She dry-fired a few more times and then reloaded. I did the same with the other M9. Then I put the Beretta and the mini-mag flashlight on the bedside table and lay down. She put her pistol next to mine and lay down beside me. We fooled around for a while. After a bit, she propped herself up on her side. I stroked her hip through the jeans. “You ready? Might be a long night.”

“I’m ready.”

I swung myself into a seated position and picked up the light and the gun. We left our phones in the room.

Downstairs, I led her to the drawing room with the pool table. It was still light out, but twilight blue was coming on. The low cloud made it darker than normal. A few rain drops already streaked the window.

I pointed through the window towards the stone wall about fifty yards across the grass. “See the Hortensia?” I was pointing to a big bush with round and colorful flowers. She nodded. I said, “I’ll be in that. It’s got a decent one-eighty of the property.” I pulled a chair and set it strategically. “You’ll be comfortable in this, watching my six with a view of the driveway that I won’t have from that position.”

“What if I see something?”

I pulled out the mini-mag light and gave it to her. “We’ll make it real simple.” I sat down in the chair and pointed out areas of the walled garden, from left to right. “One, two and three. Left to right from your spot in the chair. Three zones.” I got up and she sat down. “You see something to your left, one flash. Straight ahead and behind me, two. Down towards the driveway, three. Is that clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Now the other thing. If anyone enters the house you don’t hesitate. Two to the chest, one to the head. Triple tap.” I looked at her. She was focused. “You good?”

“I’m good.”

“This is going to be your spot. Starting now.”

She nodded and sat down in the chair. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll go speak to the gardener. Be back in a minute.”

I walked down to the gatekeeper’s house. The floods were on, throwing light in nice round arcs across the driveway and all the way to the fenced-off vegetable plots. I hoped that would be enough to dissuade anyone from using that approach. The cliff face was the other obstacle, which left two directions. North and west. Daniel had seen me coming and was at the door, which was a good sign. We shook hands. The little cottage was quiet, and I wondered where Maria was. He told me that she’d already gone to bed with a book. That was good too. He already had the lights off inside the house. I figured he’d be sitting back in the shadows with his bird gun.