“Are you tired?” he asks, worried all of a sudden, and he looks like he’s going to get up and kick everyone out.
“I’m getting there,” I say. Casey looks over at Kallie. The two of them share a look, and she just nods.
“Okay, let’s get this cleaned up, so Olivia can relax. This might be too much for her.” I’m about to say that it’s not when I suddenly feel like I’m being watched. When I look over, I see that no one is there, and I’m looking out the window. Shaking my head, I remind myself that it’s all in my head, and that no one is watching me.
“Are you okay?” I hear Casey from beside me.
“It’s fine,” I say, and then I look around again. “It’s just, I feel like I’m being watched.” His eyes look at me, and then I see him scanning outside. “But I’m sure it’s just my imagination.”
“Might be.” His voice is tight as he pushes away from the table. “I have to go for a bit. Kallie.” He calls her name, and she looks over at us.
“You need to stay with her until I get back,” he orders. I’m about to say that I’m fine when another alarm goes off. Jacob and Casey both run out of the house this time. The commotion all around me feels like a dream as the doors are locked, and Billy stands in front of me with his back to me as he holds up a shotgun.
Chapter Twelve
Casey
The minute the alarm goes off, I’m running out the door with Jacob behind me. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s the alarm for the south side,” I say, jumping into the truck and peeling off while I call Derek.
“What do you have?” I ask him. Rocks hit the truck as I speed to that part of the property, and for the first time, I’m pissed my land is so big.
“You have movement at the southern border. P17,” he says. “You had movement of a man right before the feeds went dead.”
“Fuck,” I say out loud, speeding through the fields. “I want all feeds sent to my computer in two,” I disconnect. “Are you packing?” I look over at Jacob, who just nods, lifting his shirt and showing me his gun. When I pull up to the fence where the feed cut out, I lean over and grab the gun from my glove compartment and then look at Jacob.
“Just so you know, I’m going to shoot first and ask questions later.” I don’t even wait for him to answer. Instead, I jump out of the truck and walk over with my gun drawn and aimed at the pole where the feeds went down. Jacob walks beside me, his gun also drawn as we get to the fence. Looking around, I see that the grass has been disturbed. When I look up, I see where the wire has been pulled down.
“Whoever was here is long gone,” Jacob says from beside me as he looks around. I put my gun down and look at the wire.
“Cut right through,” I say. “No accident there.” I look around, and Derek’s ringtone fills the air.
“Yeah,” I say, answering after one ring.
“We got nothing,” he says. “I can see a bit of an arm, but other than that, the guy was a ghost,”
he hisses. “He knows what he’s doing, and he cut four more wires.”
“I’ll have them fixed in an hour. Meanwhile, I want cameras put on the roads that lead to my house.”
“Working on it.” He says something I don’t know. “It’s going to be done by tomorrow.”
“Make it happen, Derek,” I say. “He’s getting on my land somehow. I want to know where it is, and I want to know what he’s driving.” I hang up and then look over at Jacob.
“What are you going to tell Olivia?” he asks. I look down and then look up at the sky.
“The truth,” I say. “She’s been lied to before. I refuse to be in that category.” I turn and walk back to the truck, then look out toward the field, but I don’t see anything in the distance. I study the side where the trees start to fill in again. “He’s coming in through there.” I point out to Jacob. “It’s the only way.”
“Or by there.” Jacob points over at the small clearing on the side that I hadn’t looked at. “It leads right to the side of the creek, and you can get onto the road by there.” I turn the truck around, making my way to the road, and we see tire tracks.
“I’ll call Grady,” Jacob says. I nod and make my way back to my house.
When I pull up and walk into the house, my father stands there with his gun pointed straight at us. “Jesus Christ,” Jacob says from behind me. “Can you put the gun down?”