Текст книги "Transcending Darkness"

Автор книги: Airicka Phoenix

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Текущая страница: 24 (всего у книги 36 страниц)

“But you said no, right?” Vi broke in. “I mean, you’re not going to go live with them, are you?”

But Juliette could see the flash of guilt in the woman’s eyes even before she lowered them to the counter.

“I don’t have very long in this world,” she said instead. “Each day is one day closer to when I won’t be here anymore. You girls have been my family for three years and I wouldn’t change that for anything, but I miss my children and grandchildren … and great grandchildren,” she added with a chuckle. “I think it’s time I spent some time with them now.”

“That’s rubbish!” Vi blurted. “We need you here.”

“No,” Juliette cut in softly. “I think it’s a wonderful idea.”

Vi rounded on her. “What?”

Juliette kept her attention on Mrs. Tompkins. “You’re always welcome to come back anytime.”

Relief loosened the knots along Mrs. Tompkins’s thin shoulders. They lowered from their place at her ears and she offered them a tiny smile.

“I will miss you girls,” she admitted, her gray eyes glistening. “I was worried about leaving you alone here, but the last few weeks have really changed my mind. You’re both so happy and finally working together. It really warms my heart.”

“Well, you’re a crazy old lady,” Vi muttered, grabbing two slices of buttered bread and turning away, but not before Juliette caught her sweep quickly at her cheek. “Just abandoning us to run off with your real family.”

The pan hissed as the slices were thrown down on the hot surface, drowning out whatever else Vi was grumbling.

“Don’t listen to her,” Juliette told Mrs. Tompkins. “She’s just naturally miserable.”

Mrs. Tompkins laughed. “I hope you’ll consider coming down to see me once in a while. It’s only one city over.”

Juliette agreed. Vi stayed over the pan, grudgingly jabbing the bread with the tip of her spatula.

It was well after everyone had eaten and Vi had stalked off to her room and Mrs. Tompkins had retired for the night that Juliette realized Killian never called. Granted, she still didn’t have her own phone—the cost was just not worth it—but he usually sent some kind of word with Jake or Melton and neither had said a word.

Wiping her wet hands on a dishrag, she padded from the kitchen in search of her guards. She found them in a small huddle with Javier, Laurence, and Phil in the sitting room. The five were talking in low whispers that made the back of her neck tingle.

“I’m sure of it,” Javier was saying, his close set eyes a little too focused. “Same one about ten minutes after you arrive each time.”

Jake and Melton exchanged glances.

“We haven’t seen anything,” Melton said at last.

“Maybe it’s someone that lives in the area,” Phil suggested.

Laurence shook his head. “I checked all the cars in a nine block radius. Doesn’t match the description.”

“Guest, maybe?”

Javier shook his head. “Drives by the house exactly ten minutes each time.”

“Did you report it?” Jake asked.

Laurence nodded. “Called it into Frank an hour ago. No response yet.”

“There was a fight at one of the casinos,” Jake explained. “I heard it was messy. Guy got shot.”

Juliette shivered and stepped away from the doorway. Her gaze jumped to the front door, closed and secured by three locks and a deadbolt and still she wondered if it was enough. What if someone still managed to get in, especially now that there was a possibility that someone was following them? Was Vi safe? Maybe they needed to go to … where? The police? A hotel? There was nothing the police could do that Killian’s men couldn’t and a hotel was just out of the question.

“Ma’am?”

She jumped at the unexpected intrusion to her inner panic. Her head jerked up to find Jake standing a few feet away from her, arm extended. A phone was nestled on his palm.

“A call for you,” he said, seeming unperturbed by the fact that she was clearly eavesdropping.

Swallowing audibly, she took the device and thanked him. He inclined his head and left her alone. She pressed the phone to her ear.

“Hello?”

His response was immediate, warm and soothing. It rushed over her with the power of a fluffy blanket, enveloping her and chasing away the chill and dread.

“Hey.”

Her heart danced a tango of relief and the flutter of girlish delight. “How was the incident?”

She hurried up the stairs to her room. She shut the door behind her and went to the bed.

“Messy,” he replied with a tired little sigh.

“What happened?” she pressed as she crawled onto the stiff mattress and propped her back against the headboard.

“Nothing you need to hear about before bed. What are you wearing?”

Her laugh filled her tiny room. “I think you should come over and find out.”

His low groan sent shivers scattering across her skin, raising pimples and making her nipples harden. “I’d be there in a heartbeat, except I was thinking of spending some time with Mar before she up and vanishes again. I’m not even wholly certain she’ll be at the house when I get there.”

Rancorous bitterness swelled in her chest, filling her with a sort of loathing she hated herself for feeling.

“That’s a nice idea,” she forced herself to grind out. “We can always meet up tomorrow.”

“Angry?”

She shook her head, even though he couldn’t see it. “No, it’s good you spend time with your sister. I know you haven’t seen her in a while so…”

“Thank you, darling.” There was a pause, followed by his sigh. “I’m nearly at the house now. When do you work tomorrow?”

Disappointment an iron weight hanging from her neck, Juliette stared across her room at her closet as she answered, “Later in the afternoon at the diner. It’s my first day back in a week and I’ve only got four hours right after lunch, but before supper, which is the deadest time in the whole day. It’s going to be awful.”

“Why do you stay there?” he asked.

“Can’t leave.” She picked at a loose thread on her comforter. “I still owe them money from all the advances.”

“I can—”

“No, you can’t!” she broke in quickly. “It’s fine. It’s days I don’t work at the hotel anyway so it saves me from having nothing to do all day.”

“You know what I would really like?” He didn’t want for an answer, but went on. “A woman who actually lets me do things for her.”

Juliette raised an eyebrow he couldn’t see. “Haven’t you done enough for me? Besides, I only keep you around for one purpose and it’s not to buy me things.”

There was a pause, then an amused, “That so? And what purpose is that?”

She drew in a deep, exaggerated breath. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? Clearly so I can beat you at laser tag and make myself feel better.”

His laughter filled her ear and made her chuckle. “Nice try, but it was a tie so you didn’t beat me.”

She hissed through her teeth. “That’s just what I wanted you to think.” In the background, she heard a car door slamming shut. Then the crunch of feet on snow and she realized he must have just arrived home. “Guess you have to go now, huh?” she murmured, unable to keep the pout from her voice.

“Aye, but I’ll see you tomorrow. I promise.”

With a sigh, she said goodbye and hung up. She set the phone on the end table and stared at it a long while before dragging herself off the bed and into the bathroom. After a quick shower, she dressed in a long t-shirt and climbed into bed.

The fire was slow burning, working its hot, greedy tongue up the length of her body in deft little flicks that had her writhing in anticipation for more. It consumed miles of flesh in a lazy trail that seemed to take forever to reach her apex. A choked sound forced its way up her chest and pooled at the back of her throat as her back arched to the languid dance of pressure gliding over and around her throbbing clit.

“Killian!”

His name tangled with the whimper that finally escaped its confinement. The tongue faltered as though startled by the sound, but it quickly renewed its insistence with a vigor.

Juliette gasped and reached for the hungry mouth lapping at her, guiding her effortlessly to the edge. Her fingers curled into thick, wavy strands of silk. Her knees lifted and fell apart in open invitation for more. Her companion groaned appreciatively. The sound vibrated against her core, giving it just the right push to send her over with a wail she stifled between her teeth.

The mouth vanished and she whined at the loss only to have her arms filled with broad shoulders and a familiar weight.

He drove inside her without a pause. The invasion popped her eyes open. It tore her back off the mattress with a strangled cry. Her gaze met dark ones on a face painted in shadows, but unmistakable. Her heart leapt and her mouth cracked into a smile in delight.

“Killian.”

He kissed her. He tasted like chocolate and her. She welcomed it, welcomed him as she wound her legs around his hips, drawing him in deeper.

The kiss intensified with his every demanding thrust. She met every one. Every kiss. Every thrust. She let him swallow her moans as his body rode hers expertly to a second climax that was met a moment later by his.

His weight settled comfortably on her, but she knew it wasn’t all of him. His face nuzzled the side of her neck as she littered tiny kisses along the seam of his shoulder. Her arms clasped him tightly to her.

“Please don’t be a dream,” she whispered against his skin.

His response was the turn of his head and the violent claim of his mouth over hers in a kiss that dissolved her bones and sent the room spinning all over again.

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” she murmured some time later as they lay in a tangled mess across the rumpled expense of her bed.

She lay partially on top of him as he traced the bumps of her spine with lazy fingertips. Her head rested against his chest and she could feel the steady patter of his heart thumping beneath her cheek. One leg tucked comfortably through his as she drew lazy circles against his exposed skin with a finger.

“Wasn’t going to,” he said quietly into the top of her head. “But I couldn’t think of anything, except to see you again.”

She lifted her head and peered down at him. His beautiful face was barely visible beneath the curtain of darkness, but his eyes shone with their own inner light that never failed to mesmerize her.

“Stay the night?” she asked.

Fingers smoothed stray locks of hair behind her ear. “For a few hours.”

Juliette’s heart sank. Her shoulders drooped.

“None of that now,” he said. “What kind of example would we be setting for your sister if I stayed?”

He was right and she was ashamed that she hadn’t even thought of Vi.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “You’re right.”

Even concealed, she could see his features softening. She felt it in the gentle glide of his fingers tracing the side of her face.

“I would if I could.”

With a sigh, she lowered her head and rested her brow against his chin. “Thank you for coming.” She raised her face and peered down at him. “I missed you.” She flattened her hand against his cheek and pressed her thumb over his lips before he could speak. “I know you’re going to tell me I shouldn’t—”

He took hold of her wrist and gently drew her hand away. “God help me, but I missed you, too.”

Elation sent her heart tap dancing in her chest. His words stole all her senses, even disappointment over him leaving in a few short hours. Juliette beamed as she dropped her mouth and kissed him.

He was gone when Juliette woke up only a short few hours later. The blankets had been drawn tightly around her, but the heat of his body was no longer enveloping her. If it wasn’t for the sweet thrum between her thighs and the fact that she was naked, she might have mistaken the previous night for a dream.

Grabbing her clothes, she quickly dressed before the rest of the house could wake up. She righted her room. She was in the process of tossing her roped sheets into the hamper when she spotted the thin, black box on the nightstand, next to a card and Jake’s phone. A fat, red ribbon circled the case, contrasting brightly against the dark velvet. Juliette stared at the thing. She knew full well that it hadn’t been there when she’d gone to bed. Her heart skipped a beat as she reached for the card and turned it over.

Her name winked up at her from the back in perfect, scrawling penmanship and nothing else. She set the card down and reached for the box. It was real velvet, not the sort that anyone could just buy at the dollar store. It bristled lightly against her skin and she had to suppress the urge to stroke it to her cheek. Instead, she turned her focus to easing a finger beneath the bronze little latch. The top popped open with only a slight squeak from the hinges. More velvet filled inside with a layer of silk. Against the navy bed lay the most beautiful pendent Juliette had ever laid eyes on.

Early morning light danced off the elegant curve surrounding a flawless sphere and caught on each of the four stones embedded in a bed of gleaming silver. Vines twisted in jagged knots around the pale face of a beautiful girl in a Victorian gown. Her long, unbound curls lay in perfect waves around bare shoulders and was held in place by a lily pinned to the side of her head. Juliette turned the cameo in her hand and early light skated along the swirling scripture etched into the silver slat on the back.

“Your happiness drives me.”

The writing was faded, like it had been done years ago and she wondered if Killian had found it in a pawn shop or some antique dealer. It didn’t even matter. The pendent was by far the most thoughtful gift anyone had given her in years. She’d almost forgotten what that felt like.

Moving quickly into the bathroom, she slipped the delicate chain about her throat. The cool metal settled lightly against her skin. The pendent nestled just inches below her collarbone. She fingered the carved gemstone and grinned at her own reflection.

Excitement thrumming, she grabbed Jake’s phone and sprinted downstairs. Jake, Phil, and Melton were in the kitchen, surrounding the island with steaming mugs of coffee when she rushed in. All three jumped. Melton hissed when scalding liquid sloshed over the rim of his cup and burned his hand.

“Sorry!” she said, unable to stop grinning. “Do you think you’re up for a drive?”

Jake set his cup down. “Ma’am, we go whenever you’re ready.”

Too geared up to tell them she didn’t mind waiting until they were finished their coffee, she handed Jake his phone and nodded.

“I’m ready.”

Leaving them, she hurried to where she’d left her coat and purse in the dining room. She moved quietly to avoid waking Javier, who most likely got the nightshift. Laurence glanced up from his position at the window when she stepped into the foyer, swinging her things on.

“Ma’am,” he said in the way of greeting.

She smiled at him. “Morning.”

Jake and Melton were on the front porch when she joined them. Together, they marched down the walkway to the SUV. Melton held the door open and she scrambled inside.

Maybe it was because she was practically crawling out of her skin with anticipation, but the drive seemed to take forever. It wasn’t until Jake took an odd turn off the major road and through a deserted side street that she realized they were changing routes.

“Is there really someone following us?” she asked.

“It’s only precaution, ma’am,” Melton answered.

No one said anything else as they ambled their way up the side of Killian’s hill. The gates opened at the top with a rusty shriek and they pulled to a stop next to the fountain. Juliette opened her own door. She hopped out and darted up the steps.

Despite having left her bed in the wee hours of the morning, Killian was showered and dressed and wide awake when she poked her head into his office. There was a black mug on the desk, no longer steaming, so she wondered how long it had been sitting there forgotten. The owner had his face buried in a stack of papers. He had his serious face on as he scanned the pages. It was the one that puckered the place between his eyebrows and pulled at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t notice her walk in until she cleared her throat.

His face shot up and the lines on his brow immediately vanished. “Juliette?”

In a handful of determined strides, she closed the space separating them and took his face between her hands. There was a split second of surprise on his part, but the moment her mouth closed over his, it had dissolved into a look of pure satisfaction.

“I take it you got my gift,” he teased once she’d drawn back.

Slightly breathless, Juliette grinned. Her hand went into the collar of her coat and she pulled the pendent free for him to see.

“It’s so beautiful,” she breathed, smoothing the pad of her thumb over the girl’s delicate features. “I love it so much. Thank you.”

Killian said nothing for several long minutes as he studied the cameo. He filled the silence by taking her hips and perching her gingerly on the edge of his desk. His chair hinges squeaked as he rose to tower over her. He lightly nipped the zipper of her coat and tugged it down the rest of the way. But his intentions apparently weren’t to disrobe her. It was to get a better look at her wearing the gem.

“It was my great, great grandmothers,” he murmured at long last. “My great, great grandfather had bought it during a trip to London and thought his then pregnant wife would like it. She brought it with her from Ireland and gave it to my great grandmother, who gave it to my grandmother, who never had a daughter and gave it to my dad.” He paused to touch the jagged frame around the girl. “He got it engraved and gave it to my mom when she had me. It was her favorite piece.”

Warmed by significance of such a treasured item, Juliette settled her hand over his and caught his eye. “Are you sure you want to part with something so precious?”

“Aye.” Fingers still caught in hers, he turned his wrist a notch and lightly traced the line of her throat all the way to the hollow with just his thumb. “I wouldn’t want it to be worn by anyone else.”

Words failing her, Juliette reached for him when a light cough from the doorway broke through the moment, shattering it.

“Forgive my interruption, sir.” Frank stayed on the threshold, hands clasped at his back, his expression professionally blank. “Your sister is in the kitchen and she seems to be having some … difficulties.”

Killian checked his watch. “It’s only nine. She ought to be comatose for a few more hours.”

A muscle twitched in Frank’s jaw, the only outwards show of his barely suppressed irritation. “That doesn’t appear likely, sir.”

Helping Juliette off the desk, Killian led her after Frank to the kitchen where Maraveet stood in all her barely clad glory, rifling through his cupboards once more.

She wore a nightgown of purple silk and lace so fine, it was practically transparent. The thing clung to her generous breasts by dainty cups about two times too small. It cinched at the middle before flaring out in shimmering wave. Her long, slender arms were bare beneath the thin straps keeping the entire ensemble in place. She was muttering to herself and slamming the cupboards hard enough to rattle the others along the row. Her three inch slippers skidded and cracked against the floor with her uneven movement. Her unbound hair fluttered down her back in a curtain of glistening auburn.

She looked gorgeous … and pissed.

“Looking for something?” Killian hedged.

Shutting her most recently opened cupboard, Maraveet turned. She pinned groggy, green eyes on Killian and bared her teeth.

“It’s nine in the bloody morning,” she stated as though that were somehow Killian’s fault. “An ungodly hour for any type of person and yet…” She threw open her arms to indicate all her near nakedness. “Here I am. Awake.”

“Most people are at work,” Killian countered.

Without makeup, Maraveet appeared considerably younger, which was why, when she batted her eyes rapidly, she reminded Juliette of a confused baby owl.

“I work nights!” she snarled. “Something I can’t do here, which would be fine if the person who made me swear not to liberate the city museum of its precious items had the decency to stock a proper box of tea!”

“Not the bloody tea again!” Killian groaned. “For Christ sakes, Mara, send one of your men to get you your blasted tea.”

“You’re a robber?” Juliette blurted without thinking.

Both sets of eyes rounded on her as though the wall had started speaking. Their undivided attention was unnerving, but not nearly as terrifying as the look on Maraveet’s face when she spotted the pendent still visible between the V of Juliette’s coat.

“Is that…” She blinked and squinted like that would somehow make it less true. “Is that…” She couldn’t seem to bring herself to say the words.

“Mom’s pendent,” Killian finished for her. “Aye.”

“But I don’t…” she trailed off, resembling someone who just got smacked in the face with a dead fish.

“I think we ought to deal with one problem at a time, which currently seems to be…”

It was Killian’s turn to falter mid-sentence. But it wasn’t just his unexpected silence that had Juliette turning her head; he’d gone rigid. His gaze had fastened to the fridge. His face had taken on that look of intense concentration, like there was something about the appliance that he was supposed to remember and he couldn’t bring it to the forefront of his mind.

“Killian?”

Without saying a word, he turned on his heel and marched to the doorway, calling Frank’s name.

Frank, who had been just outside, stepped into view.

“Sir?”

“When was the last time Molly was here?”

It was only when mentioned that Juliette realized she hadn’t seen the woman in a while. The previous three times, Juliette had been at work and Killian had mentioned it in passing that Molly had swung by to drop off his care packages. The last little while, they hadn’t stayed home to eat so she hadn’t even thought of the neatly boxed meals or the lady who delivered them.

But Frank pulled out his phone, flipped through it carefully before responding.

“My records show two weeks, sir.”

Killian’s head drew back slowly. “Call her, Frank.”

With an inclination of his neck, Frank left the room, phone already at his ear.

“You’re still talking to Molly?” The hardness in Maraveet’s voice surprised Juliette, but it mirrored the taut darkness that had settled over the woman’s face. “What were you thinking?”

Killian said nothing, but Juliette could see the hard lines of his jaw bunch as though Maraveet had punched him in the gut.

“Why shouldn’t he?” Juliette broke in. “Molly stayed with him and took care of him. He’d have to be a selfish asshole to toss her aside after that.”

Maraveet’s green eyes burned into hers. “Don’t talk of things you don’t understand,” she ground out through straight, white teeth. “You’ve barely been here a week and no doubt spent most of it in his bed.”

“Maraveet!” Killian rounded on his sister. “Enough.”

That only turned her wrath on him. “If something has happened to Molly, it will be on your head, Killian. You know that.”

With that, she stormed from the room with a vengeance that made every retreating stride crack through the house like gunfire. The vibration echoed all the way to the top of the stairs before carpet muffled her heels. Then there was silence.

“She’s wrong, you know,” Juliette murmured to the quiet man standing a few feet away. “It’s not your fault. Molly’s probably gone on vacation or she’s been sick. There’s a bad flu—”

“She’s not wrong.” Killian raised his head and she struck by the force of his anguish. It roiled in a dark tangle across his face. It creased the lines around his mouth and settled ruthlessly on his shoulders, stooping them. “She warned me years ago to cut ties and I didn’t listen.”

“That’s insane, Killian!” She hurried to him. “You can’t cut people from your life. You need people. You need family.”

He didn’t seem to be listening to her anymore. There was an unfocused glaze over his eyes as he stared unseeingly across the room. The hands tucked absently in his pockets bulged through the fabric in tight fists. Juliette ached seeing him that way and having no idea how to fix it. She wanted to touch him, her hands ached with it, but he didn’t seem like he wanted that.

“Killian…”

Frank returned to the room, phone in hand. His grim expression closed an icy finger around Juliette’s gut.

“There was no answer, sir.”

It was as though someone had let all the hope out of Killian. His body sagged forward, taking his chin to his chest. One hand lifted to close over his eyes. His shoulders rose once before settling.

“Get the car, Frank.”

There was nothing in his voice. The hollowness of it sent a cold chill through Juliette. His hand lowered and the emptiness in his eyes was even worse.

Frank left without a word and Juliette was left to find a way to pull Killian back from the chasm only she seemed to be able to see looming wide and open mere inches from his toes. He was teetering so close she was afraid to breathe in case it startled him. The helplessness closed around her chest with an intensity that made her ribs hurt.

“Killian…” Moving with the restrained hesitance of one trying not to spook a frightened animal, Juliette edged closer. Her hand lifted away from her side and gingerly reached for him. “It’ll—”

“You should go home.”

Her fingers lightly grazed his arm. When he didn’t pull away, she closed them around his hand. The coldness of his clashed with hers, but she held on.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered.

Something in her words seemed to finally register. His eyes slid to hers finally and stayed. The face around them seemed permanently etched in blankness, but his eyes gleamed. They roared and clashed with every emotion she could feel thrashing around inside him. It took all her willpower not to reach out to him, to not soothe the torment twisting him up.

“Molly’s dead,” he stated with a bluntness that made her flinch. “You don’t want to see that.”

Her fingers tightened around his. “You can’t know that. It’s insane to think just because someone doesn’t answer their phone—”

“She’s dead,” he repeated more slowly, like she needed to understand and accept. “I’ve known Molly since before I was born. Not once in twenty two years has she ever missed a Saturday and she hasn’t been here in two weeks.”

Maybe it was the enormous gap that separated their worlds, but in hers, people went without talking for months and it didn’t mean they were dead. It just meant they were busy. But she wasn’t entirely schooled in his world rules. Maybe he knew something she didn’t.

“I’m still not leaving,” she whispered.

He didn’t try to talk her out of it. They walked silently to the foyer. Frank stood with Killian’s coat tossed neatly over one arm. Juliette relinquished her grip on him just long enough to allow him to throw it on before reclaiming his hand. He let her, although she wasn’t entirely certain he even noticed. He seemed so lost in the swirl of guilt and grief that swept around him.

They made a path to the SUV and climbed in. The door was shut behind them and they were off with Marco behind the wheel and Frank next to him. A secondary SUV rumbled along behind them with a small army of men. She wasn’t sure what they expected to happen. No doubt they’d give Molly a heart attack when they stormed into her house for no reason.

It was the thought she clung to as they tore through the city. It was the image of Molly giving Killian an earful for being so neurotic and paranoid, not to mention for thinking she was dead without a shred of evidence.

Nevertheless, she held on to his hand, gripping it tight in case he even considered breaking away. But he didn’t. He sat in rigid silence as the scenery changed from towering skyscrapers to neat little homes tucked against a gloomy backdrop of white and gray fields.

Molly’s home was a two story colonial revival with a built in garage surrounded by a crisp blanket of snow. Juniper bushes hugged the sides, running beneath wide picture windows and complimenting the mint green shutters and door. It sat alone on a strip of road miles out of the city overlooking a rolling field. The closest neighbor was a tiny hint of a roof in the far distance. Juliette guessed about a fifteen minute walk. Not exactly far, but when it had been snowing nonstop for days, no one tended to notice that there was a mountain of ice and snow blocking visitors from the pathway leading to the front door, or that the two cars parked in the driveway were practically buried. It could have meant anything, but Killian’s fingers nearly broke hers.

“Tactical formation,” Frank barked to the men scrambling out of the second SUV. “Secure the perimeter. Red team, flank rear. Blue team, take the front.”

It must have been something they did often, because they moved with the precision and grace of a very deadly ballet. The group of six branched off at the front curb. Three immediately started around the side while the rest climbed over mounds to reach the front door, guns Juliette had only ever seen in movies lifted to their shoulder. Frank stayed by the first SUV with Juliette and Killian. Marco remained in the car, probably waiting for Frank’s orders to take Killian and leave immediately. Juliette stayed close to Killian’s side, her fingers laced tight through his. Her insides writhed with a force that terrified her. It didn’t seem to matter how many logical explanations her mind came up with as to why the snow around the house was undisturbed or why Molly wasn’t answering the phone. All Juliette knew was that Molly had to be okay. She had to. For Killian’s sake.

“Red team, report.” Frank’s gruff voice made her jump.

Her head snapped back to the house to watch as the team in front paused on the front steps. One pulled away from the rest and edged along the side, to the window. He paused at the corner and peered carefully inside.

“Repeat, red team,” Frank said. Red team must have been the one at the back, Juliette realized, because the men at the front of the house weren’t talking. “Blue team, prepare to intercept.”

The guy at the window scrambled back to the door. The two covering him pivoted to flank either side of him as he hopped back onto the front step and reached for the doorknob.