36. Blaze
BLAZE
The entire house went black.
Flick gasped softly behind me.
Instinct took over instantly.
I pulled her behind my back while my hand dropped for the gun at my waist in one smooth motion.
Wolf already had his weapon drawn.
Trigger muttered:
“Oh, this is how horror movies start.”
Another crash echoed somewhere deeper inside the house.
Not loud.
Heavy.
Like somebody hit furniture trying to move fast.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
Someone was inside.
Wolf pointed toward the hallway silently.
Trigger nodded once and moved left toward the kitchen entrance.
Training.
Muscle memory.
Fast.
Quiet.
Controlled.
Lightning flashed through the windows, illuminating the living room for half a second.
Old couch.
Family photos.
Dust floating through the air.
Then darkness again.
Flick’s fingers curled tightly into the back of my jacket.
I could feel her shaking.
I turned my head slightly toward her.
“Stay behind me.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
Jesus.
Even terrified, she said it without hesitation.
Not leaving you.
Something deep in my chest tightened hard.
Another sound.
Upstairs this time.
Footsteps.
Running.
Wolf’s expression changed instantly.
“There!”
A shadow moved across the second-floor hallway.
Fast.
Too fast to identify.
Trigger swore.
“Oh hell no.”
The footsteps thundered overhead.
Toward the back of the house.
Toward Flick’s old bedroom.
My pulse went lethal instantly.
Because suddenly I knew.
The box.
“Hersh—”
“I know.”
I moved fast.
Up the stairs two at a time.
Wolf right behind me.
Trigger covering below.
The old wooden staircase shook under our boots as thunder exploded outside again.
The hallway upstairs stretched ahead in darkness.
Lightning flashed.
A figure slammed into the far bedroom door.
Male.
Black hoodie.
Tall.
The second he saw us?—
he ran.
“STOP!” Wolf barked.
The guy crashed through the bedroom window instead.
Glass exploded outward.
Flick screamed downstairs.
I hit the room hard seconds later.
Rain blasted through the shattered window.
Curtains whipping violently in the storm.
I reached the opening just in time to see the man hit the ground below and sprint toward a dark SUV parked in the back near the tree line.
Engine already running.
Not alone.
Damn it.
Headlights burst on instantly.
The SUV fishtailed hard in the mud before tearing down the back property road.
Gone.
Wolf swore viciously beside me.
“What the hell was he doing up here?”
My eyes slowly moved toward the closet.
Door hanging partially open.
And suddenly?—
my stomach dropped.
Because the floorboards beneath it had been ripped up.
Someone had already found the hiding place.
Behind us, Flick appeared in the doorway breathing hard.
“Hersh?”
I looked at her slowly.
And knew before checking.
We were too late.
The hiding box sat open on the bedroom floor.
Letters scattered everywhere.
And one entire section missing.