Echo

hides. He will not come out to be with me. They hurt My Barney. Brother Jose, please tell My Barney it is safe now.” Jose moved the sofa from the wall where Barney huddled, trickling urine over himself in fright, shivering uncontrollably.
    “Hey, boy, come on out. It’s okay. We’re home now. Yes, that’s my boy, come on,” he coaxed softly. Wrapping his arms around Barney, he placed him on the sofa, where Echo could get to him. He quickly returned to Abby. It seemed to him, she had probably been injected with something meant to subdue her while a rape took place. He couldn’t imagine they would want to kill her. Scotty grabbed a T-shirt from Abby’s room and they pulled it down over her head. As he did, he watched her eyes twitch and then flutter. Her consciousness surfaced, his relief so palpable he thought he might urinate all over himself too.
    Scotty flopped down, next to Jose, holding ugly chains in his hand, his face deceptively calm.
    “I found these next to one of the skeletons. I don’t know what happened here, but we need to go, now. I’m getting scared, Jose.”
    “Yeah, you got that right. Stay here with Abby. Let me make a call. Make sure the gold is still in the garage for me first, okay champ?”
    Calling Peter’s office while Scotty checked on the gold, he explained he wanted the armored car at his house in two hours, even if they had to fly it here. He would give the limo one hours. They were to be taken to Norristown where Peter would meet them sometime after work. Hanging up, he told Scotty to pack enough clothes for three days. They could buy anything else they needed on the road.
    Before Scotty started to pack, Jose asked him to box up some of the diamond rocks to take with them. They also needed to box up the equipment they used to melt gold along with five or six of the gold pieces. That would be at least fifty pounds, more than enough to see them through, even if they got separated from what the armored car carried.
    He went to the kitchen and got a wet cloth to place on Abby’s forehead. She appeared sluggish but warm color in her complexion chased away her pinched and gray face. She struggled to focus her eyes, slowly realizing Jose knelt over her. She started to sob, holding her arms out to him. He wrapped her up in a bear hug, softly kissing her head as he rocked them together, grateful they could be on their way to safety in a few hours.
    ###
    As Scotty passed through to the garage, he contemplated his sister. Did he just hear Jose say “I love you babe, it’s okay?” The scene looked awfully intimate to him. He glanced back at the couple. Geesch, Abby was kissing Jose now. He continued on to the garage, not entirely pleased with the obvious signals they were sending. If Abby found happiness, he would be the first to celebrate, God knows she deserved it; but Jose? He was practically their brother. Well, kinda. But he was Scotty’s go-to guy. His best bud. His. Not Abby’s. Now they wanted each other. Echo had Barney. He had no one. He’ll be eighteen soon, a tough time for any teenager on the cusp of manhood. Shaking his head in confusion, he wondered if things could get much worse.
    Placing a box of the uncut rocks near the front door, he watched Echo cradling Barney’s head in her arms, her head against the fur around his face as if to whisper quietly to him. Barney relaxed, much calmer now. It didn’t take much to make Echo happy as long as it involved Barney. Glancing at the skeletons on the floor, he wondered when they would get the details on those two gems. Maybe he should pack them up too. They certainly couldn’t leave them here. Glancing over to the couple, he prepared to ask Jose what he thought. He watched Jose pick up Abby and carry her toward the bedrooms. Grabbing a few more boxes, he made the decision to stuff the skeletons in, grimacing as he placed the boxes at the door with the rest of their stuff.
    Scotty knocked on Abby’s bedroom door. Jose motioned him in grimly, patting a spot on the bed for him to sit. Abby reached out and searched for Scotty’s hand.
    “It was Tomas and Kelly; and some other guy. I guess it must have been Kelly’s brother, Armoni. He’s a real prize. I stopped him from getting into the garage, though. I thought they killed Barney; the fucking bastards. ” Her lips moved with no sound, her anguish robbing her of her voice. She swallowed hard, breathing deep. “He tried to protect me. Echo saved us.” Abby held her