Ratio(101)

June tried glaring at him but said nothing.

Georgie inspected the control box. “Hey, there is another little light on here. It looks like it would be green also, if it were lit up.”

“What is it with you women? Codes and safes and everything locked up tight,” said Reagan before turning his attention back to the Disney movie that had started on the TV. “Clinton, let her loose so she can give Georgie the code number.”

“Needs a thumb on that touch pad, the correct thumb.” She looked at Georgie, the most gullible of the group. “Flip open that front cover on the alarm box. See that shiny black square inside? That’s the touch pad.”

June could see Georgie’s eyes flit from her face to her hand secured at her waist. He looked at the box again, trying to figure out the logistics of getting her hand up to the box without cutting her arm loose. She couldn’t let him figure it out.

“But we can go out the back garden gate with less trouble. You just have to take me along.”

“Why?”

“At the gate, the control panel is low on the wall, so you don’t even have to untie me for it. That’s the only way it’ll work,” June explained. “It really was a mistake closing the door like that.”





CHAPTER FIVE





The deal was okayed by Reagan, the man in charge, also the one least at ease. She could tell he was trying to hide it, but he showed all the earmarks of losing his nerves. It meant he was most likely to use his gun, but was also most easily tricked with confusion. June had to rely on that.

Georgie helped June to a standing position. She eyed him close up and saw he wasn’t any bigger than her, and probably not as strong.

He took his pistol out of his pocket and used it to push her toward the back door.

“Kids, stay on the couch,” she said over her shoulder. “No talking.”

She waddled as she led him out the patio door and around the side of the house, turning the corner in silence. With Georgie right behind her, he couldn’t see her work a hand loose from the zip ties, freeing up one hand. When they got to the gate with the old potting shed next to it, she stopped and turned toward Georgie.

He looked around at the wall and fence. “Where’s the box?” he asked.

“Right here.”

She swung her arm at the gun, which went flying into the garden. Before he could react, she swung up again, catching him under the chin with her forearm. While he was still unsteady, she took a cross at his face.

That last blow put him on the ground. Since her legs were tied together, she couldn’t finish him off with her favorite weapon, a heavy stomp to the chest. Instead, she landed a hammer strike to his throat.

George’s head flew back and hit the corner of the potting shed with a bounce. When he settled, he laid motionless on the pathway.

“Stupid dick head.”

She had to hurry. Not visible from the patio windows, she got the potting shed door open and found rope. She was able to awkwardly lash the man’s arms and legs together, and then pulled the rubber mask from his face. She had never seen him before. Without delay, she shoved an old rag in his mouth, wrapping the last of the rope around his head as a gag. Using only one hand, she dragged him into the potting shed.

Just before closing the door, she had a thought. June poked through his pockets, found the last of the plastic ties, and stuffed them in her pocket. She could use them later. She didn’t bother with the cash stuffed in another pocket.

June found the gun in the garden and considered going back to the house with it. She could cut the ties with garden shears, freeing up her arms and legs. Buthaving a shoot out with two armed men that acted as though they had nothing to lose seemed like a bad idea. Plus, with her nieces right in the middle of the group, there was no way she would risk their lives. Especially since she had never been a good shot with a gun.

Still, she could also cut the bands and run to call the police from a neighbor’s house. If it were only her, she would give it more consideration. But abandoning the kids was out of the question. She had to go back into the house.

She removed the magazine from the pistol and discovered it was empty. She tried a couple times to eject the cartridge already loaded into the gun, but there wasn’t one. In the end, the gun never was a threat to her or the kids. She tossed all of it into a small grove of bamboo at the side of the shed. Just as she began waddling back to the patio, she heard the back door bang open.

“What’s going on?” Clinton said from the far end of the walkway.

“Nothing.” June just had the chance to get her hand stuffed back through the plastic ties while waddling as fast as she could. “Your friend had a problem with the code number is all.”