Page 103 of Lethal Threat

That’s when the best idea I’ve ever had hits me.

Ducking between cars, I start jerking on car doorhandles. Alarms instantly begin blaring. Car after car. Then, like dominoes, a dozen other cars begin beeping and flashing.

That ought to rattle those bastards.

The parking lot looks like a disco. Lights are flashing. Horns are honking. A ruthless sense of pride hits me.

Slipping into a low bank of shrubs, I wait. The cops are going to rain on their parade.

Less than a minute later one emerges. Then the other. Their faces are calm under the porch light of my building. Walking as if they own the world.

My jaw tightens. I recognize that walk. It’s the walk that men get when they’ve been trained to kill someone, then blend in like it’s a day in the park.

These are Special Forces soldiers.

Virginia is teeming with them.

Two blue lights catch my eyes. Matching local police cars bounce into the parking lot.

Not that they will know the clowns from my apartment are up to anything.

Should I run out and shout help?

I bite my lip as I watch.

Wait.What?The bigger of the two intruders intercepts the cops. Stepping out into the path of the police cruisers.

Oh my god. They know the cops.

The same guy, the bulky one, laughs, points generally at the chaos in the parking lot.

My heart sinks all the way to my toes. Are my intruders cops?

The second guy makes a show of clicking his key fob, silencing his own truck.

One by one, car owners do the same. The parking lotgoes back to silence. Sleepy residents must not be too concerned because not a single one comes outside.

I’m completely disappointed. All of that for nothing.

As the racket disappears, some kind of conversation ensues between the two men and the two cops. Lots of macho postures going on over there.

What are they talking about?

I edge closer, moving to a different tree, hoping I can hear what’s being said. When they’re done, the bigger guy gives the cop a man hug with a copious amount of back slapping. “Good seeing you, Kurt, be sure to drop by and visit me sometime. We can tell war stories.”

Oh, Jesus. It’s true. The cops are friends with this murderer.

I curl into a ball behind the tree. My heart stutters as my body trembles with fear.

Now what do I do?

Think. Think. I have to think this through. I’m in so far over my head, I’ve got to step back and regroup. Get my resources together and figure out the safest way to look for Bryan.

The only thing I know right now is I can’t stay here.

The cops pull away. I don’t know whether to rejoice or cry.

The two would-be-murderers go right to my Honda.