Page 36 of Storm Warning

“I understand.” He pulled his Sig from its holster and held the weapon down by his side. Though he doubted the break-in artists were still here, he wouldn’t take chances with Riley’s safety. “Stay here while I check the house.”

“I can clear the house as well as you can.”

“Let me. Please.”

She motioned for him to go ahead.

Room after room, he checked all the places someone could lie in wait for his woman and found each one empty. When he returned to the living room, Andre pulled out his phone. “Go through the house and record each room while I contact Zane. You know the drill, Riley. Look but don’t touch.”

She saluted, then recorded as Andre made the call to Zane and placed it on speaker.

“Buddy, you’ve only been home for an hour. What kind of help could you need this soon?” Zane said in greeting.

“I need a crime scene team at Riley’s house.”

“Talk to me.”

“Someone broke into Riley’s house and trashed it while we were gone, Z. She’s recording everything now. When she’s finished, I’ll walk through the house again with her to see if they took anything. The pattern looks like a thorough search to me. Her electronics are still in place except for her computers.” He knew his woman had several expensive computers in her home, but on his walk through, Andre had seen none.

Riley groaned. “Oh, man. I love those computers.”

“You’ll get new ones. And I know you,” Zane said. “You have everything on them backed up in multiple places. You, my friend, are as paranoid as I am about information.”

Andre frowned. Information. Was it possible this break-in was tied to Riley’s kidnapping?

“Do you blame me?” Riley countered.

A snort. “Nope. Computers are notorious for eating information when you least need them to. Not backing up your files is just begging for trouble.”

“Guess I’ll be working some late nights for the next few weeks.”

“I’ll help if I can.”

“Appreciate it, my friend, although there isn’t much you can do about this.”

“Probably not. Andre?”

“Yes, sir?”

“Find out how the burglars got in, especially how they gained entrance to the house without tripping the alarm system.”

“Copy that, sir.”

“Let me know if I can help. Also, I’ll let Brent know what’s happened. Don’t be surprised if he shows up. He won’t be happy about this.”

“He’s not the only one.” Andre ended the call and turned to Riley. “Can you tell if anything is missing except your computers?”

“I noticed nothing else.” She stood with her hands on her hips, her gaze taking in the mess. “What’s the point of taking only my computers? Sure, they’re expensive, but there are plenty of other electronics that are easy to carry out and pawn. My computers are programmed to wipe out everything if someone other than me tries to access them. Taking the computers will net them nothing in the long run.”

“On the outside chance that a computer expert as good as you are gets his hands on your equipment and breaks your passcode, what would he get for his trouble?”

“He’d have access to everything, including the Fortress databases.” Riley’s gaze broke away from his, her arms wrapping around herself.

Access to something else besides the powerhouse of information worried her. What was it? “What else?”

She waved his statement aside. “The only thing that matters is the breach in Fortress security.”

“Don’t do that, Riley. Something else is bothering you. What is it?”