Series Wednesday: Family Game night page 11

Grace pulls me back by my arm. “He won’t respond to that kind of attitude. Trust me I know him.” I look at Enrique sitting in the back of the cop’s car. “How do you know him?” I ask Grace. “I would rather not say.” She says as she heads over to the cop car.  Grace leans over the cop car and talks to Enrique. He turns his head away from her and looks out the other window. I walk up slowly to hear what Grace is saying to him. “Enrique just tell me what you know. This is my little brother’s life in the balance. We can talk terms later.” I am not sure what terms Grace and Enrique would even have to talk about. “Terms?” I say. Enrique’s head turn to look at me. “What are you doing here?” He asks me. “What do you mean Grace is my sister and the information you are so hell bent on keeping to yourself is about my baby brother.” Enrique tries to readjust himself to sit up straighter. “It was a planned job. The people who grabbed your brother were clearly hired.” He says as he looks me straight in the eye. “How do you know that?” Grace asks. “I have been casing that store for weeks. Your little brother walks past it almost every day like clockwork. I have seen the van on the street as well. I thought they were trying to case the store next door but I was wrong they were following your brother. I am sure how long they have been following him though, but it’s defiantly longer than a few weeks. The van was there before I started casing the store.” Grace looks at me and I see her wheels turning. “That does explain why you think they were hired.” Grace says to Enrique.  He makes a face while shifting his head back and forth. “Who has the time to follow a kid for probably months without getting paid? Plus they had stop watches on their wrist the exact same kind that were synced. That right there says it all they were pros, kidnap for hire type.” Grace rubs my shoulder. “Thank you Enrique.” She says as she turns to head back to the house. “I didn’t know Grace was your sister.” I look at him. “Why would you need to know something like that? Are you and her friends or something?” Enrique starts to laugh at me. “Your Grace’s sister so you know better than anyone Grace doesn’t have friends. We share a business relationship.” I look at Enrique. “We are in high school what business relationship could you two have?”  I ask. “Cahira!” I hear my dad calling me. “Maybe I’ll tell you another time, you know under better conditions.” I roll my eyes at him and start to head back to the house.
                “Cahira good job on getting that kid to talk.” My dad praises me. “Who would have hired someone to take Percy?” My mother asks my dad. “I have no idea. It would have to be someone with both money and time. The kid said they had been following Percy longer than he had been casing the store. This means that they were hired months ago.” My parents just stare at each other for a while. “I can’t think of anyone I pissed off a few months ago.” Grace says as my parent break eye contact. I see Chance sitting in the living room on his phone. If I pissed off anyone Chance would know about it. I walk over and sit next to Chance; I put my head on his shoulder. “I still can’t believe someone took Percy.” Chance says. “You don’t think this could be someone I pissed off right?” Chance pushes me off his shoulder to grab my face. “Cahira there is no way in hell this is your fault. I don’t think there is any way you could have pissed off someone this bad or with that kind of money.” I hug Chance hoping he is right. “What is your family going to do?” Chance asks me. I shake my head for two reasons, one because I know whatever they decide to do I would not be able to tell anyone and second I really have no idea what we are going to do now. I can’t believe this day, finding out that someone took Percy is just too much to bear. The cops slowly start to fade away and even Chance has to go back home. I lie in Percy’s bed and wait for him to come home.  I am not sure when I fell asleep but when I opened my eyes Grace is lying next to me. Grace holds my hand in her sleep just the way she use to when we were kids. After my coma I use to have nightmares about what I had done. I couldn’t sleep without Grace holding my hand. I start to sit up and look around when I hear the doorbell ring and a car speed away. Grace wakes up at the sound of the doorbell. “Was that a car?” She says to me. “Yeah I think so.” We both get out of Percy’s bed and start to run down stairs. Dad brings in a box from the front door. “What is it?” I ask. “It looks like a present.” It’s a box wrapped in black paper with a big red bow. My dad pulls the bow open and rips through the paper. It’s a plan brown box with a lid. My dad pulls off the lid and red liquid pours out and we hear a scream. It sounds like Percy’s scream.