Chapter 17 Blake
BLAKE
Pressing a damp cloth to my face, I hissed at the burning sensation. If I could see Knight right now, I’d throat punch him.
And not in a good way.
“How’s your face?” Parker asked.
“Just peachy. If I squint really hard, I can almost make out the blurry thing across the room.”
Sighing, Parker flopped back on the bed. “Somehow, this is not how I thought our wedding night would go.”
“Same goes double for me,” I muttered.
“Alright,” Knight said, walking into the room. “Charlie has officially been uploaded with both of your profiles.”
“Shouldn’t that have happened before you set a killer robot loose in our house?” Parker snapped.
“I didn’t exactly have time. You were the one who just had to get married right away. And if you had shown even a smidge of concern for yours or Blake’s welfare, none of this would have happened.”
Shoving to my feet, I glared at what I hoped was him. “Knight, you put a killer robot in our house! We’re supposed to have a baby!”
“About that, have you considered where you’re going to put your panic room?”
“Our— Parker, what is he talking about?”
“Apparently, he’s talking about the panic room that we didn’t discuss.”
“Because we don’t need one!” I shouted, my voice cracking as the remnants of the tear gas clogged my throat.
Knight snorted at that. “Everyone needs a panic room, especially out here in the middle of nowhere. If you get in trouble, where are you gonna run? To the barn? That thing is a fire hazard.”
“Tell me about it,” Parker muttered.
“So, I’ve taken the liberty to draw up some plans for you, and I’ve already hired the best contractors in the business. As far as specifications go, I have a few models for you, but I highly recommend going with the third option with the escape hatch for the kids.”
Tearing the cloth from my eyes, I did my best to glare at him. “The escape hatch?”
“Each crib or bed would have a release mechanism that would drop the child down into a tunnel in case of an emergency.”
That was… “I’m sorry, did you say a tunnel?”
“Exactly. Heavy-duty plexiglass with proper ventilation. The baby would drop into the tunnel and roll down into the panic room where the child would be dropped into a waiting crib.”
“And what if there are four babies? Do they all just drop on top of one another?” I snapped.
“Please,” Knight sighed. “Do you really think I haven’t tested this a thousand times? Rocco’s kid was my test dummy. In the case of multiple children, the crib would be wheeled away and a new crib would be replaced.”
“Wheeled away by what?” Parker asked.
“Jesus, do I have to explain everything?” Knight snapped.
“When it comes to new inventions in my house? Yes!”
I could feel the irritation coming off Knight in waves, but that was just too fucking bad.
“There are pressure sensors in the crib. Only one child will be released from the tunnel at a time. As soon as the pressure sensor is triggered, the crib will be rolled away automatically and replaced with another. At that point, a cage will enclose the child, making sure there is no possibility of escape. Once you enter the panic room, you can enter a code to release the child. In the meantime, there will be snacks, if the child is old enough, and milk in a bottle at the correct temperature.”
“Right, and meanwhile, the kid would just lay there, full of bruises from being rolled down a tunnel!”
“Well, I considered a waterslide, but some thought that might pose a drowning hazard.”
It was all too much to take in. I couldn’t even fathom a time any of us would ever need something like this.
“Look, Knight,” I said, trying to view him from the crusty redness of my eyes, “as much as we appreciate all the work you’ve gone to—”
“No.”
I could have sworn he interrupted me. “I’m sorry, did you say something?”
“I said no. You’re not getting out of this.”
“But I don’t want a baby hijacking system!” I shouted. “Christ, I can’t even see because you teargassed me!”
“You’re such a baby. Tilt your head back.”
I did as he asked, then felt something cool rush over my eyes and dribble down the sides of my head, pouring into my ears. But I didn’t care. The stinging was subsiding, and after he wiped my face, my vision returned.
“Wow,” I whispered. “It’s like being born again.”
“No kidding,” Parker said, widening his eyes as the magic formula took effect.
Clear eyes or not, this was not happening. “As I said, it sounds great, but—”
“This is something that will save your life!” he snapped. “Don’t you care at all about the serial killer down the road? Or the pedophile that lives just one town over?”
My mouth gaped open at that.
“You didn’t do your fucking research,” he scoffed. “I bet you didn’t know that your precious case that you’ve been pouring over for the last week could have been wrapped up easily if you’d just brought the file to me.”
“Hey, how did you—”
“And that pedophile? Repeat offender. Keeps getting off on a technicality. Is that really who you want around your kids?”
God, he made us sound so ungrateful when he argued with us about that.
“I didn’t get to finish all the upgrades to your house yet. If you’d like, I could just walk away.”
“Yes, do that!” Parker snapped.
“You’re sure about that?”
“Do I look like I’m fucking joking? And take away the machine guns. No one out here needs their house to be set up like Fort Knox.”
Knight scoffed. “You really don’t get it, do you?
You will never be safe. No matter where you go, you’ve seen too much.
You know the dangers that are out there.
All those chums around town, they have no clue that someone tried to poison them just a few months ago.
They had no idea that the last time they saw their friends and loved ones not only could have killed them, but would have been the last time for good.
You know that, and yet you still want me to walk away. ”
God, he was making me feel awful for even asking him to remove the safety measures, but if Parker and I were going to live a normal life out here, we had to do it our own way.
“Knight, we really do appreciate the effort.”
Sighing, Knight tossed down the rag and picked up his bag. “You know, I’m ashamed. You would have been such an asset at Reed Security. Both of you. Fine, I’m out.”
“Thank you,” Parker said, holding back his anger.
We walked him to the door, hoping this was the last time we’d ever see him. It wasn’t that Knight was a bad apple, but he was so damn intense all the time.
“Don’t forget to set the alarm.”
Grinning at him, Parker shook his head. “You know, just this once, I think we’ll see how it goes.”
Knight shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”
As he walked away, an ominous feeling washed over me. “Maybe we should listen to him.”
Parker shook his head and disconnected the wall unit. “No way. I’m not letting Knight dictate what we do. If there’s one thing I know, it’s that fear can rule your life, and I’m not about to let that happen.”
Standing on my tiptoes, I brushed my lips over his. “You know, I’m feeling a second wind coming on. Maybe we should make it official.”
“Yeah?” he grinned, brushing his lips down my neck. “Meet you in the bedroom?”
“I’ll slip into something a little more tearable.”
He growled under his breath. “I like the way you think.”
Shooting him a saucy wink over my shoulder, I headed into the bedroom and grabbed the only piece of lingerie I owned, which was only because I’d gotten it as a wedding present from his sister, Lizzy.
Just as I was unzipping the back of the dress, I heard a strange sort of beeping from somewhere in the house.
“Parker? Do you hear that?”
“Uh…Blake?”
“Yeah?” I called out, trying to get the zipper from where it snagged on the fabric.
“Babe, something’s going on with the alarm.”
“I thought you shut it off?”
“I thought so, too.”
“Okay, I’ll be right out!” I called, finally getting the zipper undone. The dress pooled around my feet, and finally, I felt the freedom a woman could only feel when she was completely naked with no bra to restrict her.
“Uh, that feels so good.”
“Babe?”
“Coming!” I called out.
I snagged my robe off the back of the bathroom door when I heard the first slide of metal. Running for the door, I watched as three metal cylindrical objects came out of one side of the wall.
“Parker?”
I ran for it, hoping to make it in time, but when the metal door shot out, I knew I was too late. It snapped into place just a second later, leaving me cut off from my husband.
“This is ridiculous.”
I ran over to the window to jump out, but metal sheets slid down, slamming into the window frame, blanketing me in darkness.
“Well, shit.”