Page 81 of Redemption
“I always knew you’d come for me, boss. Let’s go.”
She hops out of the rocker where she’s been waiting. From under the blanket that was on her lap, she pulls out a baseball cap. Wrapping her hair into a knot, she puts it on and tosses the blanket aside.
She was ready to go. For some reason, the fact comforts me and makes me think my insane plan might just actually work.
“We have to ditch our gear.”
“We?” J asks.
“Where can we leave it that no one will find it?”
Like the genius she is, J calculates quickly. “Go out through the kitchen. There’s an incinerator, where the gear can go, and a couple of aprons and chef’s hats you can put on. The cameras miss a section, so no one will see you change.”
I want to laugh because it doesn’t surprise me at all that J knows exactly how to escape this place. She’s attempted it many times, resulting in increased security. Hence the need for the diversion.
“Do you need me to start a fire while you change?” she asks.
Of course she would.
“No. Let’s go. Lead the way.” I hold out an arm, and she hustles in front of me.
Like she’s imagined this a million times, J jogs down the back set of stairs, which leads directly to the kitchen.
“Aprons and chef’s hats are in here. Change quickly,” she says, waving us into a storage room. “The incinerator is by the back door. Hurry. The real fire department will be here soon. They take way longer than you guys did.”
“I don’t even need to ask you why you know that,” I say as I yank off the helmet and toss it on the floor.
“What in the fuck?” J’s shocked exclamation grabs my attention as I unhook the jacket.
Whipping my head around, I see her staring at Marco.
“There’s two of you,” she whispers. Her head jerks back and forth between us as we both strip off the firemen’s gear.
“I can explain. Later.”
J’s eyes are wide and wild. “Am I really fucking crazy?”
I snap my fingers at her, and she looks at me. “Twins. Long story. I’ll tell you as soon as we’re out of here.”
With shock and confusion throwing off her equilibrium, J blinks over and over, looking from one of us to the other.
“Aprons. Chef's hats. Incinerator. Focus, J. I need you.”
My words are all it takes to knock her back into a state of semi-normalcy.
“Got it, boss.” She swings around and yanks chef’s coats from a tall metal locker and tosses them to us. The hats come next.
Outfitted in completely different attire, I nod to J.
“You lead us out. Point to the incinerator, and we’ll shove the gear in. We’re heading through the back garden?—”
“Down the embankment, through the live oaks, and out to the road,” J finishes for me. “It’s exactly the way I’d go if there was a car picking me up. Quickest way to disappear. You can head straight for the highway.”
“Good. Then, you know exactly where we’re going. Hurry.”
She nods repeatedly, glancing once more at Marco, and then shoots forward out of the utility closet.
It’s only a few steps to the incinerator chute and the back door. Within sixty seconds, we’re already through the back garden and down the embankment. As the wail of the real sirens close in, we’ve reached the live oaks—just in time to see Joy pull up in the fire truck.
