Home Invasion Read Online Free

do,” Steve said. “But just in case you don’t, I’m going to give you a sneak preview. Here’s what’s going to happen if anything goes wrong.” Steve grabbed Jack by the front of his bloody T-shirt and pulled him off the sofa to his feet.
    “No, please,” Kathy cried as Steve brought his fist down hard across Jack’s nose. Kathy heard a bone break. “No! Stop! Please stop!”
    Then Steve slammed his fist into Jack’s stomach.
    “Stop,” Kathy begged. “You’re killing him.”
    “Trust me, I’m just getting started.” Steve laughed as he let go of Jack and watched him slide to the floor. Jack coughed up blood and gasped for air. “I’m saving the good stuff till later,” Steve said. Then he pushed Kathy to the floor beside her husband. Her knees hit the carpet with a thud.
    Kathy wanted to cradle Jack’s head in her lap. She wanted to wipe the blood from his face and kiss his broken nose. But her hands were tied behind her back, and all she could do was look at him and cry.
    “Kathy,” Jack moaned.
    “I’m right here.”
    “Did they hurt you?”
    “No, I’m okay,” Kathy told him. “It’s you...”
    “I’m okay.”
    “How sweet,” Steve sneered. “Sorry to break this up, lovebirds, but all good things must come to an end. Tie their ankles,” he ordered his partner.
    The thin man didn’t move. “Who died and made you boss?” he asked.
    “You want me to tie their ankles?” Steve said. “Fine. I’ll tie their ankles.”
    Seconds later, Jack’s and Kathy’s ankles were tightly bound.
    “We wouldn’t want you running off anywhere,” Steve said, and laughed again. Then he walked toward the hall. “Okay, I’m off. Why don’t you check out the rest of the house while I’m gone?” he said to his partner. “I’m betting there’s a safe here somewhere. And if these two give you any trouble at all,” he added, waving his gun at Jack and Kathy, “shoot them.”

Chapter Four

    The thin man followed his partner into the hall. For a few seconds, the two men whispered together. Then Kathy heard the front door slam shut. A car started up and backed out of the driveway. Just then, the thin man popped his head around the den door.
    “You got anything to eat?” he asked.
    Was he serious? Kathy wondered. He was hungry?
    “I’m starving,” the thin man said. “How about fixing me a sandwich?”
    “You want a sandwich?” Kathy repeated. Was this a joke?
    “I know you have lots of tuna,” the man said.
    How does he know that? Kathy thought. Has he already looked through my kitchen cupboards? Or has he been here before?
    The man didn’t wait for Kathy to respond. He untied her feet and grabbed her by her arm. Despite his thin frame, he was very strong, Kathy noted. “Might as well make yourself useful while we wait,” he snarled. Then he looked down at Jack, who was lying on the floor. Blood hid most of Jack’s face.
    All that blood looks like a mask, Kathy thought. She glanced from Jack’s face to the face of the man in the ski mask.
    “Don’t so much as move a muscle, old man,” the thin man warned Jack. “If you do, your wife is a dead woman.”
    Kathy felt a flash of anger. She didn’t know which was worse, the threat or how the two men kept calling her husband an old man.
    Then she flushed with shame. Hadn’t she been thinking the same thing about Jack less than an hour ago?
    Jack groaned, but he didn’t move. The thin man pushed Kathy from the den into the hall.Then he shoved her through the dining room into her modern, all-white kitchen. How does he know where the kitchen is? Kathy wondered.
    “I’m going to untie your hands now,” the man said, “so you can make me the sandwich. But I’ve got this gun pointed at your head. If you try anything funny, I’m going to shoot you. And then I’m going to shoot your husband,” he warned. “Then I’m going to wait for pretty little Lisa. And when she comes home, I’m going to shoot her, too. Do you