Alex rinsed the plates and handed them to Daniel to load. One of the dogs whined through the screen door; probably Lola. Alex hoped she hadn’t spoiled them too much this afternoon. She’d never thought she was a dog person, but she realized she was going to miss the warm and friendly inclusion of the pack. Maybe someday—if Kevin was somehow still alive and well and the plan was operable after all—she might get herself a dog. If all the happy thoughts were real, maybe Kevin would even sell her Lola. It probably wasn’t a practical—
A low, fast thud interrupted her thoughts—it was a sound that didn’t belong. Even as her eyes were moving toward Daniel, looking for a dropped utensil or a slammed cupboard that would explain the noise, her mind was leaping ahead. Before her body had realigned with her brain, a huge baying cry erupted from the porch, along with a vicious growling. Another thud, quieter beside the hullabaloo of the dogs, and the baying broke off into a shocked and pained yelp.
She tackled Daniel to the ground while he was still turning toward the door. He outweighed her by a lot, but he was off balance and went down easy.
“Shhh,” she hissed fiercely in his ear, then she crawled over him to the edge of the island and peered around. She couldn’t see Arnie. She looked at the screen door—a small round hole was torn through the center of the top panel. She tried to listen over the sound of the dogs and the TV, but she couldn’t hear any sound from where Arnie should be.
It had to be a distance shot or the dogs would have seen it coming.
“Arnie!” she hoarsely whisper-shouted.
There was no response.
She slithered to the dining-room table, where her backpack was propped against the leg of the chair she’d used. She ripped her PPK out of its Ziploc bag, then slid it across the floor to Daniel. She needed both hands.
Daniel snagged the gun when it was halfway to the island and leaned around the edge. He hadn’t practiced with a handgun, but at this distance that wouldn’t matter terribly much.
She shoved her rings on and flung the belt around her waist.
Daniel was on his feet in a fraction of a second, bracing his elbows on top of the counter. He didn’t look at all conflicted about his ability to fire. She scuttled to the nearby wall where the dining room jutted out from the great room. As she moved, she saw a hand shoving the handle down—but it wasn’t a hand. It was a black furry paw.
So Kevin had chosen not to go with the standard round doorknob for more reasons than aesthetics.
She breathed again as Einstein burst into the room, Khan and the Rottweiler close on his heels. She could hear Lola panting pained cries outside, and her teeth ground together.
While the dogs congregated silently around Daniel, forming a furry shield, she got her fighting shoes on and shoved the garrote wire into one pocket, the wooden handles into the other.
“Give the command,” she whispered to Daniel.
The shooter would be running in now, though he would have to be on the lookout for the dogs. If he had the option, he’d switch the distance rifle for something that made bigger holes. Dogs like these would keep coming through a lot of hurt.
“Escape protocol?” Daniel whispered uncertainly.
Einstein’s ears quivered. He gave a quiet cough of a bark, then trotted to the far end of the kitchen and whined.
“Follow him,” Alex instructed Daniel. She darted across the space between the wall and the island, keeping herself in a low crouch.
Daniel started to straighten, but before she could say anything, Einstein hurtled over and caught Daniel’s hand in his mouth. He yanked Daniel back to the ground.
“Keep low,” she translated in a whisper.
Einstein led them toward the laundry room, as Alex had expected, with Khan and the Rottweiler bringing up the rear. As she ducked from the great room to the darkened hallway, she tried to see Arnie. She could see only one hand at first, unmoving, but then she spied splatter against the far wall. It was obvious that there was brain matter mixed in with the blood. So there was no point in trying to drag him with them. It was too late for Arnie. And the shooter was obviously a marksman. The good news just kept coming.
Alex was surprised when Einstein stopped short of the laundry room and pawed at a closet in the hall. Daniel pulled the door open, and Einstein jumped past him and tugged at something inside. Alex crept closer just as a weighty pile of fur fell out on top of her.
“What is this?” Daniel breathed in her ear.
She felt her way through the pile. “I think it’s a fur coat—but there’s something else. It’s too heavy…” She ran her hands quickly over the coat, along the sleeves; there was something stiff and rectangular under the fur. She stuck her hand inside the sleeve, trying to understand what she was examining. Finally, her fingers made sense of it. She wasn’t sure she would have put it together if she hadn’t recently cut Kevin out of a Batsuit.
Einstein pulled another dense bulk of fur down on them.
“They’re lined in Kevlar,” she whispered.