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Giacomo turns toward me. “Why do you say that?”

I shake my head. “I don't know, just a feeling.”

Giacomo turns toward the security panel beside the door. “Everyone stays in here. I’m keeping two people with you. I’ll be directly outside unless I need to move.”

I look toward the monitor. “Can we see what’s happening?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“Stay in here. No matter what. Your safety is my first priority.”

“I will.”

He gives me a look.

“I promise I will,” I insist.

He steps back into the corridor, leaving two security people inside with us, and the reinforced door remains open while he coordinates the rest of the property.

I move toward the monitor.

The men at the gate are still working.

One has the keypad housing completely open now. Another is beside a utility box farther along the stone wall, but the gate itself remains shut. A third walks several yards down the perimeter, stops beneath one of the cameras, looks directly up at it, and then moves out of view.

“They know the cameras are still live,” Victoria says.

I nod. “They must.”

Julia joins us without putting Cecilia down. “Can they cut those too?”

One of the security people answers. “They can try. The feeds are hardwired back to the house and protected inside the property. They’d have to physically reach the lines or take out the internal system.”

That explains why they started with everything that leaves the property instead.

Cut the house off first.

Then get in.

A warning flashes across one of the panels.

PERIMETER CONTACT — WEST.

The security guard beside us immediately reaches for his radio. “West fence. Sector four.”

A voice answers from upstairs. “Visual. Two approaching.”

The camera feed switches.

Two more men have left the road and moved along the outside wall instead of staying at the gate. One is checking the fence line while the other carries something I cannot identify.

Giacomo’s voice comes over the radio. “They’re looking for another entry point. Nobody engages unless they cross.”

Victoria looks at the screen. “How many are there now?”

“At least six that we’ve seen.”