Page 95 of Hart of Hope
“Josh has someone who can hack into the accounts, and it’s supposed to be easier if they have the bank account numbers.”
While time wasn’t our friend, I still had to know. “Who else is Josh after for their money?”
After all, he’d said he would destroy everyone I cared about, and Duke had a good chunk of money from his days selling illegal arms. The Feds didn’t know about his secret accounts. I was sure Brian had a similar setup.
“I don’t know, but I can’t help you,” Sabine said. “My son is all I have. He won’t let anyone hurt me.”
“Your son is a dick who threw you to the wolves with Josh just before I came in,” I said. Harris hadn’t done that exactly, but I had to try to scare her straight. “Wake up, Sabine.” I shoved the towel at her. “If you don’t live past tonight, what will happen to your sister?”
That question drove her to cover her own hand with the towel and break the mirror.
The crack of the glass was music to my ears. But if anyone in the house heard, then we had minutes before someone walked through that door.
I held out my arms. “Hurry.”
Sabine worked as fast as she could to cut through the zip ties.
“Come on,” I urged. “Fran, any coats in the closet?”
“Nothing but dresses.”
Sabine’s hands trembled. “Whether you get out of this house before the game starts or not, run through the woods behind the house. There’s a narrow dirt path that leads north toward a horse farm, maybe at most two miles from here. When you cometo the brook, you’ll have to cross it. Not far on the other side of the brook is Weeping Meadow. Go there, and call for help.”
“But the door is locked,” Fran said.
“We’ll have to jump out the window,” I said.
Fran’s mouth dropped to the floor.
“Anything to survive,” I said.
The second my hands were free, I rubbed my wrists. “Thank you, Sabine.”
“I’ll knock on the door, and let them know you’re ready,” she said. “As soon as someone opens that door, run for your lives. I’ll do my best to distract them.”
“Fran, are you ready?” I asked, smoothing a hand over her hair.
She swallowed, nodding.
“Stay close to me, and if we get separated, remember what Sabine told us about the farm.”
She inhaled. “Let’s do this.”
Sabine knocked on the door. “Harris.”
I held Fran’s hand. “We’re going to make it out.”
Sabine pounded hard on the door.
I started counting to concentrate.
The key turned in the lock, and as soon as Harris waltzed in, his gaze landed on the broken piece of mirror in his mother’s hand. “Mom, what are you doing?”
Sabine dropped the weapon.
I held on to Fran, eyeing the gun on Harris’s hip.
“Son,” Sabine said, closing the distance between them, “do you want to spend the rest of your life in jail? I don’t. Come with me. We can start a new life.”
