Page 84 of Red Boar's Baby

“It’s not on the battery backup, you know that, CeCe.”

Costa cursed under his breath. Diana joined him at the window. He was staring out into the ranch yard, but nothing could be seen, just their reflections and the living room behind them. “Turn those lights off!” he snapped over his shoulder.

After a startled moment, someone moved to obey. Most of the lights went off except for the ones in the kitchen. Now they could see the ranch yard, lying in the light of a sliver moon.

“What’s wrong?” Diana asked quietly.

Costa cursed again. “We’re cut off and I think we might be under siege. Aunt Brill,” he said, louder, “is anyone else up at Jenny’s with her and Jay?”

Brill shook her head. “Just the two of them. CeCe, what’s making you react like this? You’ve seen plenty of power outages.”

“What’s the matter is that we made some powerful people very mad, and powerful people have friends. Damn it, damn it.” Costa turned to look out the window again.

“Language, CeCe!”

“I don’t see anyone,” Diana said quietly. “And no lights on the road.”

“They might be coming in stealthy. No headlights. But someone cut the power and the phones, so they’re not too far away.” He took a breath. “And with just one road, that means we’re cut off. Go check the doors and make sure they’re locked and bolted,” he told Vic, “and get the rest of the aunts in here. We want everyone together. Molly, too.”

Vic nodded and went off at a near run. Costa locked the front door and shot a large deadbolt, which Diana hadn’t even noticed.

Costa beckoned Delgado to join them at the window. Farley started to follow her. “Oh, no you don’t,” Costa snapped, pointing at him. “You, stay there. In fact, go sit in that chair there, and stay where we can see you.”

“Are we in danger?” Farley asked. “Is someone coming?”

“You would know, wouldn’t you? Go sit there!”

Delgado joined the small group at the window. Aunt Brill had come near as well, but Diana supposed there was no point in excluding her from what seemed to have turned into a war council. The aunts were as involved in this as anyone else. Uncle Rodrigo seemed to have drifted back to sleep.

Costa noticed her too. “Aunt Brill, are there any guns in the house?”

“There’s the shotgun that Maura uses to keep the jackrabbits out of her garden. And your brother’s hunting rifle might still be in the basement, I think.”

“Get them,” Costa said grimly. Brill hesitated. “Now, please,” he said, and she went. Turning to Delgado, he asked, “Do you have a service weapon?”

“In my car,” Delgado said. “I didn’t want to bring it in the house with the kids.”

Costa sighed. “Mine’s also in my car, and my car isn’t here. So what we’ve got for defense are any weapons my relatives can scrounge up plus your sidearm.”

“I’ll go get it.”

“Not yet.” As he spoke, Costa began walking around, closing the blinds.

“You really think they’re here?” Diana asked. Her heart was racing.

“I do. I just don’t know how close or how many. We have to get in touch with the SCB somehow and get backup. Aunt Lo!” he said, as Vic herded the other two surprised aunts into the living room, Maura clutching a dish sponge and Lo with a large, empty casserole dish in her hands. “Is there anything we have other than the phone or computer for getting a signal out? A HAM radio? Anything?”

“Well ... er ...” Lo turned helplessly to Maura.

“There are the old CBs,” Maura said promptly. “We used to have them in the farm trucks before we got this newfangled wifi calling.”

“That’s right,” Costa said. “I forgot about that. Do you still have them in the house?”

“Er ... I don’t know.” Lo and Maura looked at each other. “I think they might be in Lo and Brill’s house,” Maura suggested.

“I’ve got a pair of field radios in my trunk,” Delgado said. “There’s not much range, but we might be able to get a trucker to pick us up.”

“I’ll go get—” Lo began, just as Delgado went on, “I can go out to my car and?—”

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