Darien counted heartbeats until the woman, evidently satisfied no one occupied her backyard, pulled her head back in and shut the porch door. She disappeared into the shadows inside, then reappeared a moment later, silhouetted in front of a window on the far side of the house as she threw open curtains to let in light.
"What is she doing?" Spanner asked as he squinted at the house.
"I have no idea," muttered Darien. "If she's looking for people in the backyard, why’s she opening windows? Someone on the other side of the house could see right in…”
"Maybe she's trying to see out?" suggested Cisco.
Darien glanced over his shoulder and grunted. "Could be," he was forced to admit.
"Look! Now what’s she doing?" Jon Boy said as he pointed a massive arm toward the house.
Darien squinted and once more regretted his decision not to see an eye doctor the previous month. His vision wasn't what it was 20 years ago, and he could barely make out details if he narrowed his eyes.
The woman, fully visible now in silhouette thanks to the open window on the far side of the cavernous room, appeared to explore every nook and cranny. She moved to a wall, and dumped the books from the shelf, lifted up the seats on sofas and chairs, and pulled pictures down to examine the wall behind them.
Cisco chuckled darkly. "If I didn't know better, I'd say she was tossin’ the place. I bet you anything she don't live there."
The patio door slid open again, and she stepped out into full view on the deck. She stood with her hands on the railing and faced the backyard, her slim body in perfect profile to Darien and his group. Lopez whistled softly. Darien made a chopping motion at his neck to get the man to fall silent. He understood the sentiment though, even without glasses, he could tell she was a looker. She couldn't have been more than 30 years old, by his estimation.
The woman turned and leaned against the railing, which gave them a view of her other side. She crossed her arms and stared up at the house, as if she counted the windows. After a long moment, she threw her hands up in exasperation and stormed back into the house. The patio door slid shut so hard that it bounced back open, which forced her to return and shut it with a resounding thud. She disappeared into the house and moved away from the main living room.
Darien and his group watched in silence, straining to see what room she appeared in next. After a long moment, he detected movement from one of the upstairs windows. He turned and looked at the others. "Boys, I think she's the only one in that house. And like you said, Lopez, I don't think she belongs there. I think it's time we check this out…up close and personal."
"Now you're talking," Cisco said with a wolfish grin. "How we gonna do this?" he asked excitedly. "I've been locked up a long time, man…”
Darien frowned. "How we’re going to do this is nice and easy. I'm gonna slip through these bushes here and go make sure we can get in the back door. You guys,” he said as he jabbed a finger at Lopez and Cisco, “keep an eye on her. She's up there in the front of the house on the second floor. If she starts to come back downstairs, give me a signal. I think I can get underneath that deck if I need to."
"Yeah? And then what?" demanded Cisco. "It ain't right for you to have all the fun…”
"All I'm doing is making sure we can get in that place—quietly. Who knows how many other houses in this neighborhood might be empty? If we can take this place, we can make it our base. Boys," he said, a glint in his eye, "we might could just rule this whole neighborhood.”
"Car," Jon Boy said, as if warning friends playing stickball in the street.
The group fell quiet again as they watched a beat-up gold Toyota Camry with rusted quarter panels drive by the house.
"I don't know about you guys, but those jokers don't belong in this neighborhood," Darien said. “No way anyone in this joint drives a ’92 Camry. Bet they’re all rolling Beamers and Mercedes coupes.”
“Ain’t that the truth. Anybody can afford one of these houses can afford a car better than that piece of junk," agreed Spanner. "You see the spoiler on the back of that thing?" He shook his head. "That there is a crime against humanity.”
“Why’s that?” asked Cisco.
“They got it on backward, for crying out loud," Spanner muttered in disgust.
"What?" asked Lopez. “I thought it looked pretty dope…”
Darien bared his teeth and hissed at them. “Of course, you did. Knock it off." The sound of a muffler a few years past its prime grew in volume and returned to the quiet street. Before he could speak, the Camry with the backward spoiler rolled to a stop in the driveway and sputtered as the driver turned off the ignition.
"What are they doing?" asked Spanner.
"We’re about to find out," Darien observed.
The driver’s door opened, and a lanky youth stepped out. He pulled a sweatshirt hood over his splotchy head. He looked to weigh about 100 pounds soaking wet, and his clothes hung off him like bedsheets.
The passenger exited on the other side, and appeared to be the same height, only three times as wide. The car rose up on its shocks as his bulk left the vehicle. He hiked up his pants, grabbed a ridiculously small backpack from the back seat and tossed it over the car at the driver. He pulled a second, bigger backpack out, yanked up the hood on his own black
