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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

“It was my honor, Sam,” Zack replied, the emotion of the moment threatening to overwhelm him. He stepped back, and she released her grip. “More importantly, do you know how hard it is to find a good sitter these days?”

Sam laughed. “Anytime, Mr. C. Anytime.”

“Good. Now run like all of our lives depend on it. Because they just may. I have faith in you.”

Sam spun on her heels, leapt down the stairs from the back porch, and sprinted across the damp grass toward the tree line and the pathway that lay hidden beyond.

Zack heard her footfalls fade as he moved down the steps and toward the front of the house. He needed to buy some time, and he had less than a minute before the Irishman’s deadline. His options were limited, and there was only one real tactical course of action—Zack Chambers had to find the laptop before the Irishman’s army of phony officers did. It was the only leverage that might save the residents of Hidden Refuge from a violent end.

Zack grabbed the push-to-talk radio he’d taken from the dead man on the staircase and depressed the talk button as he stood beside the house and observed the abandoned street of Arrow Drive. Here goes nothing and everything. Better make it count.

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter
NINETEEN

Barrett Connolly stared at his watch. There was less than ninety seconds until he had no choice but to send a message he didn’t want to send, but like Griffin said, mission first. And these people are nothing more than bargaining chips. Don’t forget that.

He sighed, put his left hand down, and moved to the crowd, scanning petrified faces as he drew closer to his potential victims.

There was a young couple that caught his eye, and he stopped. There were no children with them. The man, in his early thirties, was average-looking, with ruffled, curly brown hair and a pair of stylish glasses with dark brown rims on the upper half that faded to clear on the bottom. The arms of the glasses were a bright blue, which was what grabbed Barrett’s attention. Even more noticeable was the fact that this average man was with a stunning brunette with bright green eyes, a straight jawline, and chiseled features straight out of a fashion magazine. How does a guy like that end up with a woman that beautiful?

In Barrett’s world, it was the strong alpha males that won trophy wives like the one before him, not some suburban schmuck with glasses. It was an affront to his misogynistic and out-of-date worldview. While most of America had evolved along the lines of Modern Family, albeit slowly, Barrett had regressed to a version of America more suited to the 1950s and Mad Men.