their natural habitat, offered a heartwarming glimpse of what a happy life could look like.
Someone walking a dog passed by.
Two cars, going in opposite directions, moved on the street.
He blinked. An hour passed. Everything looked exactly the same next door.
Getting up to stretch, he headed for the cooler and pulled out a Diet Coke. Cracking it open, he guzzled a third and was turning back to the window when he stopped.
Wait a minute. Everything looked exactly the same? He checked his watch. It was coming up on eleven. A question he didn’t have a ready answer for spurred him to move quickly.
Peering intently at the driveway next door and at the house, he double-checked and yep, the Gerry’s car was nowhere to be seen. Bud generally pulled into the garage, and Summer parked nearest the back door, but Lynda’s car was the giveaway. It wasn’t there.
Some lights were on inside the house, but the pattern hadn’t changed. No one was moving room to room. There was no telltale glow or flicker from a television. In short, no one was home.
Fuck. Why didn’t he put it together earlier? Shit, man. He really did suck at this surveillance stuff.
“Stan,” he grunted. “Come here a sec.”
“What’s up?” his brother whispered when he reached Arnie’s side. “You see something?”
“It’s what I’m not seeing,” he muttered. “Would you say someone was home next door or not?”
Stepping to the window, Stan adjusted the slats and peered at the scene for a full minute. “Nope,” he murmured. “Empty house.” He looked concerned and perplexed in equal measure. “I never saw Bud or Lynda today, and I can’t remember if their car was in the drive this morning.”
They got quiet. Arnie was considering the ramifications of Summer being alone and assumed his brother was doing the same.
Despite the three-hour time jump between LA and New York, he put a call in to Milo. He answered right away.
“It’s zero-two-fuck-you in the morning, Arnie. What the fuck, man?”
“Shut up and listen. This is critical. Can you tell me if the numbers at the LA property, the two in the front house, are they pinging?”
“What? The other numbers? Jesus Christ,” Milo grunted.
Arnie imagined him waking up in a hurry and scrubbing his hands over his face.
“I haven’t been tracking the other numbers. You didn’t say anything about them.”
“Yeah, I know,” he growled. “Whatever, man. Can you tell me if they’re at the address or not? Hurry. Mission critical.”
“Hold on.” The phone went silent. A solid minute passed until Milo came back on. “I have my laptop. The program is open. Only the single number is pinging at the address. The burn phone. No name.”
“Fuck.” A million thoughts swirled in his head. “Alert the team. It’s going down.”
He ended the call and grimaced. “Goddammit. Why didn’t I install video right away? Shit!” he barked and kicked a pile of boxes, sending them scattering.
They needed eyes on the back of the house. If Summer and the baby were alone on the property, they were most vulnerable from a direct threat at their weakest spot.
“Come with me,” he barked.
Stan followed close behind.
“Get a couple of sawhorses and some one-by-tens. I want you to build a platform in the back corner of the yard. Against the wall where the bushes offer some cover.”
“Like a deer stand.” Stan snickered. “Gotcha bro. I’m on it.”
“When you’re finished, make sure the path is clear and then turn off the outside lights. It’s time to go dark.”
“How does this play out?”
“We take turns watching. I would fucking kill for night vision goggles, but this is Sherman Oaks, not Fallujah.”
“I hate to ask, but do you have a gun?”
Arnie’s jaw clenched. Of course he did, but weapons of death were on the bottom of his self-defense priority list. Short of an IED blast or laser-guided missile, he was perfectly capable of physically overpowering someone.
Instead of answering directly, he grimaced, and said, “I have to change. This weighted suit will only hold me back.”
When he came out of the only working bathroom, his dad was at the door.
“Aw, shit. Is it time to ditch the disguises? Really? I kind of grew fond of the silver fox ponytail.”
“Had fun, did you?”
He chuckled. “I told your Izzy that my ex-wife wouldn’t recognize me if I showed up naked with my name tattooed on my ass, but she insisted a disguise was the way to go.”
“Yes, well, Izzy has an interesting mentality. She likes playing dress-up.”