As her hand connected with the frame, she wrapped her fingers solidly around it. She swung her other leg over the balcony and gripped the trellis with both hands. Taking a deep breath, she shoved her foot through the foliage, found a decent foothold and then pulled herself onto the trellis.

She held her breath for several seconds as she waited to see if it would hold her weight. It didn’t so much as groan, telling her she was right, it was industrial grade. Thank god!

As she was trying to determine where to go next, she heard the patio doors open on the first floor.

Glancing down, she saw a man dressed all in black fatigues step through. He was holding what looked like a semi-automatic in his hands. He scanned the area, looking for something or someone. For her.

A male voice shouted from the interior of the house and he turned to shout back. She used the noise they were making to quickly shift her body into a denser part of the foliage, allowing it to swallow her up. It would only work if he didn’t look directly at her. The greenery was lush enough to hide a person, and hopefully her pink shorts and the tan Fendi bag would blend in with the flowers.

It was a gamble. If he saw her from the ground, then he could spray the side of the house with bullets and it would be game over for her. Maybe she should have hidden in a cupboard, which had been her first instinct.

But no, she’d seen enough movies to know that a person shouldn’t hide in the obvious places, like cupboards, closets, or under beds. They had to pick someplace weird that no one would think to check. Like the shrubs climbing up the side of the house. The bad guys might eventually think to check, but it was going to take a while. Hopefully long enough for Volkan to arrive.

In the meantime, she had to find a comfortable way to cling because she was already feeling fatigue from balancing and her face was itchy from being pressed into a giant flower full of pollen. She had about five hours to go before Volkan would arrive. All she had to do was stay alive until then.

The first hour passed.

It was relatively quiet except she could hear the men occasionally smashing things in the house. She’d had a tense few moments when someone came out on the balcony and looked around, but he was leaning over the railing, scanning the pool area. He’d have to turn his head all the way to the left and squint really hard to spot her.

When they searched the pool shed and pool area, she’d clung to the foliage for all she was worth and didn’t move a muscle. By some miracle, or her incredibly good hiding skills, they didn’t see her.