Chapter 9: The Perimeter Breach
The backyard was bathed in the dim amber glow of a single floodlight mounted above the garage. Jenkins led the two children quickly down the concrete steps toward an unmarked silver sedan idling quietly by the back gate. The neighborhood behind them was eerily still, every house dark and silent as if the residents had all retreated behind locked doors to avoid whatever storm was brewing on their street.
“Get in the back, kids, right behind me,” Jenkins instructed softly, opening the rear door and helping Lily slide across the leather seat before pulling Leo gently in beside her.
Miller stood guard by the vehicle, his hand resting casually near his holster, eyes scanning the wooden privacy fence that separated the yard from the adjacent alleyway. The shadows cast by the oak trees seemed unnaturally deep, shifting slightly in the autumn breeze.
“Sarah, status?” Miller whispered into his lapel mic.
“Kids are secured,” Jenkins’s voice crackled through his earpiece. “Locking the doors now. Punch it as soon as I’m in the front.”
Before Jenkins could close the rear door, a sharp, metallic ping rang out, followed instantly by the deafening crack of a high-powered rifle shot. The rear window of the silver sedan shattered into a thousand tiny diamonds, raining safety glass over Lily and Leo.
May you like
“Get down!” Miller roared, unholstering his weapon and dropping into a tactical crouch beside the rear quarter panel of the car.
Jenkins threw herself across the open doorway, shielding the children with her own body as another round slammed into the metal door of the garage with a deafening screech. The muzzle flash had originated from the alleyway behind the wooden fence—at least two shooters, positioned with professional precision.
