My Father's House

Chapter 33

Kael couldn't think we could leave Garrett behind in a hospital that had decided he was a mentally unstable drug abuser. I reached down and picked up his phone, seeing he'd left it open to the last application visited. His email. He was still logged in. I glanced back at the door, half expecting him to come back. When he didn't, I opened the first message. It appeared to be a jumbled mess initially before a pop up offered Decode now? I clicked yes and watched as a new page opened and displayed the email in simple English. Certainly a convenient mobile application that I guessed was not available on the general marketplace.

The email was long and discussed the locations of items that had been shipped and listed serial numbers. These must be orders that were in transit. I tried to see who had sent the message, but the addresses were hidden. The bottom of the email was in a different font, as if it had been added by the last sender when the rest of the content was forwarded. It read,

Kael,

Please see attached.

GH

Hands shaking, I scrolled back to the top, finding the attachment. Taking another look at the door, I opened it. I waited for the longest five seconds of my life as it loaded. The document flashed into view. I nearly dropped the phone. My driver's license photo was at the top, large bold letters beneath it reading: 10 mill. Dead.

Kael had told me about this last night, in a way. But the reality of this threat hadn't registered until that moment. I had been wrong. I needed him. This "ad" could be the death of us both. I started for the door, my crazed mind going in all directions. This was why Garrett was better off where he was now. He was safer under police protection than dodging bullets of hired killers. I made it to the hall and picked up speed. We really were in imminent danger.

I got to the living room and found Agatha eating her breakfast alone, watching an infomercial. "Where's Kael?" I asked, tucking the phone behind me. There was no way I wanted to give this woman further reason to worry.

"Well, I think he was worked up about something."

She dipped her toast in her tea and commented casually, "his face was rather red." Her look at me was pointed. "So I guess he went to get some air." She raised an eyebrow, probably hoping for an explanation, but I offered none.

"Thank you."

I left her to her breakfast and headed out the back kitchen door, letting it slam on its hinges behind me. Where would he have gone? A large shed sat in the back yard, suggesting a good place for him to seek shelter from me. I looked down toward the street - or sheep path rather. If he'd walked that way, I would have no choice but to sit and wait for him to return. Please be in the shed, I begged inwardly. Please be in a forgiving mood.

I started toward the shed, pulling my arms in toward my body to fight the brisk wind. We were out of the village now, the next house being little more than a dot over the rolling hills. While the landscape was lovely against the gray sky, it had a certain loneliness that I couldn't bear.

I opened the dilapidated wooden doors and found myself in an oversized shed. I heard a whoosh above me and instinctively ducked, just in time to avoid nearly being crowned by a piece of wood seemingly falling from the ceiling.

"Kael!" I called out, praying he wouldn't throw a larger piece even harder since I was an easy target below. The silence that followed was probably a good sign. Wooden steps lead up to a loft above. I took my wedges off and started up, finding the bare wooden planks harder to maneuver than they looked. Reaching the top, I pulled myself up and surveyed my surroundings. The loft covered approximately half of the shed's surface area. The wooden floors were covered in straw and wood chips, much like the floors below. Kael stood off to the side. Oddly, he appeared to be prying wood off the side wall.