AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes, Patrick. I absolutely want to stay married to you. I want to go on our honeymoon. I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you and maybe have a little Alexandra chasing after her older brother.”
I think I’ve overstepped and said too much when Patrick’s face pales. But then he launches himself at me, and I laugh lightly, thinking we’re going to have a repeat of this morning. Except this time, he doesn’t cage me in with his arms and stare at me adoringly. No. This time, his body covers mine to the point I can barely breathe, and I hear faint traces of static coming from his earpiece.
The last thing I hear is him telling me, “Stay down!” followed by a loud boom!
Chapter nineteen
Patrick
Boom!
The sound of the shotgun going off is deafening, especially since none of us are wearing hearing protection. Ari was in the process of telling me how much she wanted to have a future with me when Jerry came over the comms sounding garbled.
“Sig…Jam…Incom…dro…sure…arm…!” he said. Not having any distractions, Savannah could decipher his broken message through the static. She immediately located the source of his distress and aimed the shotgun. With the drone now destroyed, communications quickly come back online.
“What happened, Jerry?” I ask.
“Cn ooh pliss geet awwf me? I aunt bweeve!” Ari says muffled, pushing at my chest.
Understanding her words better than I had Jerry’s, I get off her so she can breathe.
“I’ll tell you what happened! Those guys sent in a drone with a signal jammer. Get back here as soon as you can. I lost visuals for almost thirty seconds, plenty of time for someone to breach the perimeter!”
Having just witnessed Savannah take out the drone, my dad recognizes that there’s an immediate threat and pulls up beside us. “Get in, Ariella. It will be safer in here than on horseback.” When she glances at me, silently asking my permission, I give her a slight nod. She complies and slides in, placing Alex on her lap. Once they’re on their way back to the main part of the ranch, I turn toward my partner.
“Savannah, can you ride?” I ask, hoping her answer is “yes.”
“Like the wind, Cowboy.” We get on the horses and put them into a gallop. What had taken nearly half an hour earlier while walking the horses takes less than seven minutes running them at full speed. We arrive at the barn within seconds of the RZR.
I hop down from John Wick and rush over to the utility vehicle, opening the door for Ari and Alex. “Let’s get you into the house. Sav—”
“Son, you go take care of your family. I’ll get the horses settled. Savannah can help me if she’s not needed inside,” my dad tells me.
“Go, Patrick. They need you. Your dad and I got this,” Savannah reassures me.
I don’t hesitate. I follow Ariella and Alex up the porch steps, walking backward to keep my eyes directed toward the pastures and tree line while positioning my body between them and any possible threat.
Once we’re safely inside, I feel some of the tension melt from my body. “How are you two holding up?” I expect Alex to be scared, but neither he nor Ariella appear to be put out or upset. As if reading my mind, Ariella says, “It’s not our first time encountering an unknown threat and being rushed to safety.”
Jessie walks by, heading toward the kitchen. “Ah, so just another walk in the park. Hungry? Charlie and I made sandwiches.”
“Yes, please,” Alex says.
“Like father, like son. I’m always able to eat, no matter the circumstances.” As soon as I say the words, my stomach growls loudly.
“Come on. Let’s wash up, grab some food, and get some answers.” Ariella takes my hand and drags me toward the kitchen, where we find plates already made for us.
Jerry has the laptop open on the table, pecking away at the keyboard. “We should wait for Savannah, so I don’t have to say everything twice. Right now, I’m running a software diagnostic to see if our cameras have been hijacked or if what I’m seeing on the screen are spoofed images. It will take another ten minutes for the program to finish running.”
Ten minutes later, Savannah walks in and immediately grabs a sandwich before sitting down at the table. “Don and I untacked the horses, and they’re cooling down in the larger paddock. I’ll return to help him clean up after this briefing.”
My mom sits down next to her. “You’ve done more than enough, Sweetheart. Sit down, eat, and take a breather. Don is more than capable of stabling the horses and brushing them down.”
“What do you have for us, Jerry?” Jessie asks impatiently.
He flips around his laptop screen. “As you know, our perimeter was breached with a drone armed with a signal jammer. It doesn’t look like the signal was used to hack our system, and I haven’t detected any back doors or malware. As far as I can tell, none of the cameras are spoofed.”
“I would certainly double-check. I’m not a ‘techie’ by any means, but Brachha is one of the leading developers of technology, specifically in the realm of cybersecurity. They may have created something new you aren’t aware of,” Ariella warns.
