“Daddy,” Emily whispered.

Her voice faded at the end into a small gasp, as though she were trying to breathe through clenched teeth.

“Give me your status,” Richard said, his voice dropping at once into a flat command tone.

Somewhere behind her voice, a loud crack of wood echoed over the line.

A second later, something heavy and metal crashed across a tile floor, ringing like iron hitting stone.

“Dad, please come and get me,” she said.