Chapter 15 #2
We lost ourselves for a while. Our clothes mostly stayed on, but there was something so thrilling about each undone button that even just seeing Kitt with his shirt hanging open felt more risqué than if he was fully naked.
Part of me was eager to touch as much as possible, but a small, timid part in the back of my mind was still scared of what would happen when that boundary was crossed.
What would happen when there was no longer any clothing standing between us?
He must have sensed my hesitation, for although I said nothing, and the enthusiasm of my kisses never waned, his fingers only brushed over my stomach. My muscles twitched with every slide of skin against skin, but his hands never ventured farther than the waistband of my boxers.
If I’d been able to think clearly, I might have been disappointed in myself, but I couldn’t feel too badly about it when kissing him felt so pleasurable. Time slid by unnoticed, until I could barely remember what it was like to take a full breath without the air being stolen right from my lungs.
It was such a heady exchange that I didn’t even notice at first when Kitt suddenly stopped kissing me. I just lay there, panting against his mouth, drunk off the effects of my own hormones, completely unaware that anything was wrong until he sat up.
“Did you hear something?”
Even when he sat up, I couldn’t bear to let him go and ended up hanging off his body with my arms and legs wrapped around him like a sloth dangling from a tree branch.
“What? No.” I answered without even thinking about his question, too busy pressing a line of kisses along his neck.
With a gentle hand, he pushed my mouth away. “I’m serious. I think I heard something.”
The feeling of air between us, even just a couple of inches, brought some clarity back to my brain and I dropped back down onto the bed. “I’m sure it’s fine. We’re locked away in an underground safe house. What could possibly...”
I trailed off before I finished the question, realizing how stupid my question would sound.
Was I really about to say out loud “What could possibly go wrong?”
I may as well be asking for trouble at that point.
Although I’d stopped myself from finishing the question, the universe apparently heard my challenge anyway and decided to answer. Less than a moment later, Kitt and I both flinched when something heavy knocked against the front of his cottage door.
We both stared in the direction of the disturbance, neither of us moving. The cottages didn’t lock. There was no reason for someone to knock, and the noise sounded a lot heavier than the weight of a mere fist.
Kitt’s hand pushed down on my chest. “Wait here.”
I certainly didn’t have any plans of going anywhere and happily stayed right where I was as he approached the door.
There was another thump on the door, this time sounding more deliberate as if someone had slammed against the wood. Then, just as Kitt neared the door, it suddenly swung open.
Someone tumbled into the room too quickly for me to see who they were at first. Kitt jumped forward, catching them as they fell and gently lowered them to the floor.
Only then could I see who they were.
“Thomas?”
One of the other witnesses, the very one I’d argued with not long ago, now lay crumpled like a broken doll. At first, it looked like he was wearing a strangely bright red shirt, but I quickly realized I was wrong.
The shirt had been white at one point but was now dyed crimson with blood.
I screamed as I jumped out of the bed, nearly hitting my head on the nightstand when my feet tangled in the sheets.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! You, uh, you need to put pressure on the wound. That’s what you do when someone is injured, right? You do that, and I’ll go get help.”
I ran for the door but barely made it two steps before Kitt grabbed my arm and stopped me.
“No, stay here,” Kitt ordered as he dragged me deeper inside the cottage.
I clawed at his hand but couldn’t dislodge it. “What are you doing? We need to help him.”
“There’s no point.” Kitt’s voice was sharp and cold as he pulled me into the side room he was using as an office.
Just before he shut the door, I got another look at Thomas lying on the floor. The man’s eyes were open, staring blankly off to the side, while his chest showed no signs of breathing. My arguments died on my tongue, and the door swung shut, blocking Thomas’s image from my sight.
Kitt was right. There was no point helping him now.
Clasping my hands in front of me, I sat on the edge of Kitt’s office chair, as small and quiet as I could make myself.
“Now what?”
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen death.
I’d watched other kids like me lose their lives before.
Sometimes it was at the hands of the bell ringers, and sometimes it was by their own hands.
One would think I’d be used to the idea of death by now, but my ears were ringing, and I could feel the threat of a panic attack clawing at the back of my throat.
To keep myself calm, I started counting my breaths as I watched Kitt pulling out files from his desk.
“Thomas’s injuries were no accident,” he said as he sorted through the files, throwing some aside and placing others in a sturdy metal briefcase. “We need to be careful. I’m not sure what’s happened, but this safe house has clearly been compromised.”
His voice was calm, but his hands shook as he finished packing the briefcase. Gripping the top of the case until his knuckles turned white, he paused for a moment to get himself under control.
At first, it seemed to work. The shaking of his hands stopped, but then he slammed the lid of the briefcase closed with a shout.
“Damn it! I should have known it was too easy.”
With rough motions, he locked the briefcase closed, knocking it against the top of the desk hard enough to dent the wood.
I carefully kept myself contained in my chair and out of the line of fire of his anger.
“What was too easy?”
“A new witness popping up, just like that, after months of investigation? And right as we’re in the final stages of getting our case together? I should have known it was a trap.”
He looked like he was about to slam the briefcase again, but before he could move, I reached out and grabbed his hand.
“We don’t know that’s what happened, and even if it is, are you seriously telling me you would have turned the new witness away?”
I watched the thoughts turning over in his mind, like a computer evaluating every possible probability. It took him a few moments to reach the answer that I already knew.
No, he wouldn’t have turned the new witness away.
If there was a chance of helping a victim and bringing criminals to justice, he would take it, no matter the risk.
There was nothing wrong with that. Compassion, and the desire to help people, was a human instinct.
The fact that the bell ringers were willing to exploit that desire just proved how monstrous they really were.
Kitt stepped away from the desk, turning his back to me.
After sucking in a deep breath, he finally managed to calm down.
His hands no longer shook as he ran them through his hair, pushing it out of his face.
We didn’t have the time or supplies for him to put his hair entirely back into its usual perfect style, but at least he looked neater and a little more himself when he finally turned back to face me.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he refastened the open buttons on his shirt. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m just... angry. But we need to focus on keeping you safe first. Come on. We can’t stay here, but we don’t know what’s out there. So, stick with me.”
He pressed the briefcase into my hands, carefully wrapping my fingers around the handle. “This briefcase holds everything we need to keep the bell ringers’ case alive. Hold onto it, whatever you do. And if I tell you to run, you run. Understand?”
I nodded at him mutely, clutching the cold metal case to my chest.
“Good boy. Now, stay behind me.”
We carefully skirted around Thomas’s body as we made our way back through the bedroom, Kitt keeping one hand on my shoulder the entire time.
I couldn’t bear to look at what had become of Thomas, but morbid curiosity wouldn’t let me completely look away, either.
The only compromise was to keep the other man’s body in my peripheral, turning the bloody scene into an impressionist’s painting.
What stood out the most were the colors.
A pool of bright red stood out starkly against the pale beige carpet, offset by Thomas’s darker skin and white shirt.
The harsh contrasts grated against each other and set my teeth on edge.
After checking with me one last time to make sure I was okay, Kitt leaned his ear against the door, listening to whatever was on the other side. The cottages were mostly soundproofed—another luxury feature that wasn’t doing us any good—so I wasn’t sure what he could possibly be listening for.
Gripping the briefcase closer, I held my breath and waited for the final verdict.
The press of cold metal against my skin reminded me of my state of dress.
I wasn’t naked, but my boxers and tank top left a lot more skin exposed than I was comfortable with in such a situation.
I wasn’t even wearing shoes, but there was no time to stop and find any.
I’d just have to go bare foot, for now, and hope we didn’t end up running over any rough terrain.
A moment later, Kitt removed his ear from the door and shook his head. He couldn’t hear anything, but that meant nothing against a soundproofed door.
With no other options left, Kitt wrapped his hand around the doorknob.
We opened the door to the sound of gunfire.