Chapter Twenty-nine
Blake started from the room first and Charli grabbed a sweater she could zip up and her weapon before following. She heard him giving orders to the girls.
“Turn those lights off and get into the pantry. Lock the door, both locks.” Blake’s orders made sense. She’d noticed the security cameras in that room after he’d warned her he’d recently made it a kind of safe room, a place for them to go if they had any unexpected visitors.
Before she headed to search the rest of the house, she made sure the teens did as they were told. Now behind Blake, who’d retrieved a weapon from some hidey-hole she knew nothing about, they started to split up. His hand signals, sending her in the opposite direction, consigned him to be the boss. Fine with her! She didn’t have to deal alone so whatever he wanted, she’d be his partner.
When the doorbell rang, they stopped dead, both stunned.What the hell?First time she’d heard of an intruder with killing on his mind demand entrance by ringing the doorbell.
The voice of one of his men pounding on the door and yelling louder than the ear-splitting alarm made Blake stand down. With her at his back, her gun behind her, ready to shoot if the circumstances warranted, he turned off the system, released the locks and opened the door – a few inches at first, then wider.
Charli saw the uniform, and the mortified face of Blake’s officer who’d set off the alarm.
“Dudley? Jesus, man, are you trying to give us a heart attack in here? You should have phoned before approaching within a foot of the house. I warned you guys.”
“I know, but this gentleman was in a hurry, and he slipped past us before I could stop him. Seems he saw the murder of Agent Dale and would only talk to you in person.” The man in question stepped into the light.
“Popsicle!”
Charli stepped out from behind Blake.
“Charli?”