BooksBarbecue
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

First, the gunshot; then, Ben’s declaration of love; and finally, his resolution to help whoever it was that needed him—it was too much for her to process. She had to regain some sort of control over her body and emotions. She wouldn’t be able to help herself or anyone else in a heightened state of panic. But you’re just a junior in high school. What are you going to do? You’re not exactly Eleven from Stranger Things. Control. Get control. It’s what Daddy would tell you, Sam. Take a breath, assess the situation, and act. His calmness under corporate fire was one of the reasons he’d been successful throughout his career and was on the board of his bank.

Sam inhaled deeply and closed her eyes, cementing herself in the moment, feeling the carpet in her father’s office through the material of her yoga pants, the rough edges of his weathered desk—designed that way for aesthetics—against her back. Assess. Okay. Something awful is going on, Ben’s in trouble, and whoever did it, they’re not the cops. Have to protect yourself. Her eyes flashed open at the obviousness of her first move. Get the shotgun. Otherwise, you’re a defenseless victim. And that was one thing her father would never let her be.

Sam scrambled to her feet and moved toward the office closet. She pulled the doors open, her pulse slowing as she acted with the reassurance of a purpose. The tall and slender gun case stood on the left side of the closet, the numbered keypad and silver handle just below, beckoning her to use them. She pulled out her iPhone, a useless paperweight at the moment with no service, and turned on her flashlight app. She didn’t want to hit the wrong numbers and risk being locked out after three tries. She didn’t know how anyone would get into the steel safe after that happened, but she didn’t want to find out.

She punched in 0-6-3-0—her parent’s wedding anniversary—and was rewarded with the signature beeps that indicated the safe was unlocked. Her parents had been married at city hall when they’d found out her mother was pregnant with Sam; a full ceremony for their families had come more than a year after Sam was born. Sam turned the handle down and pulled. The door swung outward and to her right, revealing the lethal contents within.