“Isa,” I repeated.
“She can go after we get the cash,” Troy objected.
“The…how do you know there’s cash here to steal?”
“A little birdie told me. I can’t give their name.”
I knew this was coming. He only would’ve come here for one thing, and it was to rob the place. How low did you have to be to steal from a house of worship?
“You go ahead and do that, she’s allowed to leave whenever she wants. Isa, please.”
She took a step towards us and faltered, still wearing the same outfit I’d left her in beneath a thick pea-coat. “Maybe just let him see if he can find it?”
“Why do you keep letting that man drag you down?” Jessica admonished.
I stared at my sister, laughing in disbelief when she didn’t say anything. Troy’s smug expression was the tipping point for what I could handle.
Did she enjoy being a doormat? I just didn’t understand her anymore. Not even a few hours ago she didn’t even want to marry this man, but it was perfectly fine to stick beside him why he did stupid shit like this?
“What was the point in calling me out here, Isa?”
I ran a hand over my brow in frustration. How had my night started so great just to end like this?
“You know what, you stay here and help your piece of shit boyfriend rack up felonies. I’m going home. If you get caught don’t call me, I want nothing to do with this.”
I turned and headed back towards the way we came in, grabbing hold of Jessica and Kyle to take them with me. I kept walking when my sister called for me again. I refused to stop and listen to anything else she had to say. I was so tired of this cycle.
She needed to grow up and stop catering to the man who would be her downfall. And Draven, how could I ever explain this to him if they were caught? How would he explain why his church looked like Pinhead’s playground?
Either way, it went I would be betraying him or my sister if I chose a side. Reaching the double doors, I went to pull the left open, frowning when it didn’t so much as budge.
Grabbing both rounded handles, I pulled and pushed to no avail, not getting so much as a rattle. We were stuck.
“These doors are locked.”
“How? From the outside?” Jess stepped up beside me and began to run her hands over them. “Why is there no visible lock?”
“Maybe it’s automatic,” I suggested lamely.
“Do you think someone triggered it? There could be cameras in here.”
Fuck. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was highly likely that there were in fact cameras inside of this building, which meant Draven would know we’d been here no matter what I did.
“We’re completely fucked.” I took a step back, placing both hands on the back of my head.
“Not yet we aren’t. There has to be another way out,” Kyle replied.
“He’s right. Let’s get the money and then find it,” Troy cut in.
I laughed humorlessly and turned to face him. “You still want to find the money? This isn’t a sign to you how bad of an idea that is—how terrible this whole plan of yours was?”
“She’s right, Troy. Please,” my sister pleaded.
“Can everyone just calm down?” He demanded, his face pinching in irritation. “The doors probably are on a timer or something. There’s too much money at stake here to leave now. This would set us up really well, babe. Think of the baby. Let’s get the cash and wait until the doors unlock.”
“Teaching your child great moral values already,” I deadpanned. “Do you have a plan to explain why you’re in here when the doors unlock, and you come face to face with Draven?”
Isabel looked at him and shook her head. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do this with you. Can we find a way out?” she directed her question at the three of us.
“I’m with her man. I knew this was a bad idea. Robbing a place like this is bound to bring bad karma,” Dennis seconded.
“Fuck all of this and the money. Isa is pregnant. Can we focus on getting her and us out of here before someone or a whole fleet of people show up?” Jessica ranted.
I was starting to feel a lot better about her tagging along.
“You know what? You all go look for an exit and I’ll go find the money.”
He turned and began walking towards the right side of the room. This place was huge, I couldn’t imagine searching through the rooms. Who knows what the hell was inside of them?
A door slamming shut echoed from what could have been anywhere, causing everyone to freeze. Almost all of the lights cut off, plunging us into near-total darkness. This had to be the result of someone controlling things from somewhere else.
My breath caught in my chest. There was a fleeting moment of silence rapidly replaced by footsteps, multiple from the sound of it.
“Fuck,” Dennis breathed harshly.
Jessica and Kyle moved closer to me. I grabbed for them prepared to run.
I had no damn clue where to go but standing around like a welcome committee was the last thing, I thought we should do.
Troy took hold of Isa’s hand and pulled her into his side, removing the gun I didn’t know he had from his waistband. That was the last possible thing his dumbass needed.
I sucked in a breath as movement came from the left side of the room, from just inside one of the arched doorways that were full of darkness.
“Go!” I hissed at Kyle and Jessica, shoving them forward and darting to the right.
Troy and Isa headed in the same direction, zipping right by Dennis. We all weaved between the pews, the sound of increased movement shattering the silence around us. They were whispering to one another, nothing more than a shadow until a few made their presence more known.
In hooded robes of black, faces masked or painted to represent death, they blended with the shadows, wasting no time devouring us one by one.
Dennis cried out from behind me. I didn’t dare look to see why. My heart was seconds away from busting out of my chest, my stomach had plunged into my ass.
Everything thereafter happened in an almost dream sequence. Isa’s sudden scream had me shoving self-preservation to the side. I turned my head but didn’t stop my forward momentum. Where the hell did, she go?
My lack of attention had me colliding with one of the hooded figures as they emerged from the darkness like an apparition. Their face was covered completely.
I reflexively jerked back, slamming into another. A scream erupted from my throat as hands took hold of me, their grip strong enough to bruise.
From the row of pews beside mine, Jessica was apprehended and dragged off like a ragdoll, disappearing into the void, her screams abruptly cutting off.
I struggled futilely until a thick cloth was pressed over my nose and mouth, a sweet smell filling my lungs as I too was carted off. The sound of a gun discharging followed my descent into oblivion.
CHAPTER SEVEN
My body felt as if it’d been dragged behind a train for miles on end. Dragging a tingling palm over my grubby face, I worked my jaw to cure its stiffness and peeled my eyes open, finding myself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Memories of what had gone down in the last twenty-four hours came rushing back.
With a sharp inhalation, I slammed my hands onto ribbed concrete and hoisted myself into a sitting position, immediately feeling a cinch around my midsection.