moment, terror was foremost in my mind. But I sucked it up and crept ahead with the guys, pretending this was the smartest plan I’d ever had.
Kira had been strategically placed in the bushes of a neighbor’s house, monitoring from the front. She was currently watching Remington through the window with binoculars and reporting his location to Wally. Mike hid in the bushes near the entrance to the backyard, carrying the sonic cannon in case we needed a major diversion in order to escape. Hala was the designated getaway driver, while Frankie held the cell phone jammer in case things went awry and Remington attempted to contact the police. Frankie’s jamming would hopefully give us time to get away.
All bases covered…I hoped.
Bo, Jax, and I crept toward the trellis at a snail’s pace. I was crouched so low I was worried about bruising my chin with my knee. Jax carried the other laser mic case with him in his free hand. I felt horribly exposed as the moon slid in and out from behind the clouds. While I was grateful to have a little light with which to operate, being illuminated so brightly was definitely not ideal.
I must have been thinking too hard, because I somehow got ahead of everyone and stepped onto the blanket. I stumbled, falling onto my hands and knees, unexpectedly jerking the blanket from their hands.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that. Bo fell on top of me, expelling the breath from my lungs in a forced whoosh. Jax snatched the blanket, pulled it over us, and landed on top of Bo. We remained prone under the blanket, trying to figure out if any part of us was exposed. Bo shifted his weight slightly so I could catch a breath.
“Report,” Jax finally whispered to Wally.
There was a long pause before Wally answered. “You’re clear. I think.”
“You think?” Jax hissed back.
“Hey, don’t jump on my case. The camera did detect something, but it’s not setting off an alert…at least not yet. Stand by.”
Seconds ticked past. “What’s going on?” I whispered. My voice shook. Had I screwed everything up before we’d even started? “Are we detected or not?”
“Yes and no,” Wally answered. “The reality is the infrared camera has likely been trained to detect human shapes that are walking. Otherwise, all other heat sources like birds, dogs, cats, foxes, etc., would set off alerts. The sheer number of false alarms would overwhelm the user, making the system unreliable. So, it appears the camera’s algorithms is focused on spotting human-size heat signatures and ignoring other anomalies. Although your heat signatures were temporarily exposed, the time was so brief, and even when your signature was visible, you were crouched down as a group and probably appeared as an undefined blob, which apparently did not set off the camera’s detection. Therefore, I can only conclude that you did not present a profile that the camera identifies as human and did not set off an alert. If someone ever comes back and reviews all the recorded video, they would spot the anomaly and probably recognize your presence. But without an alert, there’s nothing that would key them to this time or location.”
That was a long-winded way to say no, but the science behind it made me feel better that we were still on track.
“That’s good enough for me,” Jax said grimly. “Come on, let’s move.”
We got back to our crouches and were more careful as we crept the rest of the fifteen feet on our hands and knees. Blocked by the house from the cameras, we stood up. I studied the trellis carefully. It was sturdy, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t hold much more than one hundred pounds. It was a good thing I was the one climbing.
“Confirm location of target,” Bo whispered to Wally.
“In the living room at the moment.” Wally paused again, perhaps confirming that with Kira again. “Go. You’re cleared to climb.”
Bo held the blanket up to shield us from any neighbor who might be a night owl, as Jax linked his hands together in a cradle. I stepped into his hand so he could boost me up as far as possible onto the trellis.
“Be safe, Red,” Jax murmured as I clung to the trellis.
I cautiously climbed a few feet, testing the strength of the wood, then looked down and gave the guys a thumbs-up. I could see their anxious faces illuminated in the moonlight.
“It’s your show now,” Wally said in my ear. “You’ve got