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
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