The Secret: A Thriller Read Online Free Page B

friends and neighborhood kids since long before I was born.
    “Susie?” I asked. “Can you make a list of things you’ll need? We ought to stay in groups of at least three people, one of them armed—”
    “Dad? Can I get a gun too?”
    I looked at my son. Coming right out and saying I wasn’t sure his judgment was up to it would not go over well. “Robbie…this isn’t the best time to practice. How much shooting have you done?”
    Rachel raised her hand. “Uh—we’ve done some plinking out in the woods. He’s actually pretty good.”
    She and Felicia were both blushing. I hadn’t been expecting that answer. From the expression on Tim’s face, he hadn’t either. “Good to know,” I told her. “We’ll talk about it. Later, after we get our stuff.”
    Robbie’s eyes were shining again, and I saw Rachel’s hand in his. Were they dating? They’d had an on-again, off-again thing for the last four years. And if so, was she being truthful about his marksmanship? Would Felicia back her up in a lie? And regardless: was this situation really bad enough that we needed to trust our lives and futures to the teenage version of decision-making?
    Not…yet, I decided. God, not yet. Hell, maybe not ever. I remembered some things I’d blithely done as a kid, and my stomach hurt.
    “Okay, let’s get moving,” I continued. “Susie, can you work on the list? And…hmm. Tim, I was going to ask if you’d stand guard while I get stuff from the truck, but you should probably help her figure out what you need?”
    Robbie stood up and met my eyes. “I’ll carry stuff in, Dad.”
    “I’ll help!” Rachel threw in.
    I tried not to sigh. “Let’s get to it, then. And Rebecca, can you check out our food situation? See what’s in the fridge?”
    She nodded. “I already tried starting the generator,” she told me. “No go on that.”
    Great. I’d put it in last year, and this was the first time we’d needed it. “Fine. I’ll see if I can fix it later.”
     
    * * *
     
    O utside, the rain had stopped. The sky was still gray, but it was moving toward that uniform blandness that meant thunder and lightning—and tornados—were unlikely.
    I saw some of our neighbors milling around out in their yard. Three houses down, and they were new people. I didn’t know them yet.
    We walked to the truck and I unlocked the camper top. “You guys just grab stuff and shuttle it in,” I told them. “I’m old and feeble, so I’ll stay out here.”
    They didn’t argue the point, which made me sigh a little. But it didn’t take them long to get it done.
    Meanwhile one of our unknown neighbors…ponytail, ragged beard, wife-beater, faded jeans…seemed to be watching us closely. I didn’t like it but couldn’t think of anything worth doing about it.
     

Chapter Three
     
    C rash!
    I started awake, then tried to disentangle myself from Rebecca. But her eyes, barely visible in the moonlight streaming through our window, were open.
    “What was that?” she asked.
    “I don’t know.” I stood up, still dressed in my pants—I hadn’t known what to expect tonight, and the Sullivans were still around—and shrugged on one of Tim’s shoulder holsters. “It sounded like it was on the roof. Like somebody threw a rock?” Only it had been louder than that.
    “The kids!” she said, and climbed out of bed too.
    “Stay here,” I told her. “I’ll see what it is. But somebody needs to watch the downstairs.”
    Tim stuck his head in the door. “On it,” he said. “Susie’s still asleep.”
    As I started up the stairs I heard something that sounded like rapid footsteps—from something large—on the roof. I ran up and opened the door to Abigail’s bedroom, where the girls were all spending the night. It seemed calm. Robbie was sleeping, too, in his room.
    Cautiously, I walked into Robbie’s room and twitched his curtain aside. But I saw nothing unusual. The full moon lit the front yard and the street with a milky glow.