Michelle came over, looked, and made a gagging sound. “Put those things away.” She moved to the closet and turned on the light.
I put the printouts back and closed the drawer. “Anything in there?”
Her voice was muffled. “Just some old clothes.” Michelle came out. “Thank God, no dog collars-”
I stood up. “Or bridles.”
Michelle made a face. “You’re disgusting.”
I gave a short laugh. “I’m disgusting? I-” I stopped. I heard voices. Male voices. They were coming from just outside, near the front of the house, and they were getting closer.
Michelle’s eyes got wide. “Holy shit.”
Alex was still fiddling with the smoke alarm. I tapped his leg and whispered, “Alex, forget that thing. We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Turn off the light. You guys go. I’ll be okay. It’ll just be a minute.”
I turned off the light, but I wasn’t about to leave him there by himself. “Michelle, take off. They won’t see you if you go out that way.” I pointed to the sliding glass door at the far end of the room that opened onto the beach.
She looked from me to Alex. I could tell she didn’t want to go, but her face had drained of color, and she was shaking. I could feel my heart pounding, too. If the condition of that living room was any indication, these guys were not the peaceful type. And I didn’t have my gun. The voices got louder. It sounded like they were nearing the front door.
Alex looked down at me. He whispered, “Can you get me a pair of tweezers? There might be some in the bathroom.”
Michelle pulled on his pants leg. “No! Alex, forget it. We’ve got to get out of here.”
But Alex shook his head. There was no point wasting time arguing. I ran to the bathroom and searched the drawers, found an old pair, raced back, and handed it up to him. “Hurry. Please.”
Alex used the edge to unscrew the plastic plate. But the alarm was attached to the ceiling by wires. “Alex, I don’t know what you think that is, but it looks like a real smoke alarm to me. Let it go.”
And then I heard the front door open. Heavy footsteps thudded on the wooden floor and headed into the kitchen. I heard a male voice say, “Put this in the fridge for later.” Another male voice laughed. The refrigerator opened, then closed.
Michelle moved toward the sliding glass door and whispered, “Come on, Alex!” She opened the door and took a step out. Then suddenly, she jumped back inside. Her voice shook as she said, “There’re two more right outside.”
“Two more… what?” I asked.
“Guys.” Michelle was so white I thought she was going to faint. “And they don’t look like they belong in this ’hood.”
I pulled Michelle away from the door, slid it, and shoved her toward the closet. “Alex, we’ve got to go!”
“Just one more sec. Almost got it.”
I wanted to yank him off the bed and drag him out of there, but I was afraid to make noise. Exasperated, I went over to the bed and held my phone up to give him light. I whispered with as much heat as I could, “Wrap it up, Alex. Or we might not live to see whatever you think you’ve got there.”
I listened for the voices of the men outside the house. They were faint. It was hard to tell how close they were over the sound of breaking waves. Should we wait? If we did, maybe they’d move on. But I could hear the others moving around in the kitchen. If they decided to come and kick it in the bedroom, we were toast. And that could happen any second now. “Alex, come on!”
Finally, Alex pulled the alarm free. “Got it!” But he’d spoken out loud.
A voice just down the hall said, “What the fuck was that?”
There was no choice now. I went to the closet, grabbed Michelle by the hand, and headed to the sliding glass door. I listened again. The voices outside sounded like they were coming from the right. I turned back to Alex and pointed to the left. He nodded.
I slid the door open and stepped out as quietly as I could. Michelle was right behind me. I whispered to Michelle over my shoulder, “Go!”
I ran as fast and hard as I could. But running through sand feels like one of those nightmares where your feet are lead weights and the monster’s breath is hot on your back. I heard the men shouting behind me, but I kept going. Over my right shoulder, I could hear Michelle wheezing as she tried to keep up. My throat and chest were burning and I noticed that I was wheezing, too. When I glanced back, I saw that Alex was at least twenty feet behind Michelle. I knew he was faster than both of us. He was deliberately hanging back to give us cover.
I kept running, though now every breath felt like a knife scraping through my lungs. Finally I reached the nearest neighbor’s backyard. I ran through it on purpose, hoping someone might see us and call the police but I didn’t see any lights on inside. No hope there. It was getting too painful to breathe, and I could feel my footsteps slowing. When I got to the far edge of the property, I turned left and headed for the street. Michelle was right behind me. As I neared the street, the shouts grew louder. I turned to look over my shoulder and saw two rough-looking men coming up fast behind Alex.
The car was only twenty yards away, but they were gaining on him-and he had the car keys. I did the only thing I could think of. I pushed a button on my phone to make the screen light up and held it over my head. I took a deep, searingly painful breath and screamed, “I’m calling the police!”
The men slowed, but they didn’t stop. I glanced at the nearest houses. Surely the neighbors must’ve heard me? If they did, they were ignoring me. No one came out. I tried to yell again, but my throat was raw and I could barely breathe. All that came out was a strangled croak. The only thing I could think to do was to keep holding my phone up as I backed toward the car. Alex was running at full speed, and I saw that he was finally pulling away from the men. As he drew near, he reached out, the remote in his hand, and I heard the beep beep of the car alarm. We were only ten yards away from the car, but the squatters had started to run again. I tried to yell, “Hurry!” but my voice was shot. Frantic, I waved my arms at Alex, then turned and raced to the car. Michelle had already run past me; she was getting into the back seat. I turned back and saw that Alex had made it out to the street, but one of the men was right behind him.
I got to the car and stopped. What could I do? Frantic, I looked around for something to throw. I saw the extra bottle of Diet Coke I’d bought at lunch on the passenger side floor. I yanked open the door, snatched it up, and hurled it at the man. It was the Hail Mary pass of all time. But somehow, I managed to hit him on the head. It startled him-probably more than it hurt him. But it stopped him just long enough to give Alex time to get to the car. We both jumped in. Alex fired up the engine and hit the door lock just as one of the men slammed his body into the rear driver’s-side door. Michelle screamed. But Alex punched the gas and the man fell back. We sped out of there.
I lay back in the seat, gasping for air. I didn’t have enough wind to talk until we turned on to Pacific Coast Highway. My voice sounded like sandpaper scraping concrete. “Alex, that smoke alarm better be linked to the Pentagon or I’ll kill you.”