Page 204 of Somebody's Watching Me
“People are creeping around on the beach and Holden set off the silent alarm.” Heading upstairs, Josie rushed past him. “I’ll stay with Evie and the girls while you guys figure out what they’re up to.”
This wasn’t the first time. During one of Toby’s appeals, Zanmi had set up camp on their beach. While Fairweather Holdings owned the sand, they couldn’t own the shore, and there had been nothing they could do to evict the freaks until a large sum of money found its way into the right political pockets.
Hooking a left, he headed to the security console set up in his front office off the foyer.
“How many?”
Holden didn’t look away from the monitor. “Four women. Dressed in white. One on each side of the house.”
The images on the screen flipped through the exterior camera feed. A different woman on each side, surrounding them with vacant expressions.
“They look high.”
Holden grunted in agreement. “The signal’s not going through to Port Michaelson police.”
“Send it to Hollingsdale.”
“Already did. Same thing, and we have no cell service or internet.”
Refusing to give up, and never without his phone, Samuel pulled it from the pocket of his pajama pants to call Liam.
“… We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
He tried his father next.
“… We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
Rowan.
“… We’re sorry, but your call cannot be completed as dialed.”
No matter who he tried, it was the same thing. Jamison. Abe. Simone. Annabeth. Will. Izzy. No call would go through.
And then no call could be made at all.
“I’ve tried 9-1-1, the direct lines to the police stations, and Klausen. Nothing.” Holden leaned down to peer into the monitor with him. “The burners aren’t working either.”
The women had begun to sway, their mouths moving. Holden flipped on the sound, but whatever they were saying was unintelligible over the roar of the gulf.
“They’re armed.” Holden pointed to the flash of metal in one of the women’s hands. “Looks like hunting knives.”
A rage like he had never known tore through Samuel. A churning fury overriding all sense of self preservation. The force behind it propelled him into motion, but Holden wouldn’t let him get far.
“You can’t go out there.”
Samuel shoved him, playing dirty and applying direct pressure to the knife wound. “I have no problem ending this.”
“Ow, asshole!” Holden shoved him back with one arm. “I don’t have a problem with you ending it either, but you’re Samuel fucking Fairweather, and you have neighbors with cameras. The world is watching. Zanmi would love to get you on video doing something violent so they can prove you’re what they say you are. Theawful cousin who tortured poor Tobias Miller as a child and made him into the killer he is today.”
And that’s when they heard it.
Police sirens.
Firewater Beach and Haven House remained the only civilization for miles, with the next closest developments being on the edges of Hollingsdale and Port Michaelson. If the police were out this far, it had to be for them.
Within seconds, there were more. One on top of the other, the sounds of help gaining speed as they raced to the rescue.
“Likely one of the neighbors saw the women and called 9-1-1.” Holden flipped the security feed to a traffic camera position at the single light on the highway between Firewater and Haven House. Sure enough, flashing lights approached. “Nosey old people are awesome.”
