Chapter 62

Branna

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Vlad and Cooper come out from the separate section of the shed a few minutes later.

Vlad walks straight over to me. “It is a pleasure to meet you, young lady,” he says, shaking my hand. “You clearly mean a lot to my good friend here. You stay safe and let Cooper take care of you, you hear? He is a good man. You’ll be well cared for with him. Don’t worry about it too much. You have other things to focus on now. I hope to have you over for dinner with Bettina sometime. She makes a mean chicken pot pie.”

I smile. “That sounds wonderful. I hope to do that, too.” It’s nice to be able to talk about a pleasant, normal future. Maybe it will really happen. “Thank you for your help.”

Vlad laughs. “You’re making an interesting first impression.” Then he turns to Alexei. “I’ll be seeing you and Cooper in the cage soon. I want to see another fight happen between you guys, so train hard and make sure neither of you breaks anything important while you’re doing whatever you’re doing later today. You got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Alexei nods. “Thanks for helping us out, sir.”

“Cooper is a real friend,” Vlad says, with a nod. “Well, then. I expect you guys need to be getting on your way soon.” He looks around him, gesturing at the dirty, dusty shed. “I know this place is so tempting to stay in, but don’t let me hold you up.”

“Let’s go, guys,” Cooper says. “Bye, Vlad.”

They do one of those manly half-hugs that always amuse me so much and I enjoy a little smile, despite the seriousness of the situation.

“I’ll leave in a bit,” Vlad says. “It will be more inconspicuous that way, and I will take a different route out. I could use a long run today, anyway. A little roundabout exit never hurt anyone. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I say. I am glad Cooper has a true friend like this, and had one like this to help him through all that he has been through. He is a good man and it seems like Vlad is, too. I really hope that we’ll make it through this. Maybe I can be friends with Vlad’s wife and we can have dinners together, hang out as couples and go on double dates. Maybe even have wonderful lives with love and friends. It would be everything I have always wanted.

But first, we need that list. The ride takes us along familiar streets, suddenly ominous with the tension of our mission. The ski mask is rough against my skin, the handgun heavy in my pocket, and then suddenly I’m there again, just outside of my childhood home. It’s a relatively innocuous brownstone from the outside, but I know what goes on inside its walls. My chest feels tight for a second, but I roll back my shoulders and grit my teeth. This is not the time for emotions. This is the time for action and concentration.

“He’s home,” Alexei says, looking up from the video feed on his phone screen, “keep driving.” We park two streets over and wait until he leaves, then we wait another three-quarter hour after my dad leaves.

“No movement?” Cooper asks.

“No,” Alexei says. “No movement inside since Kyran left. I played back sped-up video from the last twenty-four hours and it seems like he’s been the only one to enter or exit. No one should be there.”

It’s game time. Cooper gives Alexei the binoculars, pulls the lockpick out of the black plastic bag, and drops the bag on his seat, patting the handgun in his pocket. Alexei pulls out his own gun and holds it low, out of view of passersby but at the ready. I pull at the bottom of my ski mask and get out of the car, pushing the door shut behind me. Cooper gets out on the other side and we dodge the driveway and skirt the edge of my yard, to avoid triggering my dad’s security system, and slip around to the back door. We can’t just walk in, so we climb up trees in the neighbor’s yard and over until we’re close enough to jump down onto the little patio by the backdoor. 

Cooper jostles the lock and a minute or two of fiddling later, it clicks open.

“I’m here if you need me, babe,” he says. He kisses me quickly and then I slip inside.

Following the hallway down to my dad’s office feels like walking through a dream. Here I am, breaking into the prison of my adolescence. Then my hand is on the door and, leaving a long nineteen seconds to avoid tripping the alarm he has set up for immediate entry, I enter. I go straight to his desk. I quickly flip through papers on top — it’s not there. I rummage through the drawers, as well. It’s not there, either. Suddenly I notice a flashing light out of the corner of my eye. I whirl around and there, just to the side of the door, is a PIN pad with a screen flashing bold red numbers in a countdown.

15. 14. 13. 12. So much for avoiding tripping the alarm. The pin pad is new and I don’t know the code. I try birthdays, but none of them match up. 7. 6. 5. Every second in here and every new thing I touch risks setting off an alarm that I don’t know about. I need to think.

I’m at the bookshelf in four long strides and start flipping through books. I pull out a file and then it goes off.

EEEEEE. EEEEEE. EEEEEE. EEEEEE.

Fuck. Dad’s soldiers will be here any minute and all three of us will be dead. Palms sweating, I turn away from the bookshelf, searching the room.

I run to the desk and start tearing open the drawers. At this point, leaving without the leverage I need is just delaying what will happen if we get caught. There’s no point in leaving empty handed. But it’s not there — not in the top drawer, not in the middle drawer, and not in the lowest drawer. I run my hand along the wood under the pile of papers, hopelessness washing over me.

Then I feel it. Under the pile of papers, my fingers brush against cool glass touching a wooden frame. I pull out the framed photograph of my mom, pull off the back and slide out of a folded note. I unfold it. It’s the list.

There’s no time to put anything back. I shove the note into my pocket and run to the back door, the siren blaring loud all around me. As Cooper and I run to the rental car, where Alexei is already sitting in the front seat with the engine running, I hear the engine roar of cars approaching at high speed.

But we have the list. My cell is dead, so I grab Cooper’s and snap a photo of the list as Alexei slams on the gas. I text the photo to my dad, demanding a meeting, as we roar away. I keep an eye out of the back window, but as long as I can’t see them, they can’t see us. We roar down side streets, always just out of sight, and then we’re on the highway, just another car in the throng. We’ve made it.