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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

“Let’s go. And just so you know, I’m pretty fast. Do you think you can keep up?”

It was Sam’s turn to laugh. “I set my high school track record for the mile last year, and I’m only eighteen seconds off the world record. What do you think?”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Nick replied with a grin she could see several feet away.

“Good,” Sam said. “Now follow me, and you can try to keep up.”

Without another word, she turned on her heels and fled back into the mouth of the woods. For Sam, it was neither a fairy tale nor a horror story. It was just a Friday night in suburbia.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter
TWENTY-FOUR

As Zack broke through the barrier at the edge of the woods along the backyards of Windy Tree Way, the source of the screaming revealed itself, and Zack took a mental snapshot of the scene before him as he adjusted the suppressed Glock 17 he’d taken from Jimmy at Sam’s house. During the run through the woods, he’d slung the SIG MPX over his back.

A teenage boy around Sam’s age was scrambling away from one of the hostiles, which was how Zack categorized them, since he knew they were all likely former operators—military and paramilitary types from the DOD or Intelligence Community. The gunman in Falling Rock PD fatigues and a Kevlar vest was nonchalantly walking behind the boy, as if taunting his prey with his casual attitude. The boy wore a hoodie—didn’t everyone these days?—dark jeans, and a midsize backpack that Zack would’ve considered a tactical day pack in his former life.

The slow-motion chase was unfolding near a large play set that was an interconnected maze comprising a long slide on one end, jungle gym bars, an elevated platform with a green A-frame canopy and a rock wall on one side and a rope net on the other, and a series of swings on the other end. Addison and Ethan had one just like it, as there were only so many companies in America that made high-end, commercial play sets. Between the play set and the back of the house, a couple in their fifties or sixties screamed at a second gunman who held them at gunpoint as he casually watched his partner stalk the boy like an ’80s horror movie killer.