Page 20 of Shadow Burn

“Yes.”

“Does it lock?”

A pause. “No.” The word came out thin and small, and something vicious woke in Jasper’s chest.

The bedroom door handle rattled again. Then a heavy thud came through the line.

Katherine gasped. “Guess the lock pick didn’t work. He hit the door.”

“How solid is it?”

“I don’t know. It’s old and made of wood. Solid, I guess.”

“Good. That buys you time.”

Another thud. Harder.

The phone crackled with Katherine’s broken breathing. “He’s trying to break it down.”

“Listen to me. You’re going to break the window.”

“With what?”

“The lamp. A chair. Anything heavy.”

“The lamp, maybe.”

“Do it now.”

“I’ll have to put Priss down.”

“Put her under the bed if you can.”

“She won’t⁠—”

The door boomed again. Wood cracked inside the sound, a sharp splintering note that shot straight through Jasper’s spine.

Katherine cried out.

“Katherine.” His voice came out hard. “Break the window, Katherine.”

“I’m trying.”

He heard a scrape, a grunt, the clatter of something. Then a crash—not glass. Something heavier hitting the floor.

“I missed.” Panic shredded the edges of her voice. “Oh God, I missed. The lamp’s broken on the floor.”

Damn it. “That’s okay. You’re going to get in the bathroom and jam something against the door.”

The truck’s tires hummed over the asphalt. Two minutes out.

Another impact hit the bedroom door. Then another and another. Each one seemed to shove a little more air out of Katherine’s lungs.

“He’s getting through.” Her voice sharpened with pure panic. “The frame is splitting.”

Jasper saw the road, but he wasn’t in the truck anymore. He was in that room with her. At the dresser. At the door. At the line between her and the man on the other side.

He needed to be there. He was driving to her, but helpless to stop what was happening.