Arms crossed, Ally’s attention flitted between the six monitors affixed to the rear wall of her surveillance room. Tense muscles coiled tighter while she scrutinized the black SUV with dark-tinted windows. It had sat idle in the same spot for the past ten minutes, right outside her front gates.
For the hundredth time, she inspected the other screens for additional threats. Each one live-streamed views and angles of the perimeter through cameras strategically placed throughout her sixty-plus acres of property. Some flashed aerial views of the apple and pear orchard. Another set displayed a full three-sixty of her two-story red-bricked Tudor-style home and of the second smaller fence that encircled the house and lawn. Other cameras focused on her barns and the driveway lined with cherry trees leading up to her home. All of which appeared undisturbed.
She dialed into the intercom and cleared her throat before speaking to the receiver of her cell. “This is Nadiya Lane. You are trespassing on my property. Identify yourself or leave.”
The silence that greeted her made the sound of her pulse thudding behind her ears seem louder. After several minutes of nothing, she disconnected and pressed one on the speed dial.
Her orchardist and best friend Leanna, or Lee as she called her, picked up on the first ring. “Still no response, I take it?”
“No. Can you make out the occupants?”
“One passenger and the driver. It’s all I can make out. The windows are too dark. It’s a rental. No other vehicles. You seeing the same?”
Ally zoomed in as much as she could before answering. “Yes.” With all the cameras and safeguards they had in place, how could this happen?
“Time to call Justin?”
She considered the option. The sheriff of the local police department was the only person on the island who understood their real story. He was an invaluable ally who’d come to their aid on more than a couple occasions the past few years. She bit her lip and watched the SUV. “Let’s give it a couple more minutes. If they don’t drive away, I’ll call him.” She disconnected the line and tightened her grip on the phone as she willed the SUV to drive away.
“Who’s here, Momma?”
She jumped at his voice. So engrossed in the mysterious vehicle, she hadn’t noticed Jayden entering the room. Ally drew in a few breaths and calmed herself before plastering on a smile, glancing over her shoulder at her son and the two dogs who’d become his steadfast shadows. Large pale green orbs, currently double in size, stared past her at the screens. The sharp edges of his collarbone peeked out from under his shirt collar when he craned his head to study the SUV on the monitors. Barely over four feet, two inches tall, the little guy leaned his head back the closer he got to the images secured on the wall above him.
“Momma, who’s that?”
She shook her head when he asked her the same question a second time. “I don’t know,” she mumbled.
“I bet it’s Bhai.” His face lit up. “Maybe he’s finally home!”
She rested her hand on his unruly brown curls, wishing the same. He idolized his big brother. Called him Super Bhai half the time. And with good reason. Razaa would do anything for the little kid, and his departure hit him the hardest.
She glanced behind her at the screen. As much as they hoped for Super Bhai’s return, her gut screamed it wasn’t anyone super. He’d have called, not sat idle outside the property.
The driver’s side window lowered, revealing a piece of cardboard, large enough to hide the driver. Ally inched close to the monitor and squinted to see around the barrier, but the brown divider blocked her view and grew as it moved closer to the camera, obstructing her view of the persons behind it. The hair on the back of her neck rose.
An icy chill washed over her. She called the second person on her speed dial. “Jayden, you know what you need to do,” she muttered as she waited for the call to go through.
“But—”
“Go.” She shot him her it’s not up for negotiation look and placed the phone next to her ear while waiting for the call to go through.
His boney shoulders slumped. “Okay,” he mumbled and walked away. The one-word response dripped of disappointment. It screamed of his belief that he was old enough to stay upstairs, of his not-so-subtle theory that she was once again overreacting. But through it all was resignation because he understood none of those arguments would work on her. Ally pushed the guilt away to deal with another time, returned her focus to the brown screen, and impatiently waited for Justin to answer his phone.
“Zeus. Safe room.” The Husky/German Shepherd mix whined his understanding of her order and followed Jayden out the door.
“Nadiya, what can I do for you?” a deep male voice answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Justin. There’s a black SUV parked in front of my gate, and whoever it is has blocked the security camera.”
“On my way,” he said before the line went silent.
Ally chewed the inside of her cheek. With all the cameras and safeguards they had in place, no one could get inside the property without her authorization. She inhaled a slow breath, trying to ease the tension building in her stomach. As soon as Justin showed up and made them leave, she’d add more cameras to make sure this couldn’t happen again.
When the steel barriers of the outside fence clicked and the metal doors started to slide open, her blood ran cold. Eyes locked on the screens, she moved backward to the wall-to-wall bookcases lining the side of the room. She reached for the molding between two of the cases and palmed the designs etched into the wood until her fingers landed on the slight dip and pressed. A beat later, one of the six-foot-tall vertical panels popped out.
She pulled on the molding, sliding it and the wall connected to it, out. Secured to the middle of the hidden wall was a safe.
Ally glanced at the screen to see the SUV pulling up to the now open gates. Ten minutes. That’s how long it would take the black SUV to make it to the second fence and set of gates––if Lee and Justin weren’t able to stop it before then.
She punched in the code, and when it beeped its acceptance, laid her palm against the sensor for final identification. A second later, the safe unlatched, popping open.
Lee had told her often to keep weapons hidden throughout the property for situations like this. With a child running around the house, she refused. The last thing she wanted was for him to discover one of the hiding spots. She shoved aside a dusty metal lock box and reached for one of the guns stashed behind it. Her heart hammered an erratic beat against her ribs as she pulled the gun and two magazines of bullets out.
Ally returned the panel back into the wall until it was flush with the others. The safe held a lifetime of secrets. Secrets she would kill to protect. She tucked one of the magazines in her jean pocket before shoving the other into the base of her gun. After one final glance at the monitor, she pushed the Remington in the back of her jeans and adjusted her shirt to hide its bulge.
“Come, Apollo. We’ve got company.” The dog rose and followed her out of the room. She texted Lee and veered through the house, making her way to the front door.
The cool evening breeze chilled her overheated skin as soon as she opened the door. She pulled up the surveillance footage of the grounds on her phone, entered her porch, and shut the door behind her just as Lee’s text popped up on the screen.
Stick to the ROE.
The rules of engagement were simple. She stayed hidden, within the grounds of the home, and did not move beyond the second fence and let Lee handle the disturbance. If things went wrong, she’d make her way inside to the basement and the safe room with Jayden and take the underground tunnel that led them to the other side of the property. She whispered a prayer that none of the above would occur.
Too many securities had been put in place to prevent threats. Provisions Lee, a former CIA operative, had personally overseen. Ally trusted her. Lee loved them and would lay down her life to protect them. But she’d evolved in to much more than a protector. She’d become a part of them, her rock.
The metal of the gun scraped against her spine during her sprint across the lawn to the thick grouping of large arborvitaes, which lined the edge of the yard. Not only did the giant evergreens add an additional screen of privacy around the home, they also provided the perfect cover. She positioned herself between the two that gave her the best view of the windy road below and her home behind her.
Apollo planted himself beside her leg. His ears pointed in the direction of the road. “It’s probably a false alarm.” She whispered the assurance just as much for herself as for the dog.
His raised tail shifted slightly from right to left, acknowledging her words but letting her know he wasn’t convinced either.
Ally wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans and alternated her attention between the road and the action on her phone’s screen. The SUV stopped in the middle of the drive. She scrolled through the camera footage and cursed at the realization that none could provide a visual of the occupants. When it started moving again, Ally took in a breath and tried to ease her racing heart.
The closer the black Suburban advanced toward the gray barn, the tenser she became. The sirens of Justin’s cruiser echoing in the distance did nothing to ease her concerns. The vehicle slowed to a stop a few feet from the barn. Her back to the road, Lee stacked wooden logs onto a pile beside the building, appearing oblivious to the intrusion.
Ally’s gut screamed danger. That her world was about to change. She grabbed her gun from her waistband and prepared for the worst.