Page 7 of No Going Back

They’d been exploring the bowels of the apartment building where Sean’s family had lived when they’d come across a loose frame on one of the duct vents in a bathroom in the deepest part of the basement. The bathroom was attached to a janitorial closet and appeared abandoned to them. It certainly hadn’t been clean enough to use.

The boys had probably been eleven, which had made her about nine. They hadn’t known she was trailing after them that day until they’d pulled off the frame and dragged over an old crate to stand on.

She’d popped into the room and said she wanted to see, too. They’d both rolled their eyes and called her Sally, but they’d let her hang out. They always had.

The duct had been large enough for them to crawl into, so they had. The boys had insisted on being first because they’d decided they were going to be military men, and that meant they protected the girls.

It had made her roll her eyes, but they’d both become exactly that kind of men. Protective. Head to the danger instead of running away.

Branna’s eyes filled with tears. Charlie had died because he wanted to help, to protect. Would he be ashamed that she hadn’t stood up to Prince? That she’d run? She hoped not. And what would Sean think of her?

With a disgusted sigh, Branna took a couple of deep breaths to settle herself. She hobbled to the duct above her head. It was the only way in and out of this tiny space. None of them had any idea why the room had been built or what its purpose had been.

But it reminded them of the snug behind the bar. A hidden room just for them.

There was no matching grate on this end of the duct, so she placed her hands on the ledge and hauled herself up. Not as easy a task as it had been when she’d been a kid. At least she’d stayed small enough to fit through the duct itself.

It was less than ten feet, but crawling through the cramped space always had her heart pounding so hard she thought someone might hear it.

At the end of the space, she peered through the grate. Nothing had changed since her last visit.

She dropped, used the disgusting toilet, and then washed her hands. She cupped them together and drank some water from the sink. Not too much, because the trek to get back into the hidden room required a lot of energy.

The injuries from her not-so-graceful landing weren’t major, but the aches and pains made hoisting herself into the duct onerous.

Of course, it would have been easy for Charlie or Sean, but she wasn’t part of a special teams Army machine. She tended bar, took care of the books and staff, and sang songs.

She should probably add some cardio to her daily routine. Standing on her feet all day didn’t seem to be cutting it.

Even though the bathroom was old and dirty, Branna had to force herself to stand on the crate to get back into the duct, and to the hidden room. The bathroom at least had a glimmer of light from under the door.

She’d risked turning on her phone for the light before she’d dropped into the room the first time. There hadn’t been critters or corpses like she’d feared, simply an empty four-by-four space.

Unwilling to risk Prince’s people using it to trace her, she’d taken the card thingy out of her phone before she’d turned it on. And she’d turned it off immediately.

It had probably been at least a day since they’d burned down her pub, but she knew it could be several more days before Sean came.

If he came.

No. When he came. No negative thinking.

Surely, if Prince’s hackers had tracked her, they’d have been in the basement by now. But she’d heard nothing that sounded like a search.

Branna dropped back into the small space, trying to keep all her weight on her good ankle. The room was the basic size of a large closet, and she wondered if they’d simply forgotten to add a door to the hallway when they’d been building it.

Having nothing else to do, Branna curled up in the dark and let herself think about Sean. She’d crushed on him from an early age and had never quite gotten over it.

He’d always been a good-looking kid. Friendly and fun. Not one to strike up a conversation like Charlie, but one to watch your back, no matter what.

When he’d arrived for Charlie’s funeral, Sean had helped with the food and the organization. He’d intervened when people were draining her with their questions or when they started blaming Charlie for his own death. That’s what you get when you enlist.

He’d materialized at her side and stared down the idiots. He’d say something like. Charlie was one of the bravest men I’ve ever known. He spent his life taking care of others and trying to make the world safer. He was a hero.

Then Sean stared at the people until they thanked him for his service and scuttled away. Those memories were the only smiles she and her dad had found during those long days.

And now her dad was gone, too. She was alone.

The thought made the walls close in around her as she sat in the dark and twisted her mom’s engagement ring around her finger. It was all she had left of her mom. And she had nothing of her dad’s or Charlie’s. The only things she owned were the ring, the clothes she wore, and her useless phone.