s it. I run in after Tom and Jerry, only for them to skid to a stop in front of me.
“Move!” I shove them aside just in time to see Reid come barreling in from the back door.
“Freeze!” he yells.
The second guy, scary as all get out, sneers and points his gun at Reid. “I was wondering when you’d show up. Thought I might have to shoot someone.”
“Drop your weapon,” Reid says, his attention completely focused on the man.
He shrugs. “I don’t think so. You see, the big boss is awfully pissed at you. Got the whole network looking for you. Said the first man to bring you down would get a hefty payday as thanks. So that’s what we’re doing here.”
Reid scoffs. “Looks like a bunch of amateurs playing at being bad guys, if you ask me.”
I’m stock still, watching the entire thing play out from my place right next to the counter. No one pays any attention to me as I inch closer. I can’t see my family, but Goldie’s whimpers haven’t stopped. Behind me, Tom and Jerry have miraculously chosen to keep their mouths shut. I half wonder if they think this is all some big joke. A new kind of pre-breakfast entertainment.
Scary guy growls and steps toward Reid.
Without hesitating, Reid shoots him.
The man drops his gun and howls. “You shot my foot!”
Reid smirks. “That’s how this works.”
Out of nowhere, Thompson appears behind Reid and whacks him with his club. Reid crumples as my family shouts in surprise.
Thompson turns to them and tsks . “Honestly, this could have been handled so much better than this.”
“A little help here?” the scary guy whines from his spot on the floor.
“Shut up,” Thompson growls. “You’ve been a pain in my ass this whole time.”
Goldie shrieks as Thompson starts to pull his gun out, and I’ve had enough. I grab Granny’s skillet from its place of honor above the coffee pot and run through the swinging door, screaming like a banshee.
“You stop right there, you big meanie!”
Everything seems to dip into slow motion: Thompson turning toward me and clocking the way I’m raising the skillet into the air, scary dude scrambling to get out of my way, Reid lying motionless on the floor, Dad yelling for Thompson to drop the gun, and Thompson again, his eyes widening in a highly satisfying combination of fear and realization as I bring the skillet down on his head.
He drops like a lead balloon, the cast-iron skillet clanging onto his head a second time as it drops from my hands.
I know enough to look around for guns, to make sure none are close enough to Thompson or the scary guy to do any damage with. I don’t see any.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
Mom and Goldie nod, while Dad just stares at me. I think he might be in shock.
I kneel beside Reid and feel for a pulse. It’s there, and I exhale a sigh of relief.
“Willa?” Dad croaks. “Is that really you?”
Yeah. He’s definitely in shock. I smile gently as I rise and grab a chef’s knife, brandishing it in the most comforting way possible. “It’s me, Dad. Turn around so I can cut the zip ties.”
“Only you would use a giant knife when a pair of scissors would do the job just fine,” Goldie manages to joke.
I ignore her while I position the business side of the knife at Dad’s wrists. “Hold still,” I mutter, then with one swipe of the knife, it’s done.
I turn to Goldie, who’s looking at me tearfully. “I’m so glad you rescued us,” she says, the sobs coming again.
“Shh,” I soothe, then gesture for her to swing around for me. I kneel behind her and cut the hard plastic.
Mom is next, and within seconds, all three are standing and hugging me, the chef’s knife safely away from anyone.
“Everything okay back there?” Jerry’s voice carries into the kitchen.
I roll my eyes. “ Now you two pipe up?” I laugh.
Scary guy is still whimpering and bleeding at our feet, and there’s no telling how long Reid and Thompson will be out. “Call 911,” I instruct the duo. “We need an ambulance.”