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Back The Neighborhood Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. Part I Reconnaissance
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Part II Incursion
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Part III Under Siege
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Part IV Course Correction
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Part V Balance of Power
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. Chapter Twenty-Six
  32. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  33. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  34. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  35. Part VI Spy versus Spy
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Part VII Winds of War and Flame
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Part VIII Strong to the Finish
  50. Chapter Forty-Two
  51. Chapter Forty-Three
  52. Part IX Spy Games
  53. Chapter Forty-Four
  54. Chapter Forty-Five
  55. Chapter Forty-Six
  56. Part X What Goes Around
  57. Chapter Forty-Seven
  58. Chapter Forty-Eight
  59. About the Author

The center of the neighborhood lay directly before him, mocking him with its suburban perfection. A wide circle one hundred yards in diameter was the hub of Hidden Refuge. Squarely in the middle stood a white, ornate, elevated pavilion. The front half of the structure was open, welcoming, but the back half was a series of benches attached to a railing that ran around the pavilion. The driver knew it could easily accommodate eighty people based on the size, but he wondered if it was just a decoration. He didn’t get the sense that Hidden Refuge was a close-knit community. But he also didn’t care.

To the left of the pavilion, a large, complex playground with nets, slides, swings, and bridges stood as if begging for some child to clamber on its empty parts. To the right was an empty field and a pet station, the dark green liner hanging over the sides of the suspended, caged trashcan. Even the wealthy have to pick up after their pets. At least we have that in common. Trees were randomly planted throughout the hub to break up the monotony of the flat, expansive grounds.

A sidewalk encircled the area, complete with tall black lampposts every forty feet that stood like sentinels watching over the hub. Jutting off from the traffic circle around the hub were three linear streets arranged exactly like the symbol on the front of the Amazon van, and each street was cut off from the others by a wedge-shaped section of woods, providing a layer of insulation between them. The residents knew others lived on those streets, but they didn’t have to see them if they didn’t want to. Must be nice, the driver thought, having grown up in a dirty apartment in the South Side of Chicago. There’d been no escape from his neighbors or the horrors they’d perpetrated daily. Drugs and murder had been a booming business in the South Side for as long as he could remember.

The entire area put his nerves on edge. He saw the black SUV in his rearview mirror, approaching from behind. Time for deliveries, he thought, and turned right onto Founder’s Circle, an apt and self-indulgent name for the roundabout. When he reached the first street, he turned right and saw the first residents of the day on Arrow Drive.

Two teenage boys no older than thirteen chased each other on mountain bikes, open jackets flapping in the wind like streamers, oblivious to the threat that had just arrived on their street. The fact that there were children in the neighborhood troubled the driver, but he compartmented the emotion and proceeded.