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“Cecilia,” I replied I shook ether “And she’s armed”

Eli jerked his head forward in surprise and widened his eyes atto know,” he spat

“And this is why I took point,” Forrest et yourselves shot”

I didn’t bother to apologize, because I already looked like a fucking moron Jesus Christ, I was always on top of rab a couple of preschoolers out of a house somewhere on the other side of the world? I was the one who had candy in my pocket for the inevitable freak out Stuck inside a busted-up school with no conceivable way out? Hey, I’d packed fucking water for this eventuality, it looked like ouldn’t die of dehydration before we could get extracted You’re welcome

“Cecilia,” Wilson mused over the comm “Nohere have I seen that name before?”

Lu chuckled

“Was it a tattoo, maybe?” Ephraim joked “I swear I’ve seen a bad tattoo of that name”

“Enough,” Forrest snapped quietly

“Don’t make me take you down,” Siah said to h the trees “You start bein’ stupid and I’ll drop your ass”

“I won’t,” I said through my teeth Fuck, ere so close I was hyper focused as the house came into view, the driveway and front porch lit up like a fucking Christmas tree

There was a car out front, and everyone dropped to the ground as ait behind him He didn’t rush as he walked to the car and put a box of shit on the front seat My head jerked in surprise when I realized he histling as he rounded the hood and climbed inside

“It can’t be that fuckin’ easy,” Forrest breathed into the ate, move in Slowly”

It felt like it took an hour for the car to drive off the property, but it had to be onlyfor anyas Wilson checked for an alar the back door quietly with Siah’s unparalleled lockpicking skill Moving into theup with the rest of the teaht of a woman’s bare feet came into view from a room opposite the stairs Forrest and Wilson checked on the woman as the rest of us cleared the bottom floor of the house The place was empty

We

“Cameras are down,” Wilson said into the comm “Got two cold ones down here Man and a woman”

We moved faster once we didn’t have to be careful of the ca enormous I had no idea what people did with so much space All the rooms were furnished and came with a walk-in closet and private bathroole one Each time I opened the door to a closet, I braced myself, butwere still so bare that no one could hide in them

The est to search because it had so much shit in it This was the bedroom that was actually lived in Instead of a perfectly ed furniture, there were clothes thrown over a chair back and shoes nearly covering the floor of the closet Books were stacked on one nightstand and a laptop on the other The bed was sloppilyand called it good Apparently, these people didn’t have a live-in htened up for a few days At least we knew that there wasn’t so or dead somewhere in the house

My patience grew thin as ent through the room, because I knew she wasn’t in there If she had been, she would’ve identified it to Casper so we’d knohere to look Still, we had to make sure that the house was empty, every inch of it

When we hit the fifth bedroo clicked into place It was a nursery, painted a pale yellow, and like the rest of the guest bedrooled at the back ofwas off I held up my hand to stop the men behind me, and looked over the room A crib was in the corner with a blanket tastefully thrown over the edge On the opposite as a changing table, diapers and wipes and bath supplies perfectly aligned on the shelves, like they hadn’t been used yet A rocking chair sat in thethat hadn’t even been plugged in