IRE

hree hundred yards back, where the truck sat b

the silence hi

hite on the plastic frame, monitoring Steve's cracked

, but their perimeter sensors are erratic," Sky

off her in waves. "He's inside the sanctuary room. If that meeting wraps early,

d, pulling my dark hair back i

dified pinhole micro-transmitters, Steve's RF scrambler

that cabin with hardline trip sensors along the gravel pat

er the static bypass on the cabin's perimeter alert, you have exactly four mi

d, slipping the covert earpiec

ree... two... one.

door and into the brush, moving

oss the tough fabric

ine needles without a rustle

rough the timber, squatting in th

g around to the unmonitored blind s

e earpiece. "Perimeter is still blind, but Leo's bike just shi

hard behind my ribs, but

l, sliding the thin strip of spring s

ior latch, feeling the

twitch of

dlessly over the ledge, and dropped

stale bourbon, pungent cigar ash, and the sic

n rug lay bunched beneath a pair of overturned cryst

red, her breath hitching. "G

e for

onto the s

hung Leo's priz

s behind the buck's right glass eye, angling the lens until the heavy timber

zzed agains

synced i

lear 4K r

tional aud

hot," I whisper

laire! Drop the se

ropping off the hearthston

't deviate f

lats," I cut in, dropping to both knees besid

m beneath the mattress until they smashed agains

ench slid int

ke

i

i

er-pr

he bypass is star

ce rose to a

the loop i

locked i

d pi

pin s

fraction m

ic

y lid un

Nightingale Ranch mortgage contract, bearing my father's trembling s

y mother's legacy to the club to fund Le

pocketed it, and jammed th

ac

kbox re

! Abort

ear, pure panic shr

ity alert just pinged two bikes teari

us roar of straight-pipe Harley exhausts ripped through

igh tree branches outside, fla

out-they were already tea

gainst my throat li

porch boar

ndow without crossing the l

un closet beside the bedroom archway, pulling the slat

the wall, holding my bre

killed its throttle right ag

runched over

steps clomped up o

led the fro

ly curse

of a key fumblin

e, ans

ely a breath in my ear

you o

mb over my mic

front door

filled the threshold, silhou

t

' an enforcer

y, sniffing the air wit

e of his cut brushed against the slats-and reached for

oved them into his pocket

check th

nt door behind him, stom

ared to life, tires tearin

a broken gasp i

is clear, but Leo's main pack i

e hardwood in a dead sprint, and vaul

amp earth outside

lled the window flush until the seal en

h the valley basin, Skylar's pickup was already coasting down the switchback with th