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A man’s arm reached out of the driver’s side door and pressed the buzzer asking for permission to enter. He kept his head down. He was wearing the company’s blue cap. Goosebumps broke out all over my body.
I granted permission through my phone. Heart hammering in my chest, I slipped out of the office with the tablet in my hand, leaving Charley asleep inside with the door closed.
The security company’s app was lighting up. Tyrese called. I switched the sound off on my phone and then stuffed it in my back pocket. I ran to the window that looked out on the front driveway and peeped through a crack in the blinds.
With jerky halts and starts the blue and white cargo van, with the pool cleaning company’s logo on the side, parked close to the front door. The passenger side faced me. My breath burst in and out.
“Is that you, asshole?”
Normally, the pool cleaner parked next to the side gate. The driver’s side door creaked open but I couldn’t see who stepped out. Charley started barking inside the office.
A trickle of sweat ran down my forehead. I swallowed hard. The driver swung open the back door of the van. I bit down on my lip hard enough to break the skin—Miller wouldn’t bother unloading a ton of equipment, would he? The pool wasn’t scheduled to be cleaned.
I studied the camera feeds. A bin of equipment dropped down from the back of the van. Both side gates into the backyard had new locks and the regular pool cleaner had the code for one.
The back door of the van swung closed. I flinched, clutching the tablet in one sweaty hand. The driver’s clothes were a muddy color, torn and stained. Red hair hung outfrom under the hat. Miller turned and stared straight at my window.
I ducked just as glass broke above me and there was a bang like a balloon popping. My chest constricted—that had been a bullet.
“Shit.”
Low to the ground, I ran toward the kitchen. Behind me, glass shattered. I dove under the dining-room table and rolled into a ball as a blast exploded in my entryway.
The detonation shook the floor, the eruption a shock wave of blistering sound. My ears popped like they’d been torn apart, and my head pounded. A scorching white light flashed, and I had to put an arm over my closed eyes, face pressed against the floor, both hands still covering my ringing ears.
The light dimmed. I squinted down at myself—I was whole. Heart racing, I pushed up onto my hands and knees, my vision fuzzing in and out, and crawled toward the kitchen. That blast had been like standing next to a jet engine or someone blowing the loudest horn you can imagine directly into your ear. Over my shoulder I saw smoke but otherwise the house seemed normal. I blinked.Hadn’t a bomb exploded?I kept moving, stumbling and clumsy, while the ringing in my ears pinched my eyes into slits.
A foot hit my stomach. I coughed, crumpling onto the floor. My lips moved but I couldn’t breathe in. I wanted to run—it was happening too fast, everything was wrong. Miller pushed me onto my back. His mouth moved, his lips twisted into a sneer. I couldn’t hear anything and my entire body shook.
His hand grabbed my crotch and twisted painfully. My mouth opened in a soundless scream. My vision clouded.
He leaned over me, spit flying out of his mouth and landing in my burning eyes. I panted, my chest constricted asblack spots took over my sight. His hands worked at the clasp of my overalls.
I pulled a Taser out of my pocket and shot him in the back. He jerked away, landing on the floor next to me, his teeth bared as his body twitched. I yanked out another Taser from my other pocket and shot toward his face. The probes flew out and sunk deep into the skin on his neck.
“Fuck you,” I said, not sure if a sound came out of my dry throat. His body convulsed. I kicked the gun he’d dropped away from his hand then picked it up.
Lights were flashing in the driveway. I limped to the front door and unlocked it then swung it open, backing away quickly with my hands up.
When I glanced behind me, Miller was hunched over, standing, and had staggered a few feet to the second-story deck door, off the family room.
“Stop,” I tried to shout.
Tyrese charged through the door, saw me, and pulled me onto the entryway floor away from the door and broken window. Hank ran in, his eyes locked on Miller.
I elbowed Tyrese and then jumped to my feet, following Hank. Miller had opened the door and run out onto the enclosed deck. Through the windows I saw him launch himself up onto the railing and jump toward the pool, just as Hank reached the door.
Tyrese’s furious face blocked mine and he pulled me to a wall out of the way as cops came charging in with their guns drawn.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
“Did he get away?” I kept asking, my mouth strange, the words slurred as I tried to speak without being able to hear. “What happened?”
Tyrese spoke to me, and I had absolutely no mouth-reading abilities. He shook his head.
“They caught him?” I said the words slowly.
He nodded. I covered my eyes with a hand and shook, my whole body trembling enough to chatter my teeth.
