Before idle hands got up to any mischief, Darien tasked his crew with a detailed search of the house to find anything useful. He explained to Harriet that they intended to make this house their base in the neighborhood, and that since the house was unoccupied and the owners were unlikely to come home, they intended to take care of the place. "It’d be an awful shame for a place this nice to go to waste. At least this way it'll provide shelter for us."
"I see," Harriet said. Darien watched doubt fill her eyes. "But...you don't intend on staying, do you?"
Darien leaned back and relished the feeling of a full stomach for the first time in several days. "Well, why not? I figure it's the least this neighborhood could do for us since we rescued you. Sounds like the HOA board would fall apart without you, am I right?"
"Oh, absolutely—I’m critical to the day-to-day running of…” Harriet began, then her voice trailed off as if she realized she’d just given way too much information.
Darien smiled. "I meant what I said upstairs. You need not fear anyone while I'm breathing. You'll be protected."
Harriet’s shoulders slumped. "That's just it. I'm not protected, am I?” She lowered her head to the table and sobbed again. "My husband hasn't come home—it's been four days. I'm running out of food. Even the housekeeper hasn't shown up…”
Darien made eye contact with Spanner, who sat across the table and chewed popcorn. He paused, shrugged one shoulder, and got up to leave the table. Jon Boy had already gone to dig through the house and the two convicts were likewise busy with a quest for loot. Alone in the kitchen with Harriet, Darien leaned forward at the table and gently placed one hand on top of hers.
"You're not alone, Harriet. I'm here now. If you'd like, I'll protect you.” As she looked up, he removed his hand and sat back. "I don't mean to be forward or anything like that. I'm just letting you know that as long as I'm here, you'll be safe. Times like these, we need to all pull together. There’s enough hurt out there for everyone—no sense in bringing it on ourselves on purpose."
"Thank you," she said simply. She sat up, wiped her face again, and sniffed loud. "My word, I am such a mess. You must think me a dimwitted schoolgirl," she said, with an attempt at laughter.
"On the contrary,” Darien replied with a smile. “I see an intelligent, resourceful, strong woman who was willing to do what it took to survive in a situation no one's ever found themselves in before. I'd say you're doing just fine, Harriet."
She smiled again, looked down, and blushed prettily. "Well, aren’t you just the sweetest thing, Darien?”
He cleared his throat. “Why don't you load up some food, and head on back to your place while there’s still plenty of daylight. Me and the boys will settle in here—I’m sure we'll see each other soon."
She tucked a lock of blonde hair over one ear. "Okay. Thank you. For everything." She stood and gathered a few items, glancing over her shoulder to smile at him several times in the process.
Darien watched her from behind and grinned at his good fortune.
"Yo, Dee!" Spanner called from upstairs. Darien excused himself while Harriet continued to gather provisions and walked over to the stairs that led to the second floor. He looked up to see Spanner lean over the railing. "Guess what I found?"
"I couldn't—” Darien began.
"Gun safe.”
Darien's eyes lowered as he peered into the kitchen and watched Harriet bend over to pick up something she dropped. Lady luck had smiled upon him, indeed. He turned away from the pleasant scene and looked up the stairway. "Get it open.” Spanner disappeared down the upstairs hallway, and Darien moved into the front room and pulled aside the thin curtains that covered the window.
He idly looked up and down the street and spotted the ugly rusted Camry in the driveway. That was sure to draw suspicion. “Lopez! Cisco!” he called over his shoulder.
“Yeah?" the convict said. He poked his head out of the study down the hall. Cisco appeared at the top of the stairs.
"What's up?"
“Get that piece of crap car out of the driveway, will ya? Pull it into the garage. We don't want people out there asking questions about what it's doing here."
The two convicts looked at each other for a second, and took their sweet time before they spoke, but finally agreed. "Yeah, I’ll get right on that," Lopez said with a smirk. Darien noticed the Cisco didn’t come downstairs immediately, and Lopez waited until Cisco nodded before he moved. That would have to be handled. Soon.
Darien turned back to the window and looked at the house across the street—in many ways a carbon copy of the one he occupied. In an upstairs window, Darien locked eyes with a woman who stared at him with an open mouth. She disappeared behind a curtain, and a moment later, a curtain moved back from a window at the other end of the house. A man peered out and frowned, then disappeared in a swirl of fabric.
"Better get that gun safe open, Spanner…” Darien called over his shoulder. “The quicker the better.”
Chapter 5
Lavelle Homestead
Northwest of Charleston, South Carolina
Cami sat on her back deck and looked up from the parts of her pistol spread out on a cleaning cloth. She sat out in the sun and oiled the internal parts of the weapon—it was the second time that day she’d cleaned the pistol. She glanced at her watch. Something was wrong. The kids had been
