Kathleen Brooks - Secrets Collide

Now he couldn’t sleep. He could hear those boys from high school taunting him when he closed his eyes at night. He feared losing the power and control he’d worked so hard to gain. He cursed and realized he’d zoned out again. He’d been doing that a lot since he stopped sleeping. His men had just botched an assignment and that meant they were in trouble, he thought as he unbuttoned his suit coat to expose the .38 at his waist.

“The flash drives appear to be full of notes, but nothing of importance to you. Research on a corrupt Washington senator taking bribes from lobbyists, some coverage from the Iraq war, a bunch of notes on the political upheaval and human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of Congo . . . nothing about guns or sex or anyone associated with you,” the young man told him as he held his breath and tried to keep his eyes on the boss. But, his fear was visible every time he glanced away from him.

“Are you sure this woman has anything to do with us?”

The boss felt his heart squeeze as his man questioned him. It was hard to breathe as the mocking voices of his classmates filled his head. He whipped around, shot the man who dared question him, and then breathed as the voices quieted. “I know she has info on us. Go back to her apartment and search again,” he yelled. The room cleared and he was left alone with a dead man and his thoughts, once again.

Gemma sat back down on the sofa to wait. She closed her eyes as images of Gia and herself as kids floated into view. She smiled as she remembered their secret hiding place in the attic where they'd go to play and speak in twin. It was their special world.

“Look, Gemma. I made this box in art class. We can put all our treasures in it and keep it forever,” Gia said excitedly after school in the third grade as she showed off a pink wooden box with a bright purple flower on the top.

Gemma’s eyes popped open and she sat up so fast Fred almost fell off her lap. “The box!” Frantically Gemma started looking around. Had she seen it when she walked through the apartment? No, she hadn’t.

“It’s got to be here,” she mumbled excitedly as she started pushing aside books and looking in drawers. She felt her blood rushing through her body, suddenly knowing she had to find that box.

She stopped in the middle of the apartment and looked around desperately. It was here, but where? Gemma wandered around again with her head held back, looking at the ceiling and into every nook and cranny. She screamed for joy when she found what she was looking for in the hallway coat closet.

An unseen force urged her to hurry as Gemma grabbed coats and threw them to the ground. She scrambled into the back of the tight closet and ran her hand along the wall. Hidden in the far back corner behind the coats was a small panel painted the same color as the rest of the closet. She pried it open with her nails, not caring when they broke off in her quest.

She tossed the panel to the ground, reached inside the dark space, and pulled out the faded box with Gia and Gemma written on each side of the purple flower. Under the box were three notebooks with a symbol on the bottom of them that she recognized.

Carrying them quickly to the couch, Gemma set everything down on the coffee table and stared at the box. She reached a shaky hand toward the flimsy clasp but froze when she heard a key being inserted into the door. Fred began to growl and she scooped him up along with the box and notebooks, shoving them both into the bag. Police officers didn’t have a key to the apartment, but the person who killed her sister did and she wasn't going to be next.

Her eyes were frantically searching for a way out when they landed on the window behind the desk. The doorknob turned and the door opened a couple of inches before the security chain engaged.

“What the . . .” she heard a man’s voice curse.

Gemma leaped onto the desk, turned the bolt, and threw open the window as the man put his shoulder to the door. She heard the chain pop as she clambered onto the fire escape. She didn’t wait to see who came through the door. In her mind she knew she should get a description for the police, but her fight-or-flight instincts took over and screamed at her to run.

She heard the men yell and jump onto her sister’s desk as she gripped the rails and raced down the tiny metal stairs. Windows started opening as she beat her way downward. The men were gaining and when she glanced up, she saw they were able to take the stairs two at a time.

Neighbors yelled and threatened to call the police. Gemma was concentrating so much on the steep stairs she couldn’t yell for help. In actuality, she was so scared she didn’t think she could form words to call for help. Her only hope was that the police were nearby.

She rounded the third floor and looked frantically around for more stairs. She glanced behind her and saw the feet of two men above her. The stairs ended but she saw the sign to pull the lever for the emergency ladder. With a loud creak, the sound of metal grating against metal reverberated off the surrounding buildings and the ladder slid to the ground.

Hiking her bag further up her shoulder, she turned around and looked into the eyes of the scariest man she’d ever seen. His head was shaved and the lights from the apartments gleamed off his dome. But it was his eyes that scared her the most. They were a menacing black that sent shivers down her spine. A small scar ran the length of his cheek, adding to his dangerous appearance.

Gemma panicked as she felt her foot slip off the step below her.  She gripped the side of the ladder with her sweaty hands as she painfully plummeted to the pavement. Her feet hit with a resounding force, felt through her entire body, and caused her to let go of the ladder. She stumbled backward and straight into a solid wall of muscle.

Cy Davies felt his feet pounding the stairs in the darkened stairwell. He controlled his breathing as the sound of gunfire bounced off the cement walls around him. Straight ahead, the locked door to the roof stood in his way. He just needed to get through it.

His expensive Italian leather shoes slid across the floor as he skidded to a stop in front of the door. He looked behind him as a new round of gunfire erupted. Not wasting any more time, he brought his knee up, lashed out with his foot, and was rewarded with the sound of wood splintering as the door flew open.

He chanced a quick glance behind even though it cost him precious seconds. The shadowed form of a man burst forth from the shadows. Cy grabbed the gun hidden beneath his suit coat and fired a shot down the stairwell before sprinting through the door and into the late afternoon sunlight.

His eyes adjusted quickly as he ran across the graveled rooftop. The crack of a gunshot made him duck his head and dive behind the air conditioning unit before returning fire. He looked around the rooftop and saw the tall buildings of downtown L.A. surrounding him on all sides but one. There was his escape—the shorter bank building across the alley from the business center. He had to make the jump.

He stuck his arm around the side of the air conditioner and fired blindly before shoving the gun back into his holster and sprinting toward the edge of the building. He breathed in deep through his nose to control his heart rate and the adrenaline surging through his body.

He slid to a stop as he looked over the edge of the building. Cy was twenty-six floors up and it looked as if the bank building was two or three stories below. What worried him was the distance across. Below him, cars were so small and people looked like ants. Having heard the gunfire, people were standing at the far end of the street with their heads leaning back. He couldn’t worry about them. He looked across the wide alley and took another deep breath. It was now or never.

He turned around, jogged back a good way, and then turned back toward the edge of the building. He pushed off in a full sprint. His arms sliced through the air as they pumped, urging his body to go faster and faster. If he didn’t have enough speed, he wouldn’t make it over the alley.

He kept his eyes on the building behind the one he intended to land on in order to gauge where he needed to aim his jump, since he wouldn’t be able to see the shorter building until he hit the edge. He stretched his stride and released the adrenaline he had been trying to control. The extra burst prevented him from hesitating when his foot landed on the lip of the building.

Cy reached for the sky and then swung his arms downward as he leapt off the building without a second thought. It was if he were in slow motion. He felt his feet leave the solid rooftop below him as he soared into the air. It was both somehow freeing and oppressive at the same time, as the adrenaline pounded through his body.

By bringing his knees up and propelling his arms, Cy was able to keep the momentum going a little longer. He didn’t chance a look down, knowing it would throw him off balance. Instead he kept his eyes on his landing spot. His body pushed through the hot summer air as he angled through the sky. He felt his body starting to lose momentum just as he cleared the building from above and knew the first part was over. He had made the distance and now he needed to land without breaking anything.

Cy raised his arms above his head as he fell the rest of the way through the air. Exhaling as his feet connected with a solid surface once again, he bent his knees and dipped his left shoulder, causing the momentum from the jump to be shifted forward. He felt the rooftop connect with his shoulder as he rolled over and leapt back up onto his feet. Looking down he dusted off the dirt from his navy blue suit and smiled. He had done it.