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Gunnar crept to the front window. The one that looked out toward the park. He suspected what was going down was in the side room—a formal sitting room type space. It was the only room with a light on, for one thing. For another—it was around the side of the house. Less visible from the road.

There had been a light switched on upstairs. There was at least one person upstairs, where the family bedrooms were.

Gunnar needed a way in. He headed to the back door. Miguel had followed the sounds of an engine somewhere nearby. He was going to check it out. They didn't need an innocent neighbor wandering into something at the wrong possible moment.

Gunnar peered into the front window. He could break it. That would be one way in. But if he did that, it would be advertising his presence. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

They only had the one headset that Miguel wore. To let them know what was going on inside.

Movement to his left had him turning. He knew who it was—that whole giant shadow was a good indication.

"Neighbor at number eighteen going in to work tonight, I think. False alarm," Miguel said quietly. "We have another problem. Some of Heather's family are out here now. They just found Daniel unconscious. He's had the shit beaten out of him. I think some of those bastards got away."

"We'll worry about that after we get Powell and Heather and Mason out. You call Heather's family off? Send them home?" Eight blocks. They lived eight blocks away. It was too damned close.

"They refuse to go, and we don't have time to fight a battle with the Colesons right now. Samia and Cashlyn and Summer. Those three will do okay. They know how to stay back when needed. Norm and Heather have trained them all well. Samia already checked the guards. One is holding on still. She's done what she can to stabilize him. But the second guard from Barratt-Handley is dead."

Gunnar just nodded. "We need inside."

"Without announcing our presence. Heather went in the kitchen door—but they will have cut that off now."

"There are some people still upstairs.”

"Then we go in downstairs. This place have a basement?"

Gunnar nodded. The family had a large game and media room down there. They spent time together in that space, Powell had told him about it before.

"Then let's do this."

It took them all of two minutes to find a window large enough for Gunnar to squeeze through. Miguel was too damned big, though. They used a landscaping paver to break the glass. It was far enough away from the front of the house it shouldn't have been heard.

Heather's sister had already disabled the security alarm. After this, Gunnar was never using an online alarm system again. The gremlin had hacked this one just far too quickly for his peace of mind.

Miguel gave an impatient growl. "Go. I'll find another way in. I may just climb a damned tree. I'll take out the ones upstairs. You get to rescue the girls in this one. Go."

“French doors lead into Powell’s old bedroom. There is a balcony right next to the garage roof. Can you get up there? Third floor."

“I’ll make it work. Get yourself gone.”

Gunnar went.