“You wait here with Mackenzie, and Deputy Weeks and I will check out the house.”

“We closed the door behind us, so it could be locked. Let me at least get you inside.”

Alex ran to the car and grabbed the key from Mackenzie, then the three rushed to the house. He unlocked the door. Mackenzie hadn’t reset the security alarm when they fled, so he didn’t need to disarm it. Then he flipped on the lights—he’d never been a fan of the low-light tactics used by some in law enforcement.

“Go back and stay with Mackenzie,” Nathan said.

While Nathan and the deputy cleared the house, Alex decided instead to stay at the door, blocking that exit as he watched the vehicle where Mackenzie waited. The lights flicked on all through the house as the detective and deputy cleared each room, communicating as they did.

Alex took a few glimpses through his monocular at the woods surrounding the front and sides of the house. If the intruder was the same person who shot at them on the trail, then they were definitely armed and dangerous.

His skin prickled again, sensing the danger. He glanced at the French doors down the long hallway from the foyer. Another exit. If someone was still inside, they could go through a window, the front door, the French doors, the exit to the deck, the kitchen exit into the garage . . .

The lights flicked off.

He tensed and gripped his weapon. Now the intruder had the advantage. And help—if Mackenzie’s cybercriminal had been the reason the lights went off.

Holding his gun ready, he peered through the night with his monocular.

Gunfire rang out from upstairs, shattering the silence.

Adrenaline surged as he took cover and prepared to return fire if needed. A figure bounded down the stairs, hopped over the rail, and ran toward the French doors. Flashlights beamed on the stairs as the deputies followed. Alex dropped the monocular to give chase.

“Stay here!” Nathan shouted from behind as he passed Alex and ran to the back of the house. Weeks rushed after him.

“He fled through the French doors!” Alex called after the deputies. He? Or she? He hadn’t been able to tell this time.

The two deputies disappeared through the doors.

Mackenzie! Alex turned and raced through the front door and back to the vehicle where she was focused on her laptop, a flowing beacon in the dark night.

He slid into the driver’s seat, breathless. “What are you doing?”

The house lights suddenly came on.