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I took a deep breath and walked toward the door, fighting the urge to run "I’h that I was sure they’d be able to hearon the couch, legs locked into rigid lines Mr Carson wasn’t outside theanymore Instead, threethere, each of the a shock baton The head of a fourth man was just barely visible above thefrarowling stopped, for a ain as she juuard over the back door The couch cushions were irreparably stained withto be all that upset, considering what Beverly had been defending me from Even if I still wasn’t sure exactly what that was

"Miss Mitchell, is it safe for you to open the door? If, for some reason, it is not safe, ill make our oay inside"

Translation: they would knock down the door "Just a second," I said, and began undoing the locks

I opened the door to find aon the porch, with two e black vans parked in front of the house, their rear doors standing open

"Miss Mitchell," said theaway froan to scan the house behind itated by the intruders?"

"There’s a wo at her There were two more--"

"We have already restrained the a series of coht hand The twofor the side of the house "The third intruder will be re a little foolish standing there in my bathrobe and bare feet, I nodded and stepped to the side "Please I don’t think they et inside at all, but I’ll feel a lot more secure once I’m sure"

"That’s e’re here, Miss Mitchell," said the man, and stepped past me, into the house "May my men enter? I will remain with you while they secure the property"

"Okay" I stepped farther to the side,sure there was a clear path into the house Beverly was still barking I slipped my hands into the pockets ofaard and exposed

A second ear appeared, nodded to me, and walked past htly onopen was barely audible under the sound of Beverly’sthe woman on the other side was nore the way the soundChave, and how quickly she’d gone froet I didn’t know the wo For a moment, there was only silence The sound of footsteps alerted me to the return of the secondto face hi removed now," he said calmly His baton was back at his belt That made me feel a little better

"Hold this position," said the first man To me, he said, "Please wait here while I check your doors and s"

"I’ht as well not have said anything He was already gone, walking deeper into the house with his shoulders locked in an almost military line Beverly trotted over to sit down beside h to stroke her ears "Good dog, Beverly You’re a good dog"

She looked up at ainst the floor In her world, everything was right She had protected her hu called a good dog and having her ears petted I wished it could be that simple for me

Twothe second man One of them saluted me "Miss Mitchell," he said

I blinked at him, not sure hoas supposed to respond to the salute I settled on a ave "Hello," I said "Can I get you anything? U I didn’t want to call the police, I was afraid sootten hurt because I called SymboGen Those electric batons didn’t just tickle But if I’d called the police, Ian infection I still didn’t understand I couldn’t do that

"We’re just doing our jobs, ma’am," said one of the twocuriously at the two, her ears pricked forward, but she wasn’t growling I took that as a good sign that they weren’t getting ready to freak out and try to strangle me "I really didn’t want to spend the whole day locked insideof which, your house is clear," said theback down the hall to the front room "They don’t appear to have penetrated the security"

A dizzying wave of relief washed over "