“Maybe it means that I was wrong,” Jordie said. “That no one’s been here in ages.”
“I don’t think so.” Shaw couldn’t explain why he felt that. It was a gut thing.
“I should call for backup,” Wiley said.
“No!” Jordie said. “Let’s at least determine that Josh isn’t here.”
“Or that he is,” Shaw said. “Sink down.” He took his foot off the brake and drove slowly toward the house, then stopped about ten yards short of the steps leading up to the porch. He opened the driver’s door and got out but remained crouched behind the door. Wiley did the same on the passenger side. Shaw looked across the car’s interior and said, “This is your show.”
Wiley called out Josh’s name and identified himself. “I brought your sister with me. She wants to talk to you.”
They waited in breathless anticipation, but there was nothing forthcoming from the house. Wiley tried again, putting more force behind his voice. “Josh? It’s time to surrender. You keep up this nonsense, you lose your bargaining position for leniency.”
The clock in the dashboard was a retro analog model. Shaw listened to it tick off another sixty seconds, and when still nothing happened, he opened the backseat door and motioned Jordie out.
“Take my place behind the wheel.”
One of his rules of engagement had been that if she came along, she was to do what he said, when he said it. She slid out of the back and into the front without question or argument.
He placed his hand on the top of her head and pushed her down. “Stay low. I’d leave Wiley here with you, but we need to go in from two different directions. Any sign of Josh, the rustle of one leaf, a bug fart, you lay down on the horn.”
“If Josh is in there, I’m praying he’ll come out with his hands up.”
“Me too. But in case another scenario plays out—”
“Like Panella?”
“Like anything. Hit the horn, and then floorboard the gas pedal.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t wait on us. You get clear. Understood?”
With obvious reluctance, she nodded.
Then he took the palm pistol from his boot and passed it to her. “If it really goes south, this is ready to fire. You’ve got seven shots. Don’t hesitate. Point and pull the trigger. You understand?”
“Yes.”
“Will you do it?”
She swallowed. “I don’t know.”
“Great. You choose now to turn perfectly honest. I’m used to you mouthing back.”
She gave him a tremulous smile. “Be careful.”
He kissed her hard and quick. “Count on it.”
Hunkered behind the driver’s door, he looked across at Wiley, who signaled that he would take the front. Shaw nodded and indicated that he’d cover the back. Each took a deep breath, then came out from behind his cover and ran toward the house.
Wiley clumped up the steps onto the porch. Before Shaw lost sight of him, he flattened himself against the exterior wall between two tall windows. Nothing happened. So far, so good.
Shaw dodged windows as he ran along the side of the house, staying close to the wall. He knelt once to look beneath the house, but the crawl space was clear.
When he reached the far corner at the back, he paused and looked behind him toward the car. Because of the glare on the windshield, he could barely make out the top of Jordie’s head. It passed through his mind that he would kill anybody who harmed a hair on it. No matter who it was.
He slipped around the corner of the house.