. The impact sent a painful shockwave up her arms, but the

lf to inhale deeply through her nose and exhale through her

uthoritative voice echoing in the hallway. He was

ed. Hector's voice murmured a res

narrow crack between the door an

," Alonzo ordered, his tone devoid of any emo

eeze every supplementary credit card under her name. Instru

a second. "Sir, should I call the

hrowing a hysterical tantrum. Starve her for a f

ttle Arthur and Clio running up

ckeningly gentle. "Pack your things, kids. Mo

omplained loudly, his childish voice lace

pping with calculated, hypocritical warmth. "We are going to stay at the penthouse in the city for

the heavy thud of the front doors closing echoed through the ho

a suffocating, dead silence.

one still lying on the rumpled bed where she had tossed it earlier. She walk

r own faded jeans from the pile. She stepped into them, buttoned the waist, and smoothed the rough denim against her thigh

to her ear. There was no dial tone. Just dead air. She traced the plastic cord down to the w

ne. She tapped the screen. In the top right corner, the

l signal jammers. He had severed her last

the brass handles and pushed. They were locked tight. She tapped her

nearly twenty feet above the stone patio below

es scattered across the floor. A heavy, c

tal bed, gasping for air while the monitor

predatory light sparked in her eyes. She

s open. She dug through the makeup brushes and velvet pou

d out a pair of stainless steel eyebrow scissors.

t front pocket of her jeans. It was a

the window slowly faded into a deep, bruisi

the edge of the mattress in the dark, her p

pping softly on the carpeted hallway approache