Page 94 of Asher's Assignment
“I left it at home. We had to leave in a hurry to get away from the cop at my house.”
Lennox’s jaw worked. “The cops know?”
“No,” Esther was quick to say. “You told me to bring her. I had to get her out of the house, and the only way was to trick him and lock him up, but we knew the door wouldn’t hold him for long, so we ran. All she grabbed were her purse and keys. Her phone was in the kitchen.”
He studied them for a brief moment. “Lift your shirt, Lindy.”
She raised the hem, showing her pockets.
“Turn around.”
Connie spun in a circle, holding her shirt up. Esther held her breath.
“Okay. Get in.”
Knowing they really didn’t have any other options, Esther headed for his car. Connie did the same.
As Connie approached, Lennox stepped into her path. Anger glittered in his light brown eyes. He grabbed her chin, pulling her close.
“Hey!” Esther reversed direction.
Lennox raised his gun and pointed it at her. “Stay there.” His gaze stayed on Connie. “I looked for you. Spent months scouring the news and social media for any clue about you. I hoped you weren’t dead. I knew I’d been a little… rough with you. But I didn’t want you dead.” He shook her. “Then I saw that picture of you and your little family. And I knew why you’d stayed hidden. You wanted to keep my daughter from me. I wanted you dead then.” He squeezed harder, and Connie let out a soft whimper. She winced and grabbed his wrist, but he wouldn’t let go.
“But after I watched you, waiting for the perfect time to strike, I realized it would hurt you more to take your precious child and to make you watch me raise her.” He turned to Esther. “That’s where you come in.” He let Connie go with a hard push. She stumbled back, nearly falling. “Get in the car. There are handcuffs on the back seat. Use them.”
Esther eyed him with tears swimming in her vision. What he wanted—it would be a fate worse than death for Connie.
“Get in!”
With a quick look at Connie, who now looked more defeated than angry, Esther got in the back seat.
Metal clinked softly as she picked up a set of handcuffs.
Oh, I don’t want to do this.
But she had little choice if she wanted to save Asher and Leah. So, she wrapped the cold steel around her left wrist. With each click, her confidence that they would all make it out alive diminished a little more.
Thirty-Eight
“Okay, you hold that there…” Asher poked his tongue out as he wrapped the last strip of fabric around the bundle of springs he’d wound together. Pulling the material tight, he tied the final knot. “There.” It wasn’t perfect, but it would do some damage.
If he could get close enough. The taser pole had a longer reach. He’d just have to be quick and stay out of range as best he could.
“Let’s go work on those bolts.” Asher stood up, tucking the shiv into the back of his pants. He’d fashioned a hook earlier, but wanted to get both things done before he tried the hook tool.
At the top of the stairs, he slid the hook under the door. He’d bent the end, hoping it would give him a better angle of attack. All he needed was to get the bottom bolt out. He had enough mass and strength to bust through the top lock. He couldn’t do both. He’d tried before he started the shiv.
The twisted springs scraped the door, sometimes knocking into the bolt, but he couldn’t get the angle right to catch the latch. With a frustrated growl, he sat up. “I wish I knew what it looked like on the other side.” It would be useful to know the lock’s orientation. If he needed to push to open the latch rather than pull, he doubted he’d be able to open it.
Pulling the hook in, he added another bend higher up the twisted springs. The hook wasn’t flush enough with the door. Hopefully, he still had enough leverage like this to pull on the latch if he managed to hook it.
A distant voice reached his ears. It was a man, shouting.
“Fuck!” he muttered under his breath. They were out of time. “Back downstairs, Leah. Go!” He ushered the girl down, then shoved the hook under her mattress, out of sight. He left the shiv in the back of his pants. His shirt covered it.
“The costume!” She pointed to the tattered fabric they’d left lying on the floor.
Asher picked it up and rolled it into a ball, stuffing it in a corner by his bed. He couldn’t do anything about how it looked, but he could hide it as best he could. He also dragged the thin cotton blanket up over the ruined mattress. His hope was their captor wouldn’t look at the camera footage, assuming that since everything looked the same, they’d behaved while he was out.
