“I’m done with law enforcement.”
Of course he was. That’s what happened with criminals and she had no doubt that’s exactly what he was.
The truth washed over her. “You’re Tony’s partner in all of this.”
“Was.” Charlie smiled. “Now I’m your nightmare.”
Chapter Seventeen
They entered Tony’s house through the back gate as planned. Waiting to hear the distinctive click before going forward, Joel stood with his fingers wrapped around the handle. Once the noise came, he twisted and they slipped through the entrance usually reserved for gardeners.
Crouching, they jogged in the planned formation with Connor in the lead and Cam and Joel falling into a triangle behind him. Each one wore protective gear and blended in with the trees and darkness. Their shoes tapped against a patio as they moved by the building the plans referenced as a pool house.
Joel glanced up and locked on the motion sensor light by a hammock. When it failed to switch on, he knew Davis was working the controls from Annapolis like the expert he was. He heard what they heard and saw what they did through small cameras implanted in their helmets.
Joel often sat in that chair and orchestrated from a distance. Even though it reduced the chance of taking a bullet, the task was much harder than it looked.
Lights shone along the whole back of the house. A wall of windows stretched across most of the bottom floor. Joel could see every stick of expensive furniture and a kitchen usually reserved for magazine spreads. He silently wondered if Tony ever ventured into it.
The one thing Joel didn’t see was people, no one on any floor, though the top one stayed eerily dark.
Connor motioned for them to peel off and take their positions. He took the middle area and headed for the double doors off what looked like a dining room. Cam went left toward the garages and Joel took the right, aiming for a side door that led to something called a mud room. He assumed that meant a laundry or closet or something. Davis, who was knee-deep in renovating an old house, had tried to fill Joel in but he didn’t listen to the particulars.
Pivoting around the outside furniture on the back patio and what looked like a heater, Joel hugged the hedge line. He skated away from the area just outside the doors, preferring the staggering darkness. Let Connor figure out how to stay unseen with spotlights hitting his head.
The darkness of night bothered others, but Joel had trained to let his other senses run wild. Even now the smell of orange hit him, likely from flowers or a tree.
Slipping around the house took Joel out of the line of sight of the others. He could no longer see what they were doing or assess their progress. But because Davis hadn’t reported a problem over the comm, Joel assumed there wasn’t one.
The door was right where the plans said it would be. He reached up and turned the knob. It rattled in his hand but didn’t budge. The sound bounced around the quiet night and Joel pressed his back against the wall, ready for an attack from any direction.
Wincing, he waited for a shrill alarm to sound. None came. He counted that as a win and let out the rough breath he was holding.
The rule was radio silence. That meant limited talking and almost no communication back to headquarters unless an emergency arose. Headquarters could talk all they wanted, right into your ear, but Davis was a pro. He knew that broke concentration and he stayed silent.
His breathing filled the line. Then a voice, no louder than the breath that came before, sounded over the line. “Open.”
Joel reached up again and this time it turned. He held up the prearranged “go” signal in front of the helmet cam.
Keeping the opening as small as possible so as not to gain attention, he slid inside. The side of the door scraped his back but he ignored the slice.
Balancing on his haunches, he listened for any sound. This was a big house and the men could be anywhere. Good news was Davis reported only two people in the house, or such was the case a half hour ago when they did their check. They’d been watching ever since and no one else had come.
Music or talking would help guide him, but Joel didn’t pick up anything. He heard the soft hum of the refrigerator and the usual creak now and then that all houses let out. Nothing that sounded like arguing or negotiating. Unfortunately. Looked like Tony was going to be unhelpful to the end.
Standing taller, Joel walked past the washers—two of them, because that seemed necessary for two people. He waited at the door and when he failed to pick up footsteps or any other sliver of movement or noise, he crossed into the next room.
This time he heard a sound. A thumping, loud and steady. It came from the area above his head. To sink through the floor and radiate through the house, it had to be pretty obvious upstairs.