Could it have been Brandon? Ash had wondered. Was his son right now inside the home, sleeping?
Both buildings were dark, and there was a faint whiff of smoke in the air, hinting at a dying fire in the fireplace. Someone was definitely home, but at this hour they were undoubtedly asleep.
Ash was tempted to walk up and knock on the door. It was only a warning relayed by Miller from Christina at the base that kept him from doing it.
“A survivalist,” Miller said, summarizing what he had been told. “Or was. He died about a year ago and his sister moved in last August.”
When Ash looked at him, surprised, Miller told him that the Resistance kept detailed notes about its nearest neighbors. The current occupant, Elizabeth Drexel, apparently led a very quiet life. She was an account who did all her work via the Internet, and since taking up residence, had only twice driven the thirty-five miles to town for supplies. Where she fell on the whole survivalist thing, they had not yet been able to determine, and that was the problem. Survivalists were a notoriously paranoid lot, and not fond of people knocking on their door. Especially at two in the morning.
“Did you see that?” Ash said.
“See what?” Miller asked.
“The window facing us, something moved along the edge.”
Miller studied the window for several seconds. “There’s nothing there now.”
“There was.”
Ash closed his eyes and played the movement back in his mind. It had been a curtain, but not flapping like what might happen if a burst of air rushed past. It had been more…subtle, controlled. Like someone pushing the curtain away from the frame so they could look outside.
One way to find out, he thought. He rose from his crouch. “I’m going in.”
“Whoa. You’re going to scare the crap out of her.”
“I’m just going to ask her if she’s seen Brandon.”
“We should at least wait until the sun comes up.”
Ash locked eyes with him. “My son is missing. I’m not going to waste time waiting for it to get lighter. I’ll knock on the door and ask about Brandon. That’s all.”
Miller was clearly not comfortable with the decision, but he said nothing.
“You stay here,” Ash said. “Less likely to scare the crap out of her if there’s only one of us.”
As soon as Lizzie returned to the dining room window, she moved the curtain just enough so she could create a clear spot to peek through with her night vision goggles. She watched and waited.
It didn’t take long for her intruders to make a move.
One moment the night was still, in the next the dark figure of a man stepped out from the trees and started walking toward her house.
You were right, little sister. They’re really here, Owen said.
When the man passed the garage, she frowned. “Where are the others?”
Patience.
“Why aren’t they all coming?”
Owen apparently didn’t have an answer for this.
With each step the man took, she became more and more frustrated. She was supposed to take them all out, not just one guy.
Her thumb slipped down the side of the remote. “What am I going to do?” she asked.
Her brother still said nothing.
“What do I do?”
So far, Ash had seen no repeat of the movement he’d detected earlier as he passed the garage and trudged across the cold, hard earth toward the house’s small porch. He hesitated in front of the door for several seconds, then raised his hand and knocked.
Lizzie watched the man until he disappeared from her view as he went around to the front of the house. She looked back at the woods, wondering once more where the others were, then stepped away from the window.
Was the man scanning her house for weak points? Or would he try to break in? She walked quietly toward the door, wanting to hear the moment he attempted to pick the locks. She was only a few feet away when—
Knock, knock, knock.
She jerked backward, nearly falling on the floor.
Knocking on her door was not something she expected.
Knock, knock, knock.
Pull yourself together, Owen ordered.
She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself, and moved up to the door. The man was just a few feet away now, right on the other side. She looked down at the remote in her hand.
“Not yet,” she whispered to herself. “Wait for the others.”
Knock, knock, knock.
If she said nothing, he would get his colleagues, wouldn’t he? And they would all come back?
“Hello?” the man called through the door. “Hello? Are you home? Ms. Drexel? Hello?”
She froze. He knew her name.
Of course, he knows your name, Owen said. He and his friends are professional killers. They always prepare ahead of time. But there’s no way they could have prepared for what you have waiting for them.
That brought a smile to her face.
“Ms. Drexel, I just need to ask you a question.”
“Go get your friends,” she silently mouthed. “Go get your friends and I’ll open the door.”
“Ms. Drexel?”
Knock, knock, knock.
“I’m sorry if I’ve woken you. My son is missing. I need your help.”
Son? What was the man talking about? His son was missing? It must be some kind of trick to get her to—
Then she remembered. The boy. And it all became clear.
The kid had been part of it. He hadn’t just happened upon her garage to spend the night. He’d been sent to her place on purpose, to make sure she was the only one here, and to provide information to the men now out to kill her.
Oh, how tricky. Using a child to scout me out.
“Go away!” she yelled, then clapped her empty hand over her mouth.
Why had she done that? That was stupid. She should have just stayed silent.
“Ms. Drexel, my name’s Daniel Ash. I’m looking for my son, Brandon. I think he may have come this way, and I was wondering if you might have seen him.”
“No,” she said. “No, I haven’t seen anyone. Now leave me alone!”
“Are you sure? He probably would have come by here yesterday.”
“I said no!”
The man fell silent.
She stood as still as possible until she could stand it no more. She moved over to the window next to the door to see if he had left.
She pulled the curtain back just an inch, but what she saw was not her empty porch.
The man was looking in at her, right on the other side of the window.
“No, I haven’t seen anyone,” the woman yelled through the door. “Now leave me alone!”
Ash leaned forward a few inches. “Are you sure? He probably would have come by here yesterday.”
“I said no!”
He stared at the door, unsure if she was telling him the truth. He turned his head and caught sight of the window just off to the side. Thinking that if he could get a glimpse of her, he might get a better sense if she was lying, he moved over to it and positioned his eyes as close to the glass as possible.
All he could see, though, was the back of a black curtain. There wasn’t even a crack along the side to give him a peek into the house.
He was about to back away when the curtain moved. The woman, wearing a pair of night vision goggles, appeared directly in front of him.
They both jumped, then—
Twin fireballs rose into the sky as the double explosions of the house and garage shattered the night.