(Read Chapter One here)
From his treetop vantage point, Gallagher swept his binoculars across the property. Now that the perimeter was established and they were confident the intruder couldn’t escape, they had slowed things down. The men were waiting, calming themselves and coming up with a plan.
Gallagher just had to come up with a better plan faster and he and Carmen would win.
The garage door was a problem. As he took a few precious minutes to recover from reconning her escape route and his position at warp speed, he came up with options and discarded them just as quickly.
“There’s a helmet in here,”she said. “Can the machine just punch through the door?”
“Negative. You screw up your skis and you’re either stranded in the open or in a tree.”
“I could hit the button, then fire the machine. House this nice, the door runners will be smooth and quiet.”
“Two guys with direct view of both doors.”
“Shoot them first.”
Nice that she had that much faith in his aim. “Is the garage heated?”
“Yes. Feels like the same temp as the house.”
“Thank God for spoiled rich people. The sled’ll fire right up.”
“I’m sitting on it now, looking it over, getting a feel for it.”
Gallagher wiped the sweat from his forehead and took a few deep breaths. This wasn’t the worst situation he’d ever been in, but was possibly the first time he hadn’t been prepared for the possibility of this kind of screw-up. A sneak and peak. Nobody but a skeleton household crew.
What the hell had gone wrong?
Having familiarized himself with the surrounding community before the job, he knew enough time had passed so he’d hear sirens if they’d called the cops. The fact they hadn’t meant they were going to handle Carmen themselves.
Gallagher knew one thing for damn sure—if they got Carmen he was going to shoot as many of the motherfuckers as he had bullets for before they got him, too.
“I’m ready when you are,” Carmen said.
He took a deep breath. The men were starting to get antsy—they’d go on the offensive soon. But, god-damn-it, he wished there were some other way to do this. Some way that kept Carmen out of the line of fire.
But he hadn’t packed for this kind of cluster fuck and now she’d be out in the open on a machine she maybe couldn’t handle.
“Walk through it for me, babe.”
“Hit the button, run to the machine, turn the key, stay low, head to the right, punch it and go. Thirty yards to the tree line, sixty yards to the corner, twenty-five yards to the rendezvous.”
“That’s my girl.”
“And don’t call me babe.”
“If it doesn’t fire the first time, you go back inside and hide yourself.”
“Affirmative.”
“When you’re ready, give me a countdown to go on the button, then haul ass, babe.”
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