Page 37 of Hard Wired

I’m going to protect Sylvie and Maureen, he swore to himself. Whatever it takes.

As he watched the window in the door, a shape darted across the front of the house. He pulled back.

Then something red smeared across the glass.

What the fuck?

His nausea rose. It was blood. They were smearing blood on his door.

A warning. But whose blood? Whose?

Dominic waited for someone to try breaking in. The glass in the windows of this house was tempered and strong, but it would shatter under enough pressure. He couldn’t tell if anyone was coming.

But what if they climbed onto the upstairs balconies? What if they breached the upstairs windows instead?

Dominic ran for the staircase.

The door to the game room was closed. “Who’s there?” Sylvie said from inside. She must’ve heard his footsteps.

“It’s me. I’m coming in.”

“Wait. I’m unlocking it.”

When she opened the door, Sylvie held a Glock at her side.

“Did you bring that with you?” He shut the door behind him and locked it.

“No, it’s yours. Maureen got it for me.” Sylvie gestured at the couch. “She knew where you’d hidden it.”

“Don’t mention it to Max. These guns are all unregistered.” He had weapons stashed in other parts of the house too. In his line of work—well, former line of work—one never knew. He’d certainly get his bail revoked if the DA found out, but he had bigger problems.

Maureen’s face had taken on a pale shade of green. “The police are sending help?”

“I hope so. We’ll see.” He pointed at Sylvie’s computer, which lay closed on the table. “What was going on with your laptop?”

“Someone was trying to hack my machine. They nearly succeeded. I had to shut down the internet connections. But I can’t access anything now. Not headquarters, not our network, not your security system. I’m blind. I turned off my phone, too.”

“What about that man who shot at us?” Maureen asked.

“I don’t know if they’re still here.” His nerves were on edge as he listened for noise from downstairs. He didn’t know how many men there might be, what they were planning. Whether they just wanted to warn Dominic or had other intentions.

Sylvie peeked through the closed blinds. “The attempted breach on my laptop cannot be a coincidence. I’ve seen this kind of thing before. A cyberattack at the same time as a physical one. The Syndicate, right?”

“Probably. So you know how to shoot?”

“Yeah. Max makes all his employees spend time in the gun range.”

“That’s smart.” Dominic dragged the heavy couch over to block the door. “You both should stay down, in case they get upstairs and start shooting.”

“What about you?” Sylvie asked.

“I’ll give them something else to aim at.”

She frowned but took Maureen to a corner, where they crouched down together.

Dominic stayed in the center of the room, aiming his gun at the barricaded door. Still nothing from downstairs.

In his peripheral vision, Maureen was trembling slightly. She’d known about his role in the Syndicate since not long after he hired her. He’d made sure she understood that his life—and therefore hers—could be in danger. She’d confirmed she could keep quiet and out of his business, so long as he didn’t bring his work home and paid her an above-market rate.

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