Ace

SAM

               Perfect hiding spot. Not even Rodriguez knew about this hiding spot, and it was in our house. It was a secret room in the floor of the closet. When we first moved here, I was looking around and found it. I was going to tell Rodriguez about it later but never got the time.

               My phone rang. When I saw who it was, I didn't know if I was supposed to answer it, because it was Rodriguez.

               "Is this a test?" I thought as I declined the call. Thirty seconds later, he called back. I answered it but didn't say anything. It was silent on the other end for a while, then Rodriguez finally said,

               "Sam? Are you there?" I can't just ignore him, he might think something's wrong.

               "Yes, I'm here," I answered.

               "Good," he said, "Where are you?"

               "Where are you?" I asked in return. I wasn't going to tell him where I was, he said not to trust him.

               "I'm in the house," my heart raced as he said the words, but I remained calm.

               "I..." I started, "I'm close."

               "You need to meet me at the house, quick," he said.

               "Why?" I inquired. "You told me to hide. That's what I'm doing."

               "That was before I realized you had a–" he stopped, dead quiet.

               "Rodriguez?" I called quietly.

               "Hold on a second, someone else is in the house," There was a very long pause, then, "I gotta go." He hung up. I ran up the spiral stairs quickly but quietly and listened. Something's wrong. I opened the hatch and climbed out carefully, and ran out of the closet. Rodriguez was trying to escape three people; they were chasing him around the kitchen table.

               "Sam! Go! Get out of here!" he shouted, pointing at the door.

               "I want to help you!" I shouted back.

               "No, you're pregnant, now go!" he said and dodged the chair Vladimir had thrown at him. Vladimir grabbed me and pointed a gun under my neck.

               "We had a deal," he looked furious. "The card you gave us was a fake!" his gun clicked, and I was pretty sure all was lost. But then Rodriguez leaped over the table and pinned Vladimir to the floor. The RIA's strongest man. Rodriguez was sweating a lot. He punched Vladimir across and back, then Vladimir rolled over on Rodriguez and held his arms. Jacob took off his wristwatch. Rodriguez did the launch kick to Vladimir, and Vladimir went flying across the floor. Kayli jumped on Rodriguez, and he grabbed her neck, but then she did the nutcracker choke on him. He was suffocating, I had to do something! I jumped on her and pried her off. Then Jacob grabbed my shoulder from behind, and I quickly turned around.

               I kneed his groin, which made him bend over, then I grabbed a frying pan and whacked his rear end with all my might, and he fell, rolling on the floor, groaning in pain. I congratulated myself, then looked at Rodriguez, who was holding his throat since the nutcracker choke is all about crushing the Adam's apple. Rodriguez slowly got to his feet, then his eyes widened.

               "Sam! Watch out!"