Sidney was the quiet one in the family. She was an observer, not a participant, which was why she, like Lyra, was going to be so good in the field they had chosen. She was also independent and determined to live her life on her own terms. In general, she wanted her brothers to stay out of her business and let her make her own decisions—good or bad—but what happened this afternoon was different. Lyra needed their help. Sidney realized that her best friend was in serious danger. Hopefully, one of her brothers would figure out why.
Sidney decided to wait until they were done at the hospital before making the call. Lyra had followed the ambulance in her car so that Sidney would have a way home.
The physician on duty in the emergency room examined Sidney and then ordered an X-ray and a CT scan. “To be safe,” he said. The results were good. Sidney had a mild concussion, but it wasn’t necessary for her to stay overnight. On the drive back home, she nagged Lyra to stop at the store to get some desperately needed chocolate, and Lyra gave in.
“I called maintenance,” Lyra said when they were back in traffic.
“What for?”
“The apartment door. Hank should be putting the frame back together now. If those men broke the lock, Hank will put a new one in. I chose this apartment because it was so close to campus but also because I thought it was safe. The electronic gate and the proximity to the police station … safety outweighed how tiny the apartment was. How did they get inside the main entrance?”
“They probably followed another tenant in. Getting into our apartment was easier. That front door is so old, one good kick and they’re inside.”
“They tried the lock first,” Lyra said. “There were scratches all over it.”
“I noticed that,” Sidney admitted, “but I didn’t notice the frame was messed up until I was walking inside.” She shook her head. “I wasn’t paying attention. I’ve gotten lazy.”
“Me, too,” Lyra said. “Tell me what happened next.”
“One of them grabbed me. The other guy pulled out a photo, looked at it, and shook his head. He said, ‘It’s the other one.’”
“The other one?”
“You, Lyra.”
Lyra slowed down when they reached their street. They could both see their apartment door. Hank wasn’t working on it.
He must have already finished, Lyra thought. She pulled up to the gate and pushed the numbers. The parking lot gate slowly opened.
“Did you see the photo? Where did they get a picture of me?” she asked as she drove through.
“Someone’s been watching you. The photo was of the two of us walking across the quad.”
“This is so creepy,” Lyra whispered. She pulled into her parking spot and turned off the motor.
“Yes, it is,” Sidney agreed. “The one holding me loosened his grip, and I kicked him hard you know where. That got him mad and he punched me right under the chin. Knocked me out. I’m kind of surprised I didn’t chip a tooth. I don’t know how long I was out, but when I woke up, I stayed still and kept my eyes closed so I could listen to them talking. They were waiting for you to get home, and were planning to take you somewhere. I think they wanted you to give them something.”
“What?”
“I have no idea. Neither of them said what they were after. That’s all I got before you opened the door.”
“Come on. Let’s go upstairs. I want this day to end.”
“I want chocolate,” Sidney said as she followed Lyra, who had pepper spray and her keys in her hands and a box of chocolates tucked under her arm.
“I want a Taser,” Lyra said. “And mace … lots of mace.”
“Are either of those legal in California?”
Lyra shrugged.
Sidney followed her toward the apartment building.
“How’s your poor little leg?” Sidney asked. “I can’t believe you were shot and didn’t say anything when the police got here.”
Lyra laughed. “No big deal. The paramedic was so sweet. How’s your head?”
“Throbbing.”
Once up the stairs, they hesitantly approached their door. The same lock was there, scratches and all, but the frame was repaired.
“We should get a second deadbolt,” Sidney suggested.
Lyra agreed. “Definitely.”
“Wait until you see what they did to the bedrooms. They were definitely looking for something.”
“Jewelry and money?”
“We don’t have any jewelry or money.”
“I’ll go in first,” Lyra said, holding up the pepper spray as she unlocked the door and pushed it open. Blessedly, the apartment was empty. And an awful mess. It would take a solid day to get everything straightened. Drawers had been pulled out, clothes ripped from their hangers, and matresses overturned.
“I’m going to call my sister,” Sidney said. “But I’ll make my bed first because I’m going to be on the phone all night.”
“I’ll make your bed. You relax. Jordan’s a talker, huh?”
“Not really. We’ll probably only talk for ten minutes, but she’ll tell her husband what happened, and he’ll tell my brothers, and you can bet that soon enough all of them will be calling you and me.”
“They don’t need to talk to me. You can tell them what happened.”
“Lyra, you’re part of the family now. You’ve known Alec and Dylan and Nick and Theo and Jordan’s hunky husband, Noah, for a long time. Not only are you my best friend,” she added, “but you saved my life today. It’s the one benefit of being related to so many men in law enforcement. Of course they’re going to help you.”
Lyra smiled. “Yes, you’re right. They’ll help figure this out.” Thank God, she silently added.
“Are you going to call Gigi or your brothers?”
“Oh, no,” she said. “Gigi would worry, and my brothers … you know how they are.”
“They’ll drag you back to the ranch and put armed guards around you.”
“Exactly,” she agreed. She headed to the bedrooms. “I’ll make the beds while you call Jordan. Then I’m taking a hot shower and finishing my paper on Katherine Hepburn films. It’s due tomorrow.”
“Who’s class?”
“Linden’s. He’s such a hardnose.”
Lyra got busy while Sidney looked for her cell phone. She found it under a table, plugged it in to charge it, then used the apartment phone to call Jordan.
“Is it too late to call?” she asked when her sister answered.
“No, of course not,” Jordan assured her.
“Is Noah home?”
“He’s right here. You want to talk to him?”
“Yes, please.”
“Are you all right?” Jordan asked, worry in her voice.
“I’m fine.”
Jordan handed the phone over to her husband, telling him that Sidney wanted to talk to him.
“Hey, sugar, what’s going on?”
“Listen … something happened today …”
NINE
SIDNEY WAS ON THE PHONE UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT. JUST AS she had predicted, she had to tell the entire story to Noah, then to Theo, Dylan, Nick, and Alec.
Alec was the last to get through to her. “Who have you been talking to?”
“Our brothers.”
“You should have done a conference call. Would have saved you some time.”
Why hadn’t she thought of that?
“Yes, I should have. Or you could have—”
“I talked to Noah,” he said. “He told me what happened. Do you have any idea what the men wanted?”
“All I know is that they were looking for Lyra. Detective O’Malley spent an hour with us at the hospital asking questions, but neither of us could come up with an explanation.” Her voice shook. “Alec, they were really creepy. I’ve never been so terrified.”
“Do you know how lucky you were?”
Of course she did. “Do you know how many times I’ve been asked that? I have a concussion. That isn’t lucky,” she said just to be obstinate.
“It could have been much, much worse. Lyra used pepper spray, huh?”
“And a lug wrench.”
“Going in … that took guts. Still, she should have waited for the police.”
“She had called them, and she was waiting,” Sidney explained. “But then Lyra heard the two guys getting even more violent, and she decided she couldn’t wait any longer.”
“You both could have been …” He didn’t finish his thought.
“Lyra wants to get a Taser.”
“A what?”
“A Taser,” she answered. “I don’t think she cares if it’s legal here or not. Oh, and mace. She wants to get mace.”
“Let me talk to her. Can you put her on the line?”
“She’s asleep. Do you want me to wake her?”
“No, I’ll talk to her tomorrow. I was going to ask if you two are nervous about sleeping there tonight, but Lyra obviously isn’t. What about you?”
“There’s a nice policeman outside, and he’s going to be there the rest of the night. That’s a real deterrent, right? Besides, I don’t think they’d come back. You don’t either, do you?” she asked worriedly.
“Probably not.”
“And I’m exhausted. I’ll sleep. What do you mean, probably not?”
“You’ll be okay tonight. What’s your schedule tomorrow?”
“Classes.”
“Both of you?”
“Yes, but not the same classes. Why?”
“E-mail me Lyra’s schedule, and yours, too.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’ll talk to some people early in the morning, and I’m going to send some help. I wish I could come out there, but I can’t. I promise I’ll send someone almost as good.”
“I see you’re still arrogant,” she said, smiling. “This someone will take good care of Lyra. You trust him, right?”
“Yes,” he assured. “And just to be on the safe side, I’m gonna get someone to watch over you until we figure this out.”
“Alec, you’re being so sweet. I’m starting to understand why someone as beautiful as Regan married you.”
He laughed. “She lowered her standards. Talk to you tomorrow.”
Sidney hung up the phone, then went to the window to see if the police car was still there. It was parked under a streetlight, so anyone approaching the apartment would definitely see it. Sidney checked the door, put a kitchen chair in front of it, and looked out the window once again before finally getting ready for bed. She wished she had a baseball bat for protection, but she didn’t, so she grabbed a kitchen broom. She might be able to do some damage with that.
She fell asleep gripping the broom handle.
“WHERE ARE YOU, SAM?”
“Seattle.”
“You owe me a favor,” Alec said.
“Saving your ass makes me owe you a favor?”
“That’s how we do it in the United States.”
“Listen, Buchanan, I’m kind of busy …”
“Ask her to get dressed. This is important.”
“Hold on.”
Alec was left waiting for two maybe three minutes, then Sam was back on the line.
“Okay, you’ve ruined my evening. What do you want?”
“When are you going to Los Angeles?”
“I leave tomorrow. Why?”
Alec told him about Sidney and her roommate, Lyra. “I can’t get out there, and Lyra’s in trouble. I thought maybe you could step in for me. You’ve got the time off—”
“Sure, I’ll do it. What about your sister? Is she in danger?”
“I don’t think so, but I’m not taking any chances. I’m gonna ask Max Stevens to watch out for her.”
“How long do you think I’ll be on this?”
“I honestly don’t know. I’ll talk to the detectives tomorrow, but I don’t think they have anything.”
“When do you need me there?”
“As soon as.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“And Sam?”
“What?”
“Thanks.”
LYRA HAD COMPLETED HER paper and had fallen asleep on her laptop. Fortunately, the lid was closed so she didn’t drool all over the keyboard. She slept hard and didn’t really wake up until she showered the next morning. She dressed in jeans and a light blue T-shirt. Usually she wore flats, but today she decided to wear running shoes because they were more practical, and she could run like lightning if she needed to.
“Do you think we should move?” Lyra asked Sidney while they ate cereal.
“I don’t know. If we asked the super to put in a new door, maybe we’d feel safe here again.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Alec called,” Sidney said. She repeated what her brother had told her. “I gave him our schedules. Whoever he sends will have to find us.”
“I’m kind of nervous,” Lyra admitted.
“Me, too.”
“Listen, don’t go anywhere on campus alone.”
“Good idea. You shouldn’t be alone either.”
“We’ve got to leave, or we’ll be late.”
Sidney moved the chair away from the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open. Then she yelped. A man was standing a foot away from her.
“Sorry,” he said. “Did I scare you?”
“No,” she lied. “Who are you?” She realized after she asked the question how rude she’d sounded.
“If you’re Sidney, I’m your shadow. Alec sent me.”
Tall, dark hair, lovely smile. She noticed it all in a flash. He could pass for a hunky graduate student, she thought.
“Do you have a gun?” she asked.
“Sure do.”
She smiled. “Let’s go. Lyra, hurry up. I’ve got a class at ten, remember? And so do you.”
Lyra walked around the corner looking at her iPhone. “Pierson canceled. I don’t have to be there until eleven.”
“We just promised not to go anywhere on campus alone.”
“She won’t be alone,” Max said. “Agent Kincaid is five minutes away.”