Safe House Under Fire. Elisabeth Rees

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       TWO

      “No way,” Astrid said, removing her neatly folded clothes from the suitcase and placing them back in the drawer. “I’m not going anywhere.”

      Lilly sat on her daughter’s bed. Despite Astrid’s insistence on being grown-up and independent, her bed was filled with her childhood teddies. Lilly picked up a white fluffy bear, Astrid’s favorite stuffed toy. She had always called him, simply, White Bear.

      “I’m not asking you to do this, I’m telling you,” Lilly said, still stinging from Agent McQueen’s criticism that Astrid didn’t respect her authority. That just wasn’t true, at least not all the time. “You don’t have a choice.”

      “Mom, this is crazy. People only go into witness protection programs in the movies. We live in boring Oakmont, remember?”

      Lilly wondered how Astrid could have forgotten her terrifying ordeal so quickly. That morning’s school run was anything but boring.

      “Somebody tried to hurt us today,” she said. “I mean really hurt us. And you have to admit you were scared.”

      Astrid swallowed and Lilly saw the fear momentarily return. “Yeah, I was scared, but we’re okay now, and the guy was probably high on drugs or something.”

      “I already explained this to you, honey,” Lilly said. “He deliberately targeted me because of something bad that happened at the bank, and he’ll come back. We need to leave town until he’s caught, and then we’ll be able to come home.”

      “How long will it take?”

      “I don’t know, but we should take enough clothes for a week.”

      “A week? Seriously? It’s Kaitlyn’s sixteenth birthday party on Saturday night. I can’t miss that. And what about school?”

      Lilly stroked the soft fur on White Bear. “I know this is hard, but we have to make sacrifices. Our safety is more important than a birthday party or missing a week of school.”

      Astrid flopped on the bed next to her mother. “Are you sure that this FBI guy isn’t exaggerating? He seems kinda repressed, like he’s full of trapped gas or something.”

      Lilly couldn’t help but laugh at this fitting description of Agent David McQueen. It was then that she noticed him standing at the slightly open door, listening to their conversation, his head cocked to the side as if amused. Or annoyed. When her gaze met his, he held it for a few seconds, saying nothing.

      She tried to imagine this buttoned-up man parenting two daughters, but couldn’t envisage him playing with toys or reading books, especially while wearing his dark suit and tie. Given that his children were now adults, she guessed that his age would be somewhere in the midforties, a good ten years her senior, yet he could pass for a much younger man. With a full head of curly brown hair, smooth tanned skin and a neatly trimmed beard, he was attractive without being too polished or high-maintenance. He had an outdoorsy look that was most definitely Lilly’s type. Not that it mattered anyway—romance was a thing of the past for her, and her sole focus was placed on raising her daughter.

      “May I come into your room, Astrid?” David asked, knocking on the door. “I promise to keep my trapped gas where it is.”

      Astrid sat upright and shifted closer to Lilly. She clearly wasn’t comfortable with the burly FBI agent who had invaded her home.

      “Sure,” she said, with affected nonchalance. “Whatever.”

      He entered the room, surveying the mixture of teenage music posters and babyhood relics. He also couldn’t fail to notice the colossal mess on the floor. Shoes, purses, belts and makeup palettes were strewn across the carpet, and his expression didn’t hide his disapproval.

      “I wanted to let you know that we’ve managed to secure a safe house for the coming week,” he said. “Goldie and I will escort you there and remain with you until Gilbert Henderson is in custody.”

      “Do you have any leads on him?” Lilly asked, desperately hoping that he might have been captured already by a patrol unit.

      “We found the stolen van abandoned in a Pittsburgh parking lot, and we’ve got detectives reviewing the security footage of the stores in the area to see if we can track his movements. He’ll crop up on the radar sooner or later, I’m sure of it.”

      Remembering David’s description of this guy as both cunning and smart, Lilly wasn’t so sure.

      “Why can’t we stay here?” Astrid said, picking at chipped nail polish. “You could stay here too and then when this guy comes back, you arrest him.” She put her palms up in the air. “Mission complete.”

      “It’s not that easy,” David replied. “This house has too many points of entry and it’s a single-story home, surrounded by lots of dark hiding places. I’m not comfortable protecting you here.” He checked his watch. “I’d like to be gone in one hour. Do you think you could have a suitcase ready by then?”

      “So that’s it?” Astrid said, rising to stand and fold her arms. “You get to make all the decisions about where and when we go?”

      “Yes.”

      Astrid looked at Lilly imploringly. “Mom,” she whined. “I don’t want to go.”

      “You have two options,” David said. “You come with me or you place yourself in serious danger. Do you really want to do that?”

      Lilly stood between David and Astrid. “That’s enough talk of danger,” she said, rebuking the FBI agent. “Astrid and I will be ready in an hour.” She fixed him with a hard stare. “Okay?”

      “There’s just one more thing,” he said. “We’ll be trying to blend in, to look as normal as possible. We don’t want to attract any attention when we go outside.”

      Lilly wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “And?”

      “And Astrid sticks out like a sore thumb in that gloomy costume she’s wearing. She needs to change clothes and wear something more suitable. Might I suggest jeans and a sweatshirt?”

      “Gloomy costume?” Astrid said with incredulity. “You’re so old and stupid. You don’t know anything about being cool.”

      “Astrid!” Lilly said sharply. “That’s enough.”

      David smiled. “I admit that I don’t know anything about being cool, but I know a lot about witness protection, and you cannot wear those type of clothes if you want to fade into the crowd.”

      “I expect you want me to wear a pretty dress with flowers and bows, right?” Astrid said sarcastically. “Like your own daughters probably did.”

      Lilly saw a sudden change come over him, a sadness clouding his eyes, and she knew that Astrid had hit a raw nerve.

      “This is getting a little out of hand,” she said, taking hold of David’s arm and leading him to the door. “Astrid, please СКАЧАТЬ