Page 56 of The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties

“Erjie!” The questions spill out in rapid Indonesian. “Are you okay? Did they hurt you? We were so worried.”

“Wait, Sanmei—”

“What is all this?” a gruff, male voice booms. Ma stops speaking. We all turn around, and there, standing behind us, are three tall, broad-shouldered guards.

“Don’t move!” one of them barks.

“What? Were you three here the whole time?” Ma cries. She glares at Second Aunt. “Why didn’t you tell us there were guards?”

“I was about to, but you were speaking over me,” Second Aunt snaps.

“But you were doing Tai Chi,” I babble. I have no idea why it matters that she was doing Tai Chi. Pretty sure my brain is just misfiring because, holy shit, there are three guards in the room and they look ready to pounce on us and do god knows what.

“Yes, I was teaching them how to do the Tai Chi. They were enjoying it, too, weren’t you, boys?”

The guards nod. One of them cocks his chin at us. “Hands up.”

“Oh, are we doing the Tai Chi together?” Second Aunt says eagerly.

The guard gives Second Aunt a look. “No, lady. Tai Chi time is over.”

Every sense in my body is screaming, nearly in full panic mode. I can’t let all of us be captured. Not now that we’ve finally found Second Aunt. What would happen to us? This can’t be how this journey ends, with all of us captured and under the mercy of Kristofer, a man I’m sure doesn’t have much mercy to spare. Images flash through my head, each one grislier than the last. Our bodies dumped into unmarked graves. Our bodies stuffed into suitcases. Our bodies—

As though reading my mind, Nathan glances over his shoulder back at me. Our eyes meet. He doesn’t need to say a word. I understand him completely, and I hate it. I hate what he’s conveying to me.Run. We’ll handle these men.

I can’t do that, I can’t leave Nathan and my mom and SecondAunt behind. I’ve already left Fourth Aunt on her own, and that had been awful. I won’t be able to forgive myself if I abandoned them too.

Nathan gives a small shake of his head, his gaze unwavering, his jaw hard.Run. Get help.

I’m the one nearest to the door. I’m the one who has the best chance of making it out of here and calling for help. My whole body is resisting it, but I know this is the only way out. The only way that we can have a fighting chance. Taking a shuddering breath, I give him the smallest possible nod.

“Love you,” he mouths, and before I can change my mind, he leaps at the nearest guard. The guard, caught unaware, staggers back, but manages to stay on his feet. Another guard pounces on Nathan. I hesitate. I should help. I should pick up something—a vase, maybe—to hit the guard with—

“Go!”Nathan roars at me.

The animal rage in his voice reaches deep into the primal instincts inside me, and before I know what I’m doing, I turn and run. Shouts ring out of the room, Ma and Second Aunt yelling, “Get him! Hit his pen-ees!”

I stumble down the hallway, the sound of my ragged breathing flooding my ears. My first thought is to crash inside one of the other guest rooms and hide there, but just as I place my hand on one of the doorknobs, my survival instincts kick in. What the hell am I doing? The absolute last thing I should do is hide in one of these rooms. They’re the first place the guards would check if Nathan fails to—to—

No. I can’t let myself think the worst. I force myself to keep going, hating myself the whole time, torn between turning back and helping them and going forward. I reach the stairsand climb up to the next floor, fear and adrenaline making my breath come out in a wheezing gasp. There are only two doors on the third floor. The one on my right leads to what looks like the master bedroom, a lavish room with its own seating area and expansive balcony and—ew—a hot tub built right into the floor, next to the bed. Okay, did not need to know this about Kristofer. I hurry back out and choose to go inside the other room instead.

This room turns out to be Kristofer’s study. I close the door behind me and lock it before leaning against it and taking a second to catch my breath. Okay, Meddy. Think.Think really freaking hard.Okay. Things have definitely gotten out of control. I don’t know what to do. Silent sobs shudder through my entire being and I slump to the floor, covering my face with my hands. That was so stupid. Why did I leave them? There were four of us and only three guards. We could’ve taken them. Well, I don’t know if we could’ve. But we could’ve tried, at least.

But of course we couldn’t. Because I wouldn’t have done anything to endanger...

My hands go to my belly, cupping it protectively, feeling painfully aware of the tiny thing growing inside it. Tears streak my cheeks. I wouldn’t have pounced on the guards like I might have before because I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if anything happened to this little peanut growing inside me. The past couple of weeks or so, as my breasts got sore, I thought it was just my period coming, but now I know it isn’t. Not now that my period is almost a month late. I was going to tell Nathan in Bali. I’d had it all planned out. A beautiful sunset dinner at a cliffside restaurant, followed by a waiter presentinghim with a takeaway box. Inside the box would be a baby’s onesie. Or maybe a baby bottle, or a pacifier? Whatever it was, it would indicatebaby to come!

And now, I don’t even know if we’ll ever get out of Jakarta alive. I squeeze my eyes shut as tears pool inside them. Did Nathan suspect it? Maybe he did, and that was why he’d shouted at me to run. To leave him, Ma, and Second Aunt behind. Even though I understand that I couldn’t have done much good back there, that I had to protect myself and my—my baby—it still feels awful to abandon them.

No, I remind myself. I haven’t abandoned them. I’ve been given a chance to save everyone. Right. With shaking hands, I take out my phone. Whom to call? The cops, obviously. Screw Abraham Lincoln and Julia Child not wanting to get the cops involved.

Hah. Now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.

I’m about to dial 911 when I realize that that’s probably not the emergency services number here in Indonesia. What’s the number for 911 in Indonesia?

Don’t panic. Just Google it. Right.

I do a search for “police number Indonesia.” 110. Great. I call the number and swallow as I lift the phone to my ear. It rings once and is immediately picked up. I’m in such a state of panic that it takes me a second to realize that the person on the other end is speaking rapid, formal Indonesian.

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