Page 100 of Give Me Peace

“Get that look off your face right now,” she growls. My mouth opens to argue, but whatever I’d been gearing up to say evaporates the second I get a good look at her face. She’s furious, beautifully so, but there’s something else flashing brighter than indignation in those heated blue depths.

Fear.

“Hey,” I offer placatingly, but she backs away from me, shaking her head profusely at my silent denial.

“What’s going on?” Kash croaks, choosing the perfect moment to wake his lazy ass up and offer some assistance. The last time Say got panicky she took off and nearly drowned herself in the goddamn ocean. I’d like to avoid a repeat.

“I saw someone. On the deck.” Kash spins around so quickly he almost topples off the couch.

“What? When?!”

“Just a minute ago,” she stammers out. “I felt them.”

My shoulders slump. As much as I hate to admit it, there’s a very good chance her mind is playing tricks on her. She likely had a nightmare and wasn’t fully awake. It’s easy to convince yourself you see something that’s not really there when things are still playing out in a dreamlike state. I’ve done it several times, certain there were spiders crawling up my wall.

“Stop doing that!” Say screams, her shrill pitch making my eyes widen. Ro comes barreling down the hall, on high alert at hearing the incensed tone our girl is using. “I know I’ve been a basket case, but I’m not crazy. I know what I saw!” Ro looks between us, trying to figure out what the hell is going on without pissing Say off even more.

“Tell me.” She slumps over, curling in on herself as Ro draws closer. “What’d you see, Little Fighter?”

“I woke up feeling funny. Like someone was watching me. After seeing Kash and Havok, I thought it might’ve been one of them, but it was pretty obvious they were fast asleep. I glanced at the slider and saw eyes. Someone had their hands pressed to the glass so they could peer in. The rest of their body was shrouded, maybe from the dark or their choice in clothes; I don’t know. But they were there.”

The base of my spine prickles as I listen to Say explain her version of events. It sounds farfetched, but something makes my feet move towards the door. Aside from recent events, Say has always been levelheaded. More than most would be after going through everything she has. As I stop in front of the slider, my eyes hone in on the smudge of a handprint. Numbness bleeds through my extremities, rendering me completely immobile as I stare at my worst fear come to life.

Someone was here—despite the security measures we have in place. I reach for my phone, slipping it free of my pants pocket with shaky fingers. As I pull up the cam feeds, my heart sinks to the soles of my feet. Grey, fuzzy screens stare back at me, devoid of any life. They’re all offline, yet there’s no alert blaring or notification signaling there’s been a malfunction.

“Say Baby,” I choke out, refusing to give my back to the door. “I need you to head downstairs.”

“What? Why?” She squeaks out as Ro pushes past me, trying to figure out why I’m so goddamned spooked. He swears when he sees the same distinct outline, yelling for Loch as he sprints for the safe we keep in the pantry. My brain finally snaps to attention. I spin and grab Say’s hand, forcing her to move despite her dragging her feet and screaming at me for answers.

“Stop!” I grip her upper arms, hoping to shake some sense into her. Say freezes, her fight getting replaced by a look of hurt. “I need you to listen, pretty girl. You can be angry at me all you want, but you have to be alive in order to put me in place. And I promise, once this is all over, you can read me the fucking riot act. But for now, I need you to go downstairs and stay there.”

“You’re scaring me,” she sputters, gripping the front of my shirt.

“I’m sorry, baby,” I shove the door open and frame her face, needing her complete focus as I dish out instructions. “You remember the panel on the wall that locks the door at the base of the steps?” I wait for her to nod her head before continuing. “Good. Place your hand on the scanner and wait for the beep. Once it’s engaged, head to the arms room. Stay there until one of us comes for you. Under no circumstance do you leave the safety of that room. Do you understand?” Another nod as tears fill her eyes.

“I love you. So fucking much, Say.” I pull her mouth to mine, committing her taste to memory and kissing her like it’s the last time I might get the chance to, just in case shit goes sideways. The second I close the door, relief washes over me. As much as I want to yank it back open and keep her close, I know the safest place she can be is far away from us. Whoever this deranged fucker is, he chose the wrong girl. He’s clearly underestimated the lengths we’ll go to in order to protect the woman we love.

“Talk to me,” Loch orders, looking like he just woke up. He’s wearing nothing but pajama bottoms, his hair mussed but eyes alert and assessing. He takes the gun Ro offers as he waits for me to explain.

“Say saw someone on the deck. There’s a handprint on the glass.” Short and to the point. We’ve wasted enough time already. Christ, I treated my girl like she was seeing shit, when she might the only reason we got a heads up on the situation. “Cams are down, but no alert came through.”

“The fuck?” Krew mutters, tapping away on his laptop. I tint the slider as we wait for answers. I want to know what the hell is happening and why our equipment is failing. “He’s hacked our feed. I can get in, but he has control.” We share a quiet, weighted look. This is it. The inevitable standoff. I think we all knew this day would come, but having Saylor here—just feet away from danger—makes me wholly unprepared to face this asshole. He’s been outsmarting us from the get-go, and we can’t afford to give him the upper hand now, not when it really counts.

“Holy shit.” I stumble back as realization sets in. “It was him—the downed cams. He’s been watching, using the cover of other shit to fuck with our stuff. He waited for the guy on the lawnmower to pass, using the shredded frisbee to take out the front feed, then the suicidal bird to mess with the back.” I have no idea how I know it, but I do. It’s been him all along.

“Why not strike then? If it was him all along, why wait?” Kash questions, looking perturbed but curious.

“He was learning the system. Cataloguing our response time,” Krew answers distractedly, still searching for a way in.

I should’ve picked up on the weird occurrences sooner. We’ve never had cams go down like that, one after another. But the reasons were pretty believable, which makes me nervous to find out who this twisted, too smart fuckwad is. He used real-life circumstances to his benefit, not once alerting us to his presence. For fucking weeks. I grip the back on my neck and start to pace, needing an outlet for the panic threatening my ability to think straight. We promised her. Swore up and down that no one could get to her here.

“Sayloooor,” a slick, nasally voice sounds from the speakers in the main room. I stop dead in my tracks, staring at the device anchored to the wall like it’s the offending asshole himself. He doesn’t deserve to speak her fucking name.

“He’s broadcasting throughout the house,” Krew rushes out. Which means Say can hear him.

Fuck, baby. Please don’t do anything stupid.

“Come on out, darling. It’s time to go home.”