Sharks - Matt Rogers (classic books for 11 year olds txt) 📗

bunker down?’

Violetta said, ‘Happily. What are you two doing?’

King was already in the living room, and he tore the sofa cushions away to reveal one of the HK417 rifles, new and shiny and loaded with a full mag. He hefted it into his hands.

He said, ‘We’re going to the Barrows’. Something tells me Walcott’s going to want to speak to them.’

‘You promised you’d keep them safe,’ Violetta said. ‘You promised you’d wrap this up without involving them.’

King brandished the rifle. ‘Circumstances change. Now it’s a Catch-22. We have to involve them to keep them safe.’

‘Go, then,’ Violetta said.

Slater reached behind the television stand and hefted his own HK into one hand. King snatched up a belt of ammunition — spare mags for the HKs and a flashbang grenade.

Together they ran for the car.

49

The jeep roared into Sunrise Park, ruining the morning bliss.

King burned rubber tearing into the Barrows’ street, then screeched to a halt out front.

The doors and windows on the front façade were intact. Their old Honda Civic was in the driveway. The sun made the lawn shine. Aside from their chaotic entrance, there was no commotion on the street, no screams or gunshots coming from within the residence.

Slater said, ‘Rifles?’

King thought it over. ‘If nothing’s wrong I don’t want to traumatise the kid.’

Slater unholstered his Glock. ‘This’ll do.’

King didn’t want to waste any more time.

In the interest of haste he vaulted over the closed driver’s door instead of opening it and jogged fast to the porch. He mounted the steps as quietly as he could, listening hard for anything he could hear from the other side of the door.

Nothing.

Not a peep.

He put the gun behind his back, stepped to the door and knocked three times, fast and sharp.

A muffled sound from within.

Like a wounded animal mewling.

Slater heard it too.

From over King’s shoulder he said, ‘Shit,’ then barrelled past and grabbed the handle and twisted.

The door was unlocked.

They spilled in together, ran through the confined hallway, and burst into the living room where they’d first met Lyla Barrow.

She was there, alone on the couch, sobbing into her hands.

She’d been crying.

That was what they’d heard.

She looked up when they came in with resignation on her face, as if half-expecting to meet the wrong end of a gun.

King said, ‘What is it?’

Her eyes red and her face messy, she said, ‘Teddy’s gone.’

50

Slater said, ‘What do you mean he’s gone?’

King could sense the man calculating timelines, trying to fit the whole mess together.

She said, ‘I walked to the shops for groceries. I came back and he wasn’t here. Thirty years together and he’s never disappeared without telling me where.’

‘When was this?’

‘An hour ago.’

King looked all around, unblinking. ‘Lyla, where’s Caleb?’

‘In his room with his headphones on,’ she said. ‘Watching a movie. I didn’t want him to see me like this.’

King breathed out.

But not for long.

Slater reiterated. ‘Lyla, when was this?’

‘I don’t know,’ she sighed. ‘Maybe an hour and a half ago.’

‘Maybe?’

‘I don’t know…’

‘Not in the last thirty-five minutes?’

Her brow furrowed. ‘No. Not in the last thirty-five minutes. What’s happened in the last thirty-five minutes?’

As if it weren’t obvious enough, King said to Slater, ‘Before. Not after.’

Slater nodded his understanding.

Lyla said, ‘Before what? What did you two do?’

‘Nothing yet,’ King said. ‘But if Teddy went missing in the last thirty-five minutes things would be worse.’

‘How could things be worse?’ she said. ‘The people who probably have him … they’re not going to do good things to him. Oh, God.’

She trailed off.

Then a wave of realisation struck her.

Her gaze burned straight through them. ‘Get out of my house.’

‘What?’ Slater said.

‘Everything was fine before you two showed up!’ she shouted, losing the grandmotherly gentleness in an instant. ‘I told you we didn’t need your help! Now look what you’ve done!’

‘Lyla,’ King said.

She held up a hand. ‘No, please. Leave this family alone. I can see it in the two of you. You’re tainted. Bad things follow you everywhere. Look what you’ve done to this household.’

Slater said, ‘You did it to yourself.’

She stared at him with a fury that belied her age. ‘My husband borrowed the money. Not me.’

‘I thought you were in it together,’ Slater said. ‘I thought you were one and the same.’

She didn’t say anything.

Slater said, ‘We’re going to help you. We’re going to fix this. But right now you need to stop blaming us and start helping us.’

‘Me?’ she said. ‘What could I possibly do to help? Look at me.’

Slater said, ‘This is bad but not irreversible. Was Caleb home with Teddy when you went to the shops?’

‘Yes.’

‘So if someone took him, they left the boy. Which means they’re level-headed. They’re not going to do anything extreme yet.’

But that’s not what happened, Slater thought. He left of his own free will.

He couldn’t say it.

Not yet.

He thought he knew why, but it was so outlandish, so insane, that he needed confirmation before he floated the idea and potentially destroyed a marriage forever.

Lyla took a breath, but it caught in her throat. She gulped it down and it seemed to level her out. ‘Okay…’

‘But we still need to move now,’ Slater said. ‘We need an immediate path to Dylan Walcott.’

She said, ‘I don’t know anything about him. I don’t know where he is.’

‘But you have friends on the island, right?’ Slater said. ‘People your age?’

Lyla hesitated. ‘Yes. But—?’

Slater said, ‘You know people who’ve borrowed money from Walcott’s thugs. When times were tough.’

She said, ‘How’d you know?’

‘You said he lent money to hurricane victims hand-over-fist. I doubt everyone you know escaped Dorian unscathed.’

She said, ‘Yes, I have some friends who needed money…’

‘We need someone who they regularly collect from,’ Slater said. ‘At predetermined times. Preferably coming up sometime soon today.’

She didn’t want to say it.

Slater said, ‘Lyla, if we’re going to fix this mess, then that’s where we need to start. If you withhold it from us, it’s only going to make things worse.’

She said, ‘No.’

Slater didn’t respond.

King said, ‘Lyla…’

‘Please don’t involve my friends in this. You’ve caused enough damage.’

King said, ‘Not us.