Payback

31

Lia sat in a car three blocks away, listening to the conversation at the bank. She wanted to run over and try cracking the safe herself. It would be a useless gesture — they were already doing everything that could be done — but it would be better than sitting here helplessly.

Was this what it had been like for the people in the Art Room the day she’d been raped?

A loud tap on the car window jolted her to the present. Lia glanced up as a flashlight glared against the window. A shadow loomed behind the light, a voice.

“Out of the car, miss.”

Lia glanced to the other window and saw that she was surrounded by soldiers.