“Doggie door.” Marion replied, causing Jackie to drop her chin in surprise.
“It is not a doggie door, babe.” Russell denied.
Marion only grinned at her husband’s growl. “Close enough.” She flicked her eyes back to Jackie. “There’s a section on the lower half of the wall that’s been replaced with a steel door. Next to it is a screen. When the wolves want in or out, they lick that panel and, voila, the door slides open.”
Wow. “It’s DNA activated? Impressive.”
“I thought so.” Russell answered smugly.
Marion rolled her eyes. “He only says that because he thought of it.”
Russell looped his arm about his wife’s neck and pulled her over for a quick kiss. “That’s why it’s impressive.”
A tendril of jealousy at their easy affection caused Jackie to avert her eyes, and collide with Zan’s intense ones. Her breath caught in the back of her throat. The man was suited up for battle. It terrified her and turned her on at the same time. Terrified because he was gearing up for war and turned on because he somehow seemed larger, more macho in his outfit. Like a warrior of old, out to save his home, and country, and the damsel in distress.
Which was what he was.
They stared at each other for several heartbeats before he tore his gaze away to pick up a small item. He fiddled with it at his right ear. “The boys back yet?”
Russell flipped through the screens. “I don’t see them anywhere and it’s starting to piss me off.”
“Hmmm. Might have some difficulty hearing the alarm with the rain.” Zan didn’t appear concerned. “Test me.”
Russell murmured something too low for Jackie to hear. Zan responded with an affirmative and she realized the tiny earpiece was both receiver and transmitter. Evidently no expense was too great for these bad boys. And she was glad. If part of her tax dollars went to make Zan safer, then so be it.
The buzzing noise changed to a rapid beeping. Still just as soft. Still just as annoying.
“West wall’s been breached.” Russell said. “And there’s our boys. Finally.”
Jackie made out two dark shapes slinking through the trees by one of the perimeter walls. On another screen she saw a human-shaped shadow crouched low to the ground. Three more dropped and followed suit in quick secession.
“There’s four of them?” Jackie asked, turning to look where Zan was. Only, he wasn’t there. He was gone. The door was closing even as she rushed over to it. “Zan! You bastard.”
He’d left without a word. Locking her in the safe room with Russell and Marion. The latter who was looking at her with a mix of pity and understanding. It was Russell who said, “Leaving you was probably one of the hardest things he’s ever done, Jackie. Don’t think to harshly of him.”
Jackie let out a snarl. “He could have at least said goodbye.”
Russel shot her an undecipherable look over his shoulder before turning back to his screens. “No. He really couldn’t.”
Seething, Jackie moved into position behind Russell. All the better to see each and every screen.
“There’s another chair, Jackie. Why don’t you sit down?” Marion asked
Though the question wasn’t meant to be uncaring, Jackie just couldn’t sit down and see the next several minutes—hours?—unfold in front of her as if she were watching some damn movie. “I’m good. Thanks though.”
Good? What a lie. Just another to add to the list of lies she’d uttered over the last several days. To others and to herself. God, she was a mess.
Chapter Twenty
The four shadows broke into pairs, one pair doing their best to remain invisible as they headed toward the direction Jackie last saw Scott and Joe. At least Jackie thought that the north section was where the younger shifters were. There were so many camera angles and Russell flipped through them so fast, she was losing all sense of direction. Added to that was the heavy rain and dark clouds that kept obscuring the moon and she no longer had any idea which screen shot belonged to which section of property. All this squinting was giving her a headache.
The other two shadows remained low to the ground and just when Jackie was beginning to wonder what the heck they were doing, they looked up.
“Shit. Is that a fucking zip line?” Russell pushed a button and the picture zoomed in. A heartbeat barely passed before another shape slid effortlessly over the wall and right into the throng of trees.
“Sneaky bastard sent his men in first as a distraction. Coward.”
Jackie looked from the screen to Russell as he relayed that information to Zan and back to the screen again. “There’s no way we can inform Scott and Joe though, is there?”