void Lee had left behind.
At first she thought the sound she heard in the stillness of the house
was Buchanan stirring. Then she thought it might actually be Lee
returning. It had sounded like the back door. As she rose from the
bed, it suddenly occurred to her that it couldn’t be Lee because she
hadn’t heard the motorcycle pull into the carport; as this thought hit,
her heart started thudding uncontrollably.
Had she locked the door? She couldn’t remember. She knew she hadn’t
set the alarm. Could it be just Danny stumbling around? For some
reason Faith knew it wasn’t.
She eased over to the doorway and peered out, her ears straining to
hear any sound. She knew she hadn’t imagined the noise. Someone had
come in the house, she was sure of it. Someone was in the house right
now. She looked down the hallway. There was another alarm control
panel in the bedroom Lee had used. Could she reach it, activate the
system, the motion detector? She dropped to her knees and crawled out
into the hallway.
* * *
Connie and Reynolds had gone in the side door and made their way down
the lower-floor hallway. Connie had his gun pointed ahead. Reynolds
was behind him, feeling naked and useless without her own pistol. They
eased open each door on the lower level and found each room empty.
“They must be upstairs,” Reynolds whispered into Connie’s ear.
“I hope there’s somebody here,” he whispered back, his voice carrying
an ominous tone.
They both froze when a sound came from somewhere within the house.
Connie motioned upstairs with his finger and Reynolds nodded in
agreement. They approached the stairs and headed up. Fortunately, the
stairs were carpeted and absorbed the sounds of their footsteps. They
reached the first landing and paused, listening intently. Silence.
They moved forward again.
The family area was empty, as far as they could see. They moved along
one wall, their heads swiveling in near-synchronized motion.
Right above them, in the upstairs hallway, Faith was flat on her
stomach on the floor. She peered over the edge and relaxed slightly as
she saw that it was Agent Reynolds. When she saw the two other men
moving up the stairs from the lower level, her fear instantly
returned.
“Look out,” Faith yelled.
Connie and Reynolds turned back to look at her and saw where she was
pointing. Connie swung his gun’ in the direction of the two men, who
also had their guns out, pointed directly at the two agents.
“FBI,” Reynolds barked out to the men in black. “Drop your weapons.
Usually when she said that, she felt fairly confident of the response.
Now, with two guns against one, she was not nearly as confident.
The two men didn’t drop their weapons. They moved forward as Connie
swung his gun back and forth between the two.
One of the men looked up at Faith. “Come down here, Ms. Lockhart.”
“Stay up there, Faith,” Reynolds called out, her gaze finding Faith’s
and holding on it. “Go to your room and lock the door.”
“Faith?” Buchanan appeared in the hallway, his white hair disheveled,
his eyes blinking.
“You too, Buchanan. Now,” the same man commanded. “Down here.”
“No!” Reynolds said, moving forward. “Listen up, an HRT unit is on
its way here right now. We’re looking at an ETA of about two minutes.
If you won’t put your weapons down, then I suggest you run like hell
unless you want to go up against those guys.”
The man looked at her and smiled. “There’s no HRT unit coming, Agent
Reynolds.”
Reynolds could not hide her astonishment. That astonishment
immeasurably increased with the man’s next words.
“Agent Constantinople,” the man said, looking over at Connie, “you can
leave now. We have it under control, but we appreciate your
assistance.”
Slowly, Reynolds turned and looked at her partner, her mouth open in
absolute shock.
Connie stared back at her, a distinct look of resignation on his
features.
“Connie?” Reynolds took a quick breath. “It can’t be, Connie. Please
tell me it’s not.”
Connie fingered his pistol and he shrugged. Gradually his taut posture
relaxed. “My plan was to get you out of this alive and get your