Truth or Lies? by A. Gomez (book club recommendations txt) 📗

just having a few drinks with the boss man… and he had a couple chocolates,” I snickered, trying to control my urge to laugh even louder.

“Seriously?” Caroline eyed me annoyed. “You can say kerfuffle but you can’t say my last name?”

I began to giggle, “I know, right? Go figure!”

Debbie looked at her watch, her eyes then flickered to me. “What’s behind your back? And why is Caroline out of her room?”

“Wait. What? Caroline is here?”

“I don’t have time for games, Isabel. Caroline, she’s right beside you. Why is she here with you?”

“Oh! My! Gosh! Caroline is here?” I had a ridiculous grin. Caroline snickered. “Now we can play a game!”

“Isabel, are you drunk?”

“No. Are you?” Caroline let out a loud laugh. I laughed with her.

“Where’s Victor? I’m calling An,” she turned to leave.

“Wait, wait. Before you go, since we’re all here now, I know the perfect game we can play—cops and robbers! We’ll be the cops and you can be the robber.” I aimed my gun at her and shot her twice. Once in the shoulder and once in the thigh. She dropped with a thud. Debbie was screaming.

“Shut up,” I said aiming my gun at her face, “or I’ll kill you.” She quickly stopped. I leaned over her and whispered, “That’s what happens, Debbie, when you’re a robber… you get shot.”

“Damn, Isabel Grace. That’s not bad for being drunk.”

“And it was easier to shoot her too, since I’m buzzed. I didn’t mind it so much this time,” I declared. We swiftly taped her legs and hands together like a calf in a rodeo. We heard several heavy footsteps running in our direction. “Caro,” I whispered, “let’s hide. I hear giants coming our way.”

“Those are Chang’s men, Isabel! They heard the gun fire!” she hissed.

“Oh, yeah,” I snickered. “Duh.”

“Isabel Grace, of all times to get drunk… at least you’re a funny drunk, I’ll give you that.” Caroline frowned. “Just aim your gun and be ready.”

“Always,” I scoffed. “We are the orcas and they’re the sharks,” I said, checking my magazine. “We will hunt them as a group, take their liver out, eat it and rip them in half.”

“Uh, Isabel? What the hell?” Caroline was puzzled.

“What? Haven’t you ever watched Shark Week?”

She rolled her eyes. We hid behind the sidewall and didn’t have to wait too long before the men found Debbie. It was two henchmen. They didn’t bother helping Debbie. They drew their guns and started walking in our direction. I got down on one knee, wishing I had my huntin’ rifle so I could have better control. I came out from behind the wall and put two bullets in each man. They dropped like a sack of potatoes. Their guns fell out of their hands and skidded a few steps away from them. “Woohoo! Told ya I couldn’t miss.” I held my fist out and she gave me a light fist bump, grinning.

“Shit! Isabel! They’re still alive!” Her grin quickly fell away. “You know you have to kill them or else they’ll kill us and the rest of the girls.”

“How can you tell? They look pretty dead to me.” I lightly kicked one of them with my foot.

“Well, that one just groaned and moved.” Caroline exhaled angrily, “I’ll take care of this. You just go get the gun that’s farthest away.” She picked up one of the guns and shot both men in the head. Surely, they had to be dead after a blow to the head like that. Blood was everywhere and running out of the bodies. It was making my stomach do summersaults. I swallowed convulsively, trying not to vomit. I looked over at Debbie and noticed that her eyes were closed. Probably from all the blood loss. I didn’t kill her but I might as well have since she was going to bleed to death if we didn’t get her to a hospital. Don’t think, Isabel, just survive.

37

Caroline disappeared to another room. I ran after her, calling her name. She had found three more jammers and was busy unplugging and hiding them. We heard men yelling, in Chinese this time, and the sound of tires screeching in protest on the driveway. Shit! The other men must have called for backup. We heard the yelling coming from upstairs now. The watchdogs must be looking for all the girls now.

“How many bullets do you have left?” Caroline asked in a rushed tone.

“I have six left but I also have two extra guns. What are you thinking?”

“We fight. There may be too many of them for us to take on but we can take as many as we can of them before they get us,” Caroline said with a dark look in her eyes. “Like I said… I’d rather die than live like this.”

“Yee-haw, cowgirl,” I answered with a wicked smirk. I couldn’t say no to her. It truly was a fate worse than death. I gave her one of the guns and quickly showed her how to use it.

“I’ve been waiting to kill these assholes for an entire year now,” she muttered.

“Just remember not to shoot me,” I warned.

“I should be saying that to you,” Caroline said, sounding irked. “You’re the drunk one.”

I snickered. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Isabel Grace, I know you’re drunk but it’s starting to get annoying. Nothing that we’re doing is funny.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she sighed. “Let’s just find some Triads to shoot.”

The yelling stopped and then gunfire started. We gasped and stared at each other. Caroline’s eyes were bulging. Were they shooting at the girls? Had they found them?

We quickly raced toward the stairs in the kitchen. We stopped short just outside the kitchen, in the hallway where the shutters were allowed to be open. Three men were there.