BooksBarbecue
Back The Neighborhood
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 fact that they’d used the one thing that all people in the neighborhood valued infuriated her. Not law enforcement. Most people respected that. No. It was more insidious. It was the sense of security and safety that the residents in Hidden Refuge felt, relied on, trusted. And these evil men had exploited that vulnerability to take the entire community hostage. Already suspicious of the government in general, she was mature enough to recognize tonight’s invasion was an affront, and she would not stand for it.

The man swept the downstairs with some type of long, black rifle, like the ones that Sam had seen on TV in the hands of the military or SWAT teams. Attached to the side was a flashlight, the wide beam spotlighting parts of the kitchen and sunroom in bright discovery.

Keep going. Don’t come upstairs. Please.

The man turned and moved toward the stairs, satisfied that the first floor was empty. He reached the carpeted steps and started upward. Sam tracked him with the sights mounted on the front of the barrel as he climbed. He moved the rifle up and along the banner and railing, the light mercilessly stalking Sam in her ambush position.

Sam only had one job left to do, and as the light crept quickly toward her, rather than wait for the final illumination, she did it.

I’ll make you proud, Daddy, she thought, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

The two figures dashed through the woods toward Zack’s kill zone, breaking twigs and small branches as they trampled on the fresh bed of leaves that had fallen the previous week. The men had moved closer to the edge of the woods, which made it easier to spot their dark silhouettes against the ambient light from the backs of the homes. Most of the neighbors had at least one motion-sensor flood light that remained at a low level until it detected movement, at which point it suddenly increased in brightness. Zack followed their quick progress, his finger resting on the curvature of the MPX’s trigger.

Wait for it. As if offering themselves up to the gods of suburban war, the two men reached the edge of Zack’s property, unaware that the owner was concealed in the woods directly behind them.

Zack squeezed the trigger, and the first three shots took the man on the left in the back, and he fell forward onto the wet grass as if pushed by an invisible hand. Zack shifted the holographic sight to the second man, who’d stopped in his tracks when his partner fell.