Page 135 of Guarding Grace

We casually crossed the street. You never knew who might notice movements that didn’t fit the neighborhood.

I went up to the door, and Winston stopped short and turned to watch the street. “Clear.”

Crouching, I worked the lock picks on the door.

We’d already determined the house didn’t have any cameras, and Jordy’s drone hadn’t picked up any heat signatures inside. We knew we wouldn’t catch Rudi here, but we hoped to find evidence that this was his hideout.

“Car,” Winston said.

I left the door and ducked behind a bush while he pretended to study his phone on the sidewalk. Letting ourselves into a house was problematic, to say the least, but with Grace’s life on the line, I was all in.

The car passed, and Winston checked both directions. “Clear.”

I started again with the tools and got a slight click. The locking cylinder turned. I pocketed my tools and turned the knob. “We’re in.”

Winston followed me in and closed the door. “This place stinks.”

There were discarded pizza boxes, empty burger wrappers, and other trash strewn around. Winston and I pulled out our tactical flashlights and began scanning the front room and the kitchen.

“Somebody’s definitely been squatting.” Winston coughed as he searched through the trash. “You see any yet?”

We were looking for a specific snack food that Elliot had told us Rudi liked.

“Yup. Pig ears located.” I held up two empty bags of smoked pig ears. Elliot said Rudi liked to chew on these damned dog treats while he worked. I sniffed a bag. “Not for me.”

“Fucking disgusting,” Winston agreed. “But this might not be him. Could just be a guy with a dog.”

“Anything else?” Jordy asked.

“Nothing else in the common space unless you want moldy pizza,” I reported. “Moving to the bedrooms.”

“Copy that,” Jordy said.

I moved down the hall and into the first bedroom. “Bingo,” I announced.

“What do you have?” Jordy asked in my ear.

“Laptop and what looks like tracking sheets.” The pad of paper next to the computer had a series of numbers crossed out.

Winston joined me and flipped over several pages. “Yeah, man. He’s been tracking his combo attempts.” The sheets showed a set of numbers increasing by hundreds, each one crossed out. Rudi had definitely been here.

A check of the nightstand, dresser, and under the bed came up with zilch. “No case in the first bedroom.”

My earbud came alive. “Lucas says to finish quickly and vacate before the target returns.

“Fast search and boogie,” I repeated for Winston.

“Tell Lucas I want to stay and wait for the target,” Winston said.

“Winston wants to stay for the target’s return,” I told Jordy.

“Negative,” came the reply. “Lucas doesn’t want to risk an uncontrolled situation with explosives in play. When you’re done, vacate and leave it the way you found it. We’ll surveil and bag him when he’s a safe distance from the case.”

“Roger.”

Winston checked the closet. “If it was me, I wouldn’t leave ten millying around when I left the house. I’d backpack it with me.” He stopped, then pointed to some dirt on the carpet at the edge of the closet and motioned for me to keep the conversation going. Seems he’d found something that made him suspect we were being overheard.

“That makes sense.” I moved closer to get a look.