Protection for Hire (25 page)

“I wanted to. I was tempted to, like I’ve been tempted before. I have a very bad temper.”

Vivian’s eyes widened in mock disbelief. “No, say it isn’t so.”

“Nothing has changed, Vivian.”

“What do you mean?”

“I chose a new life but the old one won’t let me go.”

Vivian’s hand dropped then, and she looked down at the knitted blanket, picking at yarns, staring at her broken fingers. “The old life never lets you go, darling.”

And suddenly Tessa wondered how those fingers were broken.

“I left the yakuza. I turned my back on my uncle. But now I have to choose again, and the decision is a hundred times worse.”

“You may have a difficult choice, but you’re different.”

“What’s the point of choosing God if I don’t get a second chance and a new start? Why can’t I leave that old life behind?”

“Sometimes, he doesn’t want you to.”

Tessa looked away.

“And sometimes, he wants it to shape you more.”

“I can’t let Elizabeth die. But I can’t allow a gang war to start either. I feel completely alone. Where is God, Vivian?”

She expected a pat answer, but Vivian’s eyes filled with tears and she said, “I don’t know.”

The pressure on her was heavy and dark, and she was afraid and she felt stranded. “I’m helpless. There’s nothing I can do to make this better.”

“Then
ask for help.
”

Tessa had always had to be strong. Strong against her sister’s antagonism, strong against her mother’s petulance, strong against the men she had to prove herself to and the people she had hurt. “I don’t know how to ask for help.”

“Then maybe … maybe that’s why God has put you in this place and left you alone.”

“Why would he leave me when he said he wouldn’t?”

“Would you ask for help if he was with you?”

Was that the point? It seemed like a really stupid point.

“I think you need to make a decision to trust God,” Vivian said.

Trust him with a gang war? With Elizabeth’s life? What was the point of Tessa trying to protect her all these weeks? “If I
trust him, then …” It meant she would choose what didn’t make sense, and trust God. Trust him for what?

Just … trust him.

“I know it doesn’t make sense right now,” Vivian said. “But sometimes you have to trust that eventually it will.”

They sat there in silence. Tessa didn’t exactly feel peace
,
but she felt resolution. She knew she couldn’t murder Elizabeth or abandon her and Daniel. That was all she knew — she had to hope that was enough. She had to
trust
that was enough. The possible outcomes — the consequences — were dark, terrible places she couldn’t look into.

Vivian stifled a yawn. “Sorry.”

“You should go to bed.”

“You should too.”

Tessa helped her off the sofa, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. They walked up the stairs, and at the landing, Tessa said in a small voice, “I wish … I could hear him.”

“Maybe you do.”

And Vivian turned to go to her bedroom, leaving Tessa with silence for company.

T
omorrow was the day Elizabeth and Daniel would disappear. Tessa had set up everything they’d need, and she had spent all day today doing last minute coaching.

“I wish you could come with us,” Elizabeth said as they sat at the kitchen table. “I’m scared to leave without you.”

“We’ll trust God to take care of you.” The words stuck in her throat and came out hoarsely, but they came out.

“I hope your uncle won’t be too mad when you tell him tomorrow after we’re gone.”

Mad? He would be livid, and Tessa would have irrevocably burned a bridge as well as brought a firestorm down on him. But she didn’t want to think about that right now. “I admit, I wouldn’t have told you about that this morning if Vivian hadn’t urged me to.” And after what she had discovered about Charles last night at her uncle’s home, Tessa realized she didn’t want to lie by omission. Elizabeth had taken the information well.

“No, I’m glad you did. If you hadn’t explained the situation you’re in with your uncle, I wouldn’t be spurred to leave as soon as you finished arranging everything. I might have been tempted to wait a few days.”

Vivian, making shrimp creole at Elizabeth’s request for her “last meal,” replaced the cover on the pot and joined them at the kitchen table. “Charles called earlier. He said he’s working late and won’t be home for supper.”

Tessa couldn’t prevent a quiet sigh of relief. She hadn’t seen him this morning — she hadn’t thought she could, after what had happened last night. As for tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that … she could only take things one day at a time. She knew Charles would too. Unless he could somehow prove Mr. Greer was in collusion with Heath’s firm, there was a good chance he’d be fired.

They both had a great deal to lose. But she still didn’t want to see him.

“Mama.” Daniel wandered into the kitchen. “Computer beeping.”

“Is your computer game done?” Elizabeth took his hand and went into the living room with him to restart his game. But then she called, “Tessa, it’s Paisley.”

Tessa had been instant messaging with Paisley yesterday while working online, preparing for Elizabeth and Daniel’s relocation, and she hadn’t turned the program off before putting the computer to sleep. When Daniel woke up the computer to play his game this evening, the instant messaging program had fired up, and now a message box from Paisley had appeared in the bottom corner.

Tessa typed in a message:

Tessa laughed. Elizabeth, reading over her shoulder, said, “Sure.” Then she tilted her head. “Do you think we can go over to your mom’s house to say goodbye tonight?”

It was ten kinds of dangerous, especially when they were so close to being safe — well, safer, anyway. “I don’t know …”

“We’ve been really good,” Elizabeth said. “Daniel and I have been going stir-crazy in this house, but we haven’t gone out or let anyone know we’re here.”

“It’ll only be for a couple hours,” Vivian said, walking into the living room.

“Plus it’s still light outside,” Elizabeth said, sensing Tessa giving way.

“Plus we have Charles’s car,” Vivian added in triumph.

“We do?”

“He took the train to work this morning because I told him I needed the car to go grocery shopping.”

“The store is just around the corner. I don’t think he would want us driving all the way down to Mom’s house in San Jose.”

“If he didn’t want me driving it, then he shouldn’t have let me borrow it,” was Vivian’s logic.

Tessa’s logic was saying
, “Nonononono.”
But some weird feeling made her want to take them. And not just Elizabeth and Daniel, but Vivian too. “Vivian, want to come?”

“Oh, I’d love to meet your family. And I haven’t added the shrimp yet to the creole, so it can wait.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Tessa sent an IM to Paisley before she changed her mind.

They had a momentary problem when they didn’t know how to get Daniel’s car seat into the Audi, but Vivian figured it out and they were on their way.

She may think Charles was a piece of flotsam on an ocean of snot, but his car was a pure dream to drive. Tessa still paid attention to the traffic to see if they were being followed — it had become second nature to her whenever she drove anywhere, with or without Elizabeth — but she didn’t see any cars. She
almost
wished they had a tail so she could pit the Audi against them.

They were nearly there when Vivian said, “Oh, I forgot. Eddie was going to come over tonight for supper. I’ll call him to tell him it’ll be late. We’ll be back in a couple hours?”

The way the Audi drove, Tessa might be able to make it to Mom’s house and back in less. “Sure.”

Vivian dialed her son on her cell phone. “Hello, Eddie? Yes, supper’s … You’re already pulling up to the house? Oh, I’m sorry about that, we’re in San Jose … Yes, yes, if you’re hungry, throw the shrimp in, let it simmer until they turn pink, and then go ahead and eat. Just save some for us. We’ll be back in a couple hours.” She hung up.

Soon Tessa was introducing Vivian to her mom, sister, and niece. Mom made green tea for all of them and pulled out some Japanese cookies for Daniel.

“I’m so sorry you’re leaving,” Mom said as they sat in the living room. “We so enjoyed having you here.”

Tessa sipped her tea. Maybe she just wasn’t someone her mom would ever relate to. It was probably for the best that she find a job soon — one that paid real money — and move out.

Paisley, who’d been texting with Maria, suddenly frowned at her phone and knocked it against the coffee table a few times.

“Hey, hey,” Alicia protested. “We don’t have the money to buy you a new one.”

“It’s broken. It just suddenly said, ‘No Service.’”

A chill raced through Tessa. No, it was probably nothing to worry about. But better to be safe than sorry. She immediately picked up the landline phone, which was sitting on the end table near her.

No dial tone.

Her vision suddenly expanded, and her skin became sensitive and tingly. Had that been a shadow at the window? She shot to her feet. “Everybody, my bedroom, now!”

“Tessa, really —” Mom started to say, but Tessa hissed, “Move, Mom!”

Paisley was the first to move. She sprinted down the hallway just as Elizabeth rose to her feet and Daniel, sensing the changed atmosphere in the room, began to cry.

“Follow Paisley,” Tessa told her. She grabbed her mother and propelled her toward the back of the house, and Mom didn’t even protest the tight grip on her arm. Alicia and Vivian hastened after her.

Paisley held the door open. “Hurry.” As soon as everyone was inside, she slammed the door shut.

Years ago, when she’d had her private collection in this room, Tessa had installed multiple locks, although she’d never had to engage any of them before. She and Paisley scrambled to close all the locks. Next to the door was a metal security door bar that she grabbed and jammed under the knob.

Tessa had stored boards, nails, and a couple hammers in the room to board up the large picture window, if ever needed. “Paisley.” She handed her niece a hammer and pulled out some
boards. Now she wished she’d been smarter and had reinforced the window with security film and steel rods and security bars.

“Really, Tessa,” Mom said, now that her initial alarm was fading. “This is overreacting.”

Tessa nailed a board across the window, Paisley working directly below her. “If I am, then we’ll just unlock the door in a few minutes and get a good laugh out of it.”

She’d been a fanciful teenager, which had fed her tendency toward paranoia and conspiracy theories. Plus, once she had acquired that AR – 15, she’d wanted to protect her weapons stash. She had never thought she’d actually use these fortification measures.

She knew she wasn’t being paranoid now.

Because of Paisley’s help, they finished quickly. If they were under attack, the intruders would know by now that they were in here because of the sound of pounding nails. Well, it couldn’t be helped.

Then the creak of a floor board reached them through the thick walls.

Mom turned white. Alicia put an arm around her and held her close, her own expression tense and terrified. Elizabeth wrapped her arms around Daniel and crushed him to her, while Vivian huddled close to her.

Another creak.

Then someone tried the doorknob.

“Paisley,” Tessa whispered. She crouched down on one side of her bed. “Help me move this night stand. Quietly.”

Alicia moved to clear the stand of the lamp and clock radio. Then Tessa and Paisley grasped each end of the large stand and lifted, carrying it a few feet to the side.

A dark, spiderweb-filled hole gaped at them from the floor.

Mom’s mouth fell open. “When did you do this?” she demanded in a whisper.

Paisley’s shoulders had risen to touch her ears. “Aunt Tessa,” she said, her voice shaking.

“I’m sorry for the spiders, but it’s the only way. I made this hole when I was a teenager, and I don’t fit in it anymore. It comes out under Grandma’s azalea bush.”

“No wonder that bush never grew well,” Mom groused.

“You need to get out — but carefully, don’t let them see you — and go to Mrs. Fleming’s house next door and call the police.” Tessa glanced at Elizabeth, who was holding a softly whimpering Daniel. “Should we try to send Daniel with Paisley?”

“I want to, but I don’t think he’d go down there,” Elizabeth said. “And he might cry and get Paisley discovered.”

Paisley had screwed up her face as she crouched in front of the hole. Then Alicia came to her with a bandana and wrapped it around her head. “This’ll help.”

The knob was rattled again, louder and harder.

“Hurry,” Tessa said. “Be brave.”

“Be smart,” Alicia added. “Don’t get caught.”

With a disgusted squeal, Paisley dove into the hole. Alicia grabbed the covers off the bed and piled them up over the hole to hide it.

“Now what?” she whispered.

The attackers started banging on the door. It wasn’t going to hold forever.

“Get under the bed,” she ordered them.

“We won’t all fit,” Elizabeth said.

“Just try.”

Vivian, Elizabeth, Daniel, and Mom squashed under the
bed, but Alicia stood next to her. “Please tell me you left a few weapons in here.”

Tessa shook her head.

More banging. Then a man’s voice spoke in Chinese to someone.

Triad.

A pair of fists twisted and wrung out her stomach. This was not good.

No, no time for self-pity or worrying. She had to think! No weapons? No problem. They’d just improvise.

Bam! Bam!
came the pounding on the door.

She scanned the room, depressingly empty. She had taken most of her belongings with her when she first moved out, and since getting out of jail, she hadn’t accumulated much.

She pulled out a drawer from the nightstand, dumping out its contents. Nothing useful unless she wanted to squirt Neosporin in the attacker’s eye. But the drawer was small enough, not too bulky.

Handing the drawer to Alicia, she said, “Swing it at anything that moves. Try to hit with a corner, not the flat panel.”

Alicia nodded.

Bam! Bam!

Tessa grabbed another drawer. How long had it been since Paisley left? Did she escape? How long before the police would arrive?

The wood in the center of the door started to buckle from the repeated pounding. They couldn’t break the locks on the edge, but she had never thought to reinforce the center panel.

“Stay back.” She sent Alicia to the far corner and she stood a few feet away, waiting for the attacker to get through.

Suddenly a
crash
from the window, and the boards splintered.
Alicia screamed, but gamely swung at the foot kicking in the wood. There was a sound of cursing that Tessa couldn’t understand.

Then a figure appeared, only just visible in the closing darkness, and a hand reached in through the window and grabbed Alicia.

Leaving the door, Tessa surged forward.

Alicia struggled, swinging the drawer, but he held on.

Dropping the drawer she held, Tessa got between the man and her sister, then spun so her back was to the window. She grabbed his wrist, tucked her other forearm under his elbow and yanked her forearm up. The arm- bar move dislocated his elbow with a pop. He screamed in pain and snatched his arm back.

The other man kicked in the center panel of the bedroom door in an explosion of splintered wood. Tessa could see him through the narrow vertical hole in the door, saw him raise his hand, saw the barrel of the gun.

She shoved Alicia out of the way as he fired.

One, two, three shots. The first two zinged past her, burning the air in their wake.

It almost seemed like she felt the pain from the third bullet before she heard the shot being fired.

It was a red hot poker stabbing into her liver. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t cry out, couldn’t move. Fire engulfed her, radiating from that spot low on her abdomen.

Someone shouted, “Tessa!”

The slap of the floor against her back. The water-stained ceiling above her.

They were unprotected, now.

She had failed them.