Rise
Death to sinners
Justice is here
The people’s revolution is upon you
Their wrath you will fear
I heard Amber weeping, but she kept her hand on my belt.
My phone rang and vibrated, scaring the crap out of me. Hondo. I answered, “Yeah?
“Come up, I’ve got Troy and Bodhi here.”
“Alive?”
“Yes. How are the others?”
“All dead. We’re coming.” I dialed 911 and reported it, then we went up and met Hondo, Bodhi and Troy at the top of the stairs. Bodhi and Amber hugged each other, clinging in a tight, emotional embrace.
Troy’s face looked sickly white. He said, “They’re all dead?”
“Yes.”
He wiped his forehead with a shaky hand, and I asked him, “Where’s all the staff, and the ones taking care of the grounds? We didn’t see any of them.”
“Because of our marriage, and as a gift, Sylvia gave everyone a few days vacation. We were the only ones here, except for the security officer.”
Hondo said, “What happened?”
Troy raised a shaky hand and wiped his mouth, “We sat around talking last night, well, everybody except Bodhi because she’d just headed upstairs, and suddenly these crazed people rushed in the door, brandishing knives and guns and yelling at us. One of them said to kill us all. Sylvia said to save Bodhi, so I ran upstairs while the others fought them.”
I said, “Why didn’t you call for the police?”
“I left my phone downstairs, and when I reached Bodhi’s room we only had time to hide before people came into the room. We decided to stay hidden until someone came for us.”
Hondo said to me, “I found them in Bodhi’s closet.”
I said, “Didn’t anyone check for you there? It looked like they tore through the entire place.”
Troy said, “Someone opened the closet doors, but we hid in the far corner, behind several stacked steamer trunks. They never saw us.”
“You’re lucky,” I said.
“I guess so.”
Hondo said, “Let’s wait outside for the police.”
We went downstairs, and Bodhi stopped us, “I want to see my mom and dad.”
I touched her shoulder, “Bodhi, that’s not a good idea.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “I won’t freak out, I promise, but I need to see them.”
I looked at Hondo. He nodded, so we walked them down the hallway. She sucked in breath when she saw Donovan’s body in the gym, but we continued to the last room. She whispered, “Mr. Donovan was a nice man.”
Hondo said gently, “Don’t touch anything. There may be evidence.”