The group crept through the mudroom and pantry single file, padding softly into the kitchen, following the edge of a wraparound granite counter toward the stairs to the left. The front half of the second floor was open to the area below, and light from an open bedroom door above poured over the balcony, illuminating wood floors and ornamental throw rugs.
A sleepy woman’s voice carried down over the railing above. She must have heard the electronic chirp. “James. Are you up messing with the alarm?”
The boy coughed. “Huh?”
“I asked if you were messing with the alarm,” the woman said.
“It’s not me!” the boy said, hoarse with sleep.
The teenage girl spoke next. “Oh my gosh, James! It’s the middle of the night, could you just shut up?”
Kang was surprised they’d all awoken so easily. No matter.
In the hall below, Lily trained her pistol upward at the balcony, her back to the stairs. She gestured to her left, then directly in front of her, and whispered, “Girl… parents,” indicating who was in which room. Then, pointing over her shoulder at the bedroom that would be across the upstairs hall, she said, “Boy.”
Kang and the others signaled that they understood. The plan was to grab the parents first, specifically the pregnant woman. They would all be killed eventually, but Wu Chao insisted on questioning Peter Li, learning what he knew, what others knew — if anything — about the incursion into the “vault” computer in his office. Once the woman was under control, everyone would fall into line. Li was sure to answer any questions to save his wife and unborn baby. After that… Kang smiled inside. After that, the fool would realize it would have been better if everyone had died in the initial attack.
Kang raised an open hand toward the stairs. His foot had just hit the bottom step when the boy called out again. He froze.
“Something’s weird,” the boy said, half shouting so his parents could hear him. “My app is acting up. Sorry, Mom. I’ll go down and arm it at the pad.”
A light flicked on upstairs. Good. It would destroy the boy’s night vision.
Kang motioned for Wu Chao and Rose to move quickly across the hall and into the dining room. He took Lily with him to wait around the corner in the kitchen. The boy would walk directly between them to reach the security controls.
Young ears, especially those attached to the heads of youths who do not have the misfortune to live in noisy cities or places of war, have excellent hearing.
James trotted down the stairs, whistling “We Are the Champions” by Queen as he skipped every other step. He was barefoot, dressed in a pair of running shorts and a T-shirt. His bare feet hit the base of the wood floor as his whistle crescendoed. The kid spun toward the kitchen, then stopped cold.
He’d heard something.
Kang eased around the corner, allowing him to make out a narrow slice of the hall. Movement flashed in the shadows as Rose stepped out of the dining room, mere feet behind the boy, her suppressed Beretta coming up. She fired, but Wu Chao swatted the weapon away at that exact moment, deflecting the round upward, over the top of the boy’s head and into the kitchen cabinets behind Kang and Lily.
The shot was a quiet pop compared to the shattering dishes and the teenager’s terrified yowl. The spent cartridge rattled on the hardwood. To his credit, instead of freezing as so many did when confronted with sudden danger, the boy tried to flee up the stairs while he worked to make sense of it all. Wu Chao grabbed a handful of T-shirt, dragging him back. He brought his open hand down flat on top of the boy’s head, stunning him into submission.
Wu Chao glared at Rose, hissing in rapid-fire Mandarin. “Not yet! If you kill him, we lose all leverage!” He flicked his free hand up the stairs, shoving the boy ahead of him.
Rose shot a look at Kang, no doubt seeking permission to punch their impudent boss in the face — or worse.
The master bedroom light flicked on. “What was that?” Sophie Li shouted. “James? What broke? Are you okay?”
“M… Mom…” the boy stammered.
Wu Chao prodded the boy forward, following on his heels. The two women were next. Kang brought up the rear, covering the stairs with his pistol.
“Tell them to come to the balcony,” Wu Chao said, giving the boy a shove to show he meant business.
“Mom… Peter,” the boy said, his voice remarkably calm. “They… They want you to come here.”
Sophie walked out immediately, clutching the neck of the knee-length football jersey she used as a nightgown. The nylon stretched tight around her pregnant belly.
“What do you mean they?”
She stopped short, her mouth falling open, her face stricken when she saw her son with a gun to his head.
Down the hall, the girl screamed. She ran out of her room clutching a cell phone by her side but had yet to place a call. Rose rushed in and knocked the phone away. She slapped the girl hard, driving her to her knees, then spun to grab Sophie by the arm and drag her back to the landing. Peter Li was still nowhere to be seen. Coward.
A new, more vulnerable hostage under control now, the entire team advanced. Kang took possession of a trembling Sophie.
She tried to scream, but Kang planted a vicious knee in the small of her back. She winced, arching in pain, whimpering now. “Please… I’m begging you. Don’t hurt my baby.”
Wu Chao took a half-step forward, using the boy as a shield. He glanced sideways at Kang and Sophie, then turned toward the master bedroom.
He raised his voice. “Peter Li! If you call anyone on the phone you will force my hand.”
No answer.
“Peter!” Wu Chao barked again. “We can resolve this like men. We need to ask you some questions. Come to the door.”
The bedroom light went out.
Rose shot a look at Kang like she wanted to go in.
“No,” he hissed. “Not yet.”
Kang intertwined his fingers through Sophie’s hair, then yanked her head backward so she faced the ceiling. Her neck arched toward the door, delicate, exposed. He used the curved blade of his knife to lift the hem of the football jersey, pulling it up slowly, exposing her panties and then her swollen belly. She found her voice, screaming, trying to jerk away. One hand reflexively cradled her unborn child; the other went to the nightshirt, attempting to pull it down. Kang used the blade to slap her hand away, slashing her forearm in the process. Blood poured from the wound. The boy lunged for his injured mother, but Wu Chao slammed a fist into the back of his head, staggering him and pulling him closer.
Kang spoke now, loud but in complete control. His voice dripped with venom. “Peter Li! Come now. Stop hiding and show yourself or I will carve out your baby and paint this house with your woman’s blood.”
“Peter,” Wu Chao said. “You must listen. I will not be able to stop him if you do not—”
A massive boom shook the house at the same instant a blossom of orange fire erupted from the darkness of the master bedroom. Wu Chao’s knee burst as if he’d been shot with a cannon. He listed sideways like a felled tree. A second blast took off the side of his head, leaving him in a twitching heap behind the quivering boy.
Kang had no time to register dismay.
A third shot tore at the air to his right. Something hot slammed into the bend of his elbow, causing his hand to convulse. The blade slipped impotently from an open palm. He backpedaled, intent on keeping the pregnant woman between him and what had to be a shotgun. Sophie Li had other ideas. Screaming with rage, she spun, clawing at Kang’s face, flaying skin off his nose and cheeks with her nails. He ducked, striking out blindly, shoving the crazed woman away before he lost an eye. Another shot shook the walls, blasting a gaping hole in the Sheetrock next to Kang’s ear. He scrambled over the railing, landing halfway down the stairs. A fifth blast, followed rapidly by a sixth, sent Rose and Lily fleeing down the steps after him. The women fired pistols over their shoulders as they fled, but hit nothing.