Michelle doubted he was focusing on the formulas she could see on the pages. She eyed him more closely. “Before your dad deployed the last time, did he talk to you about anything?”
He stared at her blankly. “Anything like what? We talked about lots of stuff.”
“Anything out of the ordinary? It could have been something seemingly innocuous.”
Tyler thought about this and then slowly shook his head. “He told me to work hard in school and swimming. To mind Jean. And to keep out of trouble. Stuff like that.”
Michelle nodded. “Well, keep mulling it over. Something else might strike you.”
Michelle heard the noise before Tyler did. She pushed him down under the table and with one long leap reached the wall light switch and plunged the room into darkness.
Her Sig was in her right hand. She blinked rapidly to adjust her eyes to the absence of light.
Tyler whispered, “Michelle, what is it?”
“Someone outside,” she whispered back. “You stay there. Get your phone out. Tap in nine-one-one. If I’m not back in five minutes call them.”
“But—”
“Just stay down and stay quiet, Tyler. It’ll be okay.”
Michelle crab-walked out of the room, her gaze swiveling and taking in as much as her lines of sight would allow. She did not like noises in the night that she knew represented stealthy footsteps. Sean had neighbors on both sides of him, but there were buffers of trees on both those sides, too. A nice little screen for felons to do their work.
Michelle’s immediate thought was that the three stiffs at the mall had friends who had returned to finish the job.
She took a quick peek out the front window.
A sedan was there that hadn’t been before. She couldn’t tell if anyone was inside or not. Her Land Cruiser was parked in the driveway but she couldn’t risk trying to reach it with Tyler in tow. She continued to watch out the window, all the while keeping her ears peeled for sounds of intrusion.
She stiffened when she saw the man come around the corner of the house.
“Shit!” she hissed.
She opened the front door and called out to him. “Is there something you wanted, Agent McKinney?”
He turned and saw her. Her manner had been jocular. When she saw his face, her jocularity vanished.
“What is it?” she asked.
He came toward her. “Can we talk?”
“What are you doing here? How did you even know to come here?”
“We’re DHS,” he growled. “We do have resources.”
“Sean’s not here. But you can talk to me.”
He nodded and passed by her into the house. She glanced over his shoulder and checked the perimeter one more time before securing the door behind her.
Michelle called out to Tyler in the kitchen that things were okay. She flicked on the lights, and he came into the living room on wobbly legs. He flinched when he saw McKinney.
“Who’s that?” he asked.
“Agent McKinney with Homeland Security.”
“Homeland Security?” said Tyler. “Why are you guys involved?”
McKinney said, “We keep the homeland secure. Like the name implies.” He stared hard at Tyler and then shot Michelle a glance. “Why is he here? Damn, can’t you guys heed a warning?”