Page 92 of Swerve
“Stand back from the door!” Knox yells to the girl inside. “Okay?”
“Okay!” Grace’s voice is now muffled, barely audible.
Knox drives the heel of his foot near the keyhole, supposedly the weakest part of the door. The wood splinters slightly. He aims another kick in the same spot, making sure not to hit the lock itself. He kicks again. And then again. The wood cracks further. It’s the seventh attempt that finally caves the bottom of the door in. He reaches through and turns the door handle from the other side.
He pulls the Glock from the holster on the back of his belt. He aims the gun at the center of the room. Huddled behind the corner of the bed’s headboard, a teenage girl is sobbing. She has no clothes on, and Knox averts his eyes, grabbing a blanket from the bed and holding it out.
Emory runs to her and wraps her in the blanket, her voice breaking when she says, “Grace! Oh, thank God. Are you okay?”
Grace clamors out and throws her arms around Emory’s neck. She is crying so hard, she cannot speak. Sobs engulf her. She nods hard against Emory’s shoulder.
“Grace, where is Mia?” Emory asks, holding her by the shoulders now and staring into her face.
Grace shakes her head, her voice wobbly when she says, “I?I haven’t seen her since the man took us.”
“You don’t know if she’s here?” Emory asks, the words infused with fear.
“No,” she says on a half-gasp, and then she’s crying full force again, holding on to Emory as if she’s afraid she’ll melt and disappear.
“The man . . . he’s in the bathroom.”
Emory places her hands on Grace’s shoulders, stares hard into her eyes. “Stay here with Detective Helmer. He’ll make sure you’re safe. Promise me you’ll stay here, okay?”
She looks up at Emory, her eyes brimming with tears, the fear she’s no doubt felt for days now reluctant to release its grip. “Where are you going?” she asks in a barely audible voice.
“I’m going to find Mia. She has to be here somewhere. I’ll be back as soon as I can. All right?”
“Emory, wait for me,” Knox throws out, but she’s already gone. “Damn it!” He aims his gun at the bathroom door. “Open up!”
A couple of seconds pass, and there’s no answer. “Okay, then, I’ll open it for you.” He aims a solid kick beneath the door handle.
This door is less substantial than the room door, and it gives on the fourth kick. Knox sticks his hand through the hole and turns the lock, swinging the door fully open. He aims the gun at Senator Hagan’s chest.
“No need for that,” the senator says, his voice icy cool. “Let’s make a deal, shall we?”
“An underage girl in your room? And there’s the little matter of the drug you put in your friend’s drink at dinner. No deals for you, Senator.”
“Watch out!”
Knox turns at Grace’s scream. Just in time to see the gun with a silencer on the end. He jumps sideways, but not in time to avoid the bullet.
Emory
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
?Eleanor Roosevelt
I BANG ON every door in the hallway, praying I will somehow know which room my sister is in. I hammer each door as I go, pressing my ear to the wood in the hope of hearing Mia’s voice. But there’s nothing all the way to the end of the hall on the same side as the room where we’d found Grace.
I cross the hallway and start pounding on the door at the end. Again, nothing on the first, the second, the third. At the fourth door down, I bang as hard as I can, my fist now throbbing from the effort. I press my ear to the door, and it’s then that I hear her voice. Unmistakable.
“Help. Please help.” And then louder. “Please! Help me!”
Adrenaline hurls me into action. There’s no way I can kick the door in. I pull the gun that Knox had given me from the waistband of my jeans, release the safety. I know I could kill myself using the gun to destroy the lock, but at this point, what other choice is there? I have to get it open.
I step to the side of the door and aim the muzzle directly above the keypad lock. I turn my head, close my eyes, and pull the trigger.
The lock shatters, a piece of the metal blowing out and hitting me in the side. I feel its jagged edge pierce my skin and gasp, stunned by the pain. But the lock is broken, dangling now as the other one had. I use my shoulder to shove the door inward, screaming out Mia’s name as I go.
