The Rules for Breaking (21 page)

Rules for disappearing
by Witness Protection prisoner #18A7R04M:

Only use public transportation….

New rule by Anna Boyd:

You can’t always be that picky. Sometimes you have to use any resource available.

awake when I get back to the room. His face is pale and he looks pissed but I can’t help but smile when I see his eyes are open.

“You’re up!”

I rush to the bed and sit down a little too hard, his face scrunching up in pain the minute I make contact with the bed.

“Sorry. Sorry.”

He struggles to a sitting position and a bead of sweat breaks out across his brow.

“Are you okay?”

He grunts and squirms, until he finally gets in a position where he’s comfortable. “Why are we here, Anna?”

I was expecting the pissed tone but I cringe anyway.

“What else did you expect me to do? That man shot you. He told me that he could find us anywhere. That we would never be able to hide from him. You passed out blocks from the hotel. The last thing you said was don’t call the police. Or an ambulance.” I stand up and pace beside the bed. “We talked about this earlier and decided it wasn’t safe to go to the cops. I didn’t know what else to do. You needed stitches and I knew Thomas could do that. I also knew Thomas may be the only match for Mateo. I didn’t know what to do and was just trying to keep us alive.”

I get up from the bed and walk into the adjoining bathroom to wet a washcloth. Deep breaths, I think. Deep breaths.

I get back to the bed and kneel down beside it. “I can’t handle any of this if we’re fighting. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I don’t trust Thomas—or Tyler—at all, but I can only deal with one threat at a time and Mateo seemed to be the biggest threat in that moment.”

He reaches for my hand. “I don’t want to fight either. My head and arm are killing me and Thomas’s face is not one I liked waking up to.” He pulls me closer with his good arm and kisses me gently. “I just hate that we’re right back in this position.” He tries to lift his left arm but it doesn’t go higher than about an inch. “Especially with this useless arm.”

“Just wait till you hear what she promised him,” Teeny says from the foot of the bed. “Is there food? Because I smell something delicious and I’m about to starve to death.”

Crap. I was hoping she would forget to mention that little bargain I made.

I move away from the bed and grab a po’boy out of the bag, unwrapping it on a side table in the little sitting area on the other side of the room. I need to get Teeny as far away from Ethan as possible. She finishes about half the sandwich before I get the top off the gravy container.

“What bargain?”

“Are you hungry?” I ask, completely ignoring his question.

“What bargain?” he asks again.

“I told Thomas I would go along with whatever he needed if he would help you. Here, take a bite, you need to eat.”

He drops his head back and lets out a string of curses.

“She also promised that it would be just her helping, not us, too,” Teeny calls from across the room.

Thanks, Teeny.

Ethan pushes the sandwich away but I bring it right back in.

“Look, if we’re going to survive this, I can’t have you weak from hunger. Eat.”

Begrudgingly, he takes a few gravy-dipped bites then pushes the food away again. I hand him some water and he downs the bottle.

“You’re not doing it,” he says. “No matter what he wants, you’re just not. I don’t care what you promised him. And as soon as I can get out of this bed, we’re gonna figure out how to get out of here. What time is it?”

“When I was in the kitchen, the clock on the oven said seven thirty.”

“Shit. Will got here hours ago.”

“Where is he? I never asked you that.”

Ethan struggles with the blanket wrapped around him and pushes my hands away when I try to help.

“Remember that club last night, the one with the girls standing around outside?”

“Y’all went to Barely Legal? Those girls were disgusting.”

He shakes his head, then drops it in his hands like that small movement hurt too much. “No, we went to the place next door. The Blues Club.”

“You think he’s still there?”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll wait all night for us.”

Teeny finishes the sandwich and stands at the end of the bed, licking her fingers. “She got the gun from that guy, so at least there’s that.”

This makes him perk up. “Where is it? Are there any bullets left?”

Teeny digs it out of the potted plant and hands it to Ethan.

“Whoa,” he breathes out. “A Glock 26 9mm with a silencer.” He empties the chamber and there’re five bullets left. Studying one of the bullets, he lets out a soft whistle.

“What is it? Is there something weird about the bullets?”

“They’re subsonic.”

“What does that mean,” Teeny asks before I have a chance.

“It means the bullet travels slower than the speed of sound. Most bullets travel faster than the speed of sound and that loud ‘crack’ you hear is when the bullet breaks the sound barrier. With these bullets and a silencer, this gun is very quiet.”

“So that’s why no one on the street heard him shooting at us,” I add.

He looks at me and asks, “Yeah. How’d we get away from him? My brain is so fuzzy right now I can’t remember.”

“I knocked Mateo out with a beer bottle and when he fell, I picked up the gun and hid it in my jeans.”

His mouth is wide-open—obviously impressed. “Damn.”

For the first time today, a grin breaks out across my face.

He turns back to the gun and reloads it. He holds it out to me and I bury it back in the potted plant, then sit back near him on the bed.

“How do you know all that…about guns and bullets and the sound barrier?” Teeny asks.

Ethan shrugs then winces from the pain of the movement. “I’ve been around guns all my life. My grandpa loved collecting them.”

“I found out a little more from Tyler,” I say. “He and Thomas have the same mom but not the same dad. Tyler said he didn’t meet Thomas until their mom died when he was ten. Thomas took care of him.”

Ethan leans back against the bed and just watches me so I keep talking.

“Tyler said Thomas has worked for Vega since he was a kid. Worked his way up and does the same job his dad used to do.”

I’m rambling but I can’t help it. Ethan looks at me funny and it’s making me nervous.

“But anyway, I didn’t get specific plans. Just, you know, background kind of stuff.”

“I hope you found out his favorite color and shoe size, too.” The sarcasm is not lost on me.

“And you’re pissed again. That’s great.”

“Yes, Anna, I’m pissed. I’m pissed that while I’m stuck in this bed, you’re getting chummy with some stalker brother of a second-generation assassin.”

“I’m doing everything I can to find out what’s going on! That’s it!”

After a few minutes, he’s sitting on the side of the bed. “Where’s the bathroom?”

I point to a door on the other side of the room as Ethan pushes off the bed.

“How do you feel?” I ask.

“Like I got shot and kicked in the head.” And then the bathroom door slams shut.

Ethan is not up to handling whatever Thomas has planned. And I know him—he will push himself into a worse situation just to save me and Teeny. And no telling what will happen when he and Tyler are in the same room.

I have to get him out of here.

As soon as I hear the water running, I tell Teeny I’m taking the trash to the kitchen and sneak out of the room. I pad down the carpeted hall, quietly opening doors, but they’re all empty.

I tiptoe down the steps and through the bottom floor. I finally find Tyler in a small sitting room off the kitchen, laid up on the couch watching a movie. Must be nice to be so relaxed.

He sits up quickly when I enter the room. “What’s going on?”

“I want to talk to Thomas.”

His eyes go big. “About what?”

“None of your business. Where is he?”

Tyler pulls out his phone from his back pocket. When Thomas answers, Tyler says, “Anna wants to talk to you.”

A few seconds later, Tyler ends the call. “He’ll be in here in a minute.”

We wait. In silence.

Thomas finally shows through a door on the opposite side of the room.

“I don’t like being summoned.”

I take a deep breath and ask, “Will you still make Ethan go through whatever you originally had planned? He’s injured and probably has a concussion. I can’t imagine you…killing Vega if you’re worried he may pass out at any moment.”

He doesn’t answer, just watches me closely.

I can’t stand the silence so my mouth takes over just to fill it.

“And what about Teeny? She was never in the plan. No one was looking for her but here she is. She’s just an innocent little girl. Are you leaving her behind? Is she coming with us?”

“Your sister will remain here as incentive for your good behavior. If Ethan is unable to join us, then he can wait here with her. Two reasons for you to cooperate.”

This is what I was afraid of.

“I get this is bigger than me, but you need bait and here I am. I will help you, but only me.”

Thomas chuckles softly. “You’re not in any position to be making demands. You will help me willingly or your sister pays the consequence. It’s really very simple.”

I’ve been thinking about this all afternoon—if I’m brave enough
to pull off this bluff.

“We called someone to come pick us up this morning. If we don’t show—they will go to the local cops. You probably know people there since you were in that uniform the other day, but this person will be very loud and make a big scene. I can’t imagine you want people looking for us. Or you.”

Dead silence.

“Let Ethan and Teeny leave with them and I will stay and do whatever I need to do,” I add.

Thomas studies me and I try not to squirm.

“I assumed you called someone,” Thomas says. “So let me guess, one of your little high school friends borrowed some money from dear old dad and headed south. Do you really believe some kid is capable of whisking you away from all of this? Have you forgotten about the man in the alley who wants you dead?”

I cross my arms across my chest and match his gaze. “No matter what you say, you need me and I have to believe you would prefer my willing cooperation. And if you don’t let them go, I will fight you the entire time. Ethan’s injured and you don’t need Teeny. Or maybe you never intended for us to survive this. If that’s the case, I won’t have anything to lose.”

Tyler’s head goes back and forth, like he’s watching a tennis match.

Thomas rubs his hand across his jaw. I try not to panic. I’m showing all my cards and taking a huge gamble right now. “While I may be able to do what I need to do with just you, if I let your little sister and boyfriend go, what guarantees do I have that you will behave?”

“You don’t have to keep them here for me to understand the threat against them. I’m well aware of your long reach.”

He’s quiet. I’m afraid I handled this completely wrong. I should have talked Tyler into sneaking us out.

Finally, he asks, “You’re not worried about Mateo finding them once they leave?”

“Are you telling me you’re not good enough to get them out of town safely?”

If there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he’s an egomaniac. I am worried about them leaving, but I think it’s more dangerous if they stay.

He doesn’t answer me.

“Mateo’s in town. I know you plan to do something about him in the next few days. You plan on killing Vega, too. Let’s just say I’m betting on you to win this game and neither of them will be in danger before long. Ethan and Teeny don’t know much more than they did before you took us. They don’t know where this house is. They know we were held at Ursuline but I have no doubt you’ve already removed every trace of us.”

“Ahhh…but they know about Tyler now. His identity was to remain a secret.”

I can see Tyler tense but I don’t look at him.

“So do I. We won’t say anything. I swear to you. We want nothing else to do with you. You will either let us live—like you promised Tyler—or you won’t.”

Tyler steps forward, like he’s ready to jump into this conversation when Thomas puts a hand up, stopping him.