“I’ll drive. Anish can hold down the fort here,” said Graves.

“The drone is flying itself,” said Gupta. “See? No more gross middle-age couple in the hot tub scene. It’s already climbing and turning toward its next waypoint. All I’m doing is keeping an eye on the house and neighborhood for you.”

“And the police scanner traffic, and you’re shutting down the home security system,” said Rich.

“He’s got it,” said Graves, clapping Gupta on the shoulder.

Rich shook his head but quickly relented. “Fine. Keep the door open so you can watch the antenna array. We don’t need someone tripping over it and taking our drone off-line.”

“There’s like six cars in the whole parking lot, and three of them are ours,” said Jared, who had stuck his head in the door. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about.”

“Just saying,” said Rich.

“We deserve to be a part of this.”

“Okay,” said Rich.

“To make it easier for decision-making purposes moving forward, you can consider the two of us to be one now,” said Devin.

Berg grinned and nodded at Marnie. “See. I told you he was solid.”

CHAPTER 38

CHAPTER 38

Marnie Young jog-walked next to Karl Berg, the two of them falling well behind the rest of the team, which had already started to vanish into the trees directly behind the Barbers’ property. She kept an eye peeled and an ear open for any commotion or movement from the backyards to their immediate right. The tree line separating the homes from the golf course was no more than a few trees and manicured shrubs deep. Designed for basic privacy from golfers, not as concealment. To a more observant and vigilant neighbor, their presence on the golf course would appear to be more than just a few teenagers strolling around after hours.

“Thanks for keeping an old guy company,” whispered Berg.

“My pleasure,” said Marnie before taking a moment to scan the western sky for the drone.

“I don’t think you’ll be able to spot it,” said Berg. “It’ll be coming in from the west. That’ll be its least-detectable profile.”

He was right. She couldn’t pick it out of the navy-blue sky, which would soon go black, when the thin strip of light blue still stretched across the horizon entirely vanished. Berg stopped and cocked his head, which put her on alert. She focused her senses on the sights and sounds around them, detecting nothing unusual.

“They want us to hold up while they move in,” said Berg. “The Barbers are lounging on the patio furniture, enjoying a bottle of wine.”

“With their clothes on. Hopefully.”

“Robes,” said Berg, guiding them to the edge of the trees on the border of the Barbers’ property, where the team had disappeared a minute ago.