Free Dirty Power by Ashley Bartlett Page B

there are sad faces. See?”
    “Oh, yes. It all makes perfect sense now,” Reese said in a voice that implied that it did not make sense.
    “Fuck you.” Ryan pushed away from the table. “I went out there and crawled on top of a fucking lifeguard tower and watched those windows for hours. It was hard. And it was dark. And it took forever. But I made you the damn drawing and I waited until I figured out all the important shit and I totally hit my balls climbing down and it hurt like fucking hell. So just fuck you.”
    With that, he started pacing. I’d never seen Ryan pace.
    Reese and I watched him, stunned. Christopher studied the drawing some more. Breno didn’t seem to know what to make of his strange son.
    “I see the sad faces now. And this must be the little girl’s room.” Christopher pointed. “The one that says sleepy time and has a teddy bear.” Ryan didn’t respond to the indulgence so Christopher went on. “Oh, and these are all windows. The squares with the sunglasses drawn in them. The ladder here.” He pointed. “This is a ladder, right?” Ryan glanced over and nodded. “That must be a place where we can climb up.”
    “Well, yeah. It’s not like she just has a ladder chillin’ there. That would make it too easy.” Ryan stopped his pacing.
    “Okay, so how will we get in?” Reese asked.
    “Climb through the window,” I said.
    “But there’s an alarm,” she pointed out.
    “We go in when she doesn’t have the alarm set,” I said.
    “When the hell will that be?” Reese wanted to know.
    “She sets it when she leaves,” Ryan said. “And once she’s inside, she resets it. So I think it’s pretty much always on.”
    “What about when she answers the door?” I asked.
    “I don’t know.” Ryan shrugged. “I don’t think she did that when I was there.”
    I thought about that. I definitely had a plan. It was a gamble partly. But mostly, I thought it was solid.
    “Will she recognize Breno?” I asked.
    “What? Why?” Christopher asked.
    “Will she?”
    “She’s never met him. But she’s seen pictures of the twins. So she might make the connection,” Christopher said.
    “I have a plan,” I said.

Chapter Seven
     
    I watched the waves break against the shore in front of me. Just another lonely kid watching the waves in the moonlight. My sweatshirt hood was pulled up against the evening chill. It also conveniently hid the earbud I was wearing.
    “Everyone in place?” Breno’s voice came over the line.
    “Ready to go,” I said.
    “Street is clear.” Ryan.
    “Beach is empty and neighbors on the south are watching a movie. Lights are out in the house to the north.” I could see Reese in my peripheral vision. She was leaning against a lifeguard tower down the beach.
    “Both houses are dark on the street,” Ryan said.
    “Getaway car is ready.” Christopher had the getaway car. We didn’t need it. Probably. But plan B was to run like hell.
    “Where’s Joan?” I asked.
    “Kitchen,” Reese said. “If you go now she’ll see you.”
    “I’m going to start walking,” I said.
    I stood and turned south toward Joan’s house. I kept to the shoreline. There was sand in my Chucks. It was annoying as hell. I could feel the small grains working their way into my socks, between my toes, shifting with every step I took.
    “You can veer closer to the neighbor’s house. Stop before you hit Joan’s outdoor lights,” Reese said.
    “Gotcha.”
    I waited at the edge of the low picket fence. The wooden slats looked flimsy, but I knew they were sturdy. I’d tested them.
    “Breno. Go now,” Reese said.
    “I am walking up to her door,” Breno said.
    I hear a distant doorbell from inside the house.
    “Go, Coop. She just left the kitchen,” Reese said.
    I climbed the fence and balanced on it for a moment before reaching up. This was going to work in theory. But we were relying on my upper body strength. Maybe we should have thought it through more. Maybe I should have