Maya Banks - Whispers in the Dark

 Only empty silence greeted her plea.

 “She’s not there, damn it!”

 Nathan touched her arm. “Don’t get worked up, Shea. You don’t know that anything has happened to her. I need you to stay calm and focused.”

 She blew out her breath and battled tears of rage and frustration. How was she supposed to be calm and focused? She was standing in the place where her parents had been murdered. A place that her sister had come back to and from which she had now disappeared.

 Glass exploded around them, sending slivers slicing over Shea’s neck and shoulders. Then she hit the floor as Nathan threw her down and covered her with his body.

 “Cover your ears and close your eyes!” he yelled hoarsely.

 She barely had time to close her eyes before a loud explosion registered and then splashes of color appeared in her vision even though her eyes were tightly shut. Her hands over her ears did little to buffer her from the concussion of sound.

 Before she could collect herself, Nathan was dragging her toward the panic room. She stumbled as she got to her feet but promptly staggered. Her balance was off and her ears were ringing. Those damn patches of black still obscured her vision and no amount of blinking made them go away.

 Behind her, more breaking glass and then the shattering of wood urged her forward.

 The world spun so crazily around her that nausea rose sharply. Her head hurt. Her ears throbbed and she felt sick as a dog.

 Finally Nathan hoisted her over his shoulder and ran the rest of the way toward the panic room. As soon as they were inside, he tossed her down, slammed the door and set the locks.

 The gun. She’d dropped the damn gun.

 She held her hands to her head and staggered upward, willing the room to stop spinning.

 “What the hell was that?”

 “Flash grenade. Can you see? I need your help here. Do you know anything about the surveillance system?”

 She shook her head to rid herself of the residual effects. Nathan sounded like he was a mile away but at least her vision was slowly ridding itself of the spots. Her head hurt like a son of a bitch.

 “What do you want to do? I know a little. Just what my dad showed me and Grace when he set everything up.”

 Nathan pointed to the monitor that showed two men stealthily moving into the kitchen from the garage door. She gasped, her mind becoming sharper as she stared at the guns they held.

 “I need to get this surveillance to my brothers. Do you have the passwords to the computer system? We have to be quick. I want to upload the footage of these jokers so we find out what we can about them.”

 For a moment she blanked.

 “Come on, Shea. Think. We have to get out of here. These aren’t your average baddies here. Your high-tech security system won’t withstand a grenade. They’ll just blow a hole in the damn wall.”

 “It’s—it’s DLGSP.”

 “That’s it?”

 “No. No, just give me a second.”

 “We don’t have a second, Shea. Give me the rest of it, damn it.”

 She closed her eyes and replayed inputting the password. The first letter of each family member’s name in order of age. Then the number of members.

 “It’s 4. The number 4 and then Peterson spelled back- ward. All uppercase. NOSRETEP. The entire password is DLGSP4NOSRETEP.”

 Nathan typed in the letters and then entered a series of commands. He watched one of the monitors and zoomed in one of the men, who moved slowly down the hallway toward the panic room. He took a series of still shots and then captured a thirty-second video.

 Shea surged forward. “Oh my God, Nathan. The cameras would have caught Grace when she was here! We’d know what happened to her!”

 Nathan cursed and muttered under his breath as his fingers flew across the keyboard. “I’ll have to start the upload of that entire day and just hope it doesn’t get interrupted if they blow this place. We don’t have time to babysit it.”

 “They’re coming down the hall,” she said urgently. She frowned and leaned forward as one of the men began attaching something to the wall. “What are they doing?”

 “They’re preparing to blow their way in here.”

 She glanced frantically around, cursing again that she’d dropped the gun when the flash grenade had gone off. She reached for the pistol tucked into Nathan’s back waistband, pulled it out and pointed it toward the wall.

 “Come on, come on,” Nathan murmured as he hunched over the keyboard. He pounded a key and then reached for Shea. “Let’s go.”

 He pushed her ahead of him and into the tunnel. After they’d gone just a few steps, another explosion rocked the pathway. The walls shuddered and she stumbled.

 “Run!” Nathan urged.

 They fled down the passageway. She hit the bottom rung of the ladder and started to scramble up, but Nathan grabbed her ankle.

 “Get your gun up. I’ll cover you from behind. Don’t hesitate to shoot. I’ll be right behind you.”

 She gripped the pistol tighter and then hauled herself up the rungs. At the top she only hesitated a moment before she leaped through the opening and rolled rapidly away, her gun up.

 Seeing no one, she called down to Nathan, “All clear!” But he was already pulling himself over the edge.

“Get to the jeep. They won’t be far behind.”

She got up and ran.

When they got to where Nathan had parked the jeep, to her surprise, he directed her toward the driver’s seat. “How are you behind the wheel?”

 “I can drive.”

 “You’ll know the area better than I do. Get us the hell out of here and I’ll try to keep any heat off us.”

 She jumped into the driver’s seat, still holding the pistol in her left hand. She keyed the ignition and roared onto the bumpy path leading back to the highway.

 “Any particular destination?” she yelled.

 “Just keep off the main roads and get us as far from here as possible. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

 She spun gravel and dirt in a wide arc when she turned onto the highway. She pressed the accelerator to the floor and checked her rearview mirror for any sign they were being followed.

 As they approached the driveway to her parents’ house, a black SUV shot forward to block the road. She slammed on the brakes and jerked the wheel to the left to avoid a collision.

 She hit the ditch on the opposite side and nearly flipped. The jeep went up on two wheels and she wrestled for control. The jeep came down with enough force to jar her teeth and she rammed her foot to the floor once more.

 Nathan jerked around in his seat, leaned out the window and fired off several rounds. Glass shattered in one of the SUV’s windows and a tire blew as the vehicle attempted to execute a turn around to pursue them.

 “Nice shot,” Shea yelled.

 “Keep driving. I’m sure they have more than one vehicle.”

 She glanced in the rearview mirror to see yet another SUV barreling up on them. “Yeah. I’d say you’re right about that.”

 She rounded a sharp corner and did a double take when a Suburban crossed the center lane, then veered into her lane before easing back over just enough to straddle the dotted line.

 “I’ve always sucked at chicken.”

 “Huh?” Nathan said without turning around. He squeezed off another set of rounds.

 Shea gripped the pistol in one hand, leaned as far to the left as she could while still maintaining control of the jeep and began firing at the oncoming SUV.

 That got Nathan’s attention. He jerked around just as the windshield exploded on the SUV and it veered wildly to the right after one of the front tires came apart, tossing pieces of rubber in all directions.

 Shea passed on the left after yelling at Nathan to duck. Surprisingly, he didn’t offer a single argument. Once they were past, he rose cautiously back up and glanced over at her, a glimmer of a smile curving his lips.

 “You’re such a badass. I like that about you.”

 “They off our tail?”

 “Yes, ma’am. All clear, at least for now. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

 She glanced sideways at him. “You got a plan?”

 “Yeah. It’s time to call in reinforcements.”

SHEA drove steadily east, keeping to smaller roads as Nathan had directed. It had been hard for her not to hit the interstate at the first opportunity. Wouldn’t their pursuers expect them to stick to rural roads? Wouldn’t it be safer on the interstate where there were more cars?

 Trying to psychoanalyze a faceless enemy had left her exhausted and on edge. She kept constant look out the rearview mirror until her neck ached from all the back and forth.

 “Pull over,” Nathan said.

 Startled, she glanced over at him.

 He pointed to the sign for an upcoming gas station. “Pull in there so we can get gas, but first, we’ll switch so that I’m driving. I want you to stay in the passenger seat and pretend to be asleep. There’s a blanket and a cap. Pull it low over your face and cover up with the blanket. You’ve got cuts from the glass. I don’t want to raise any suspicions, nor do I want anyone to get a good look at you.”

 She pulled to the side of the road and they hurriedly rotated. He handed her the blanket and arranged the cap over her hair, pulling it low so her eyes weren’t visible. After he was satisfied that she was sufficiently covered, he pulled back on the highway.

 A few moments later, the jeep slowed.

 “We’re pulling in. Keep still and pretend you’re asleep. I’ll pay the guy in cash so I don’t have to get out.”