Page 22 of Just This Once (Blackhawk Security)

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Cody ran up the stairs, touching his hip for his gun, checking the small of his back for his sheathed knife. His taser. When he reached the first floor, he bent and ran his fingers over his shin above his right ankle. Backup gun in place. Touched his leg above his left ankle. Backup knife, too.

One pocket loaded with zip ties protruded from his hip.

He hurried into the living room and opened the cabinet beneath the bookshelves. Yanked on the black ski mask, then rested the night vision goggles on his head. Finally he pulled on thin, lightweight black gloves and picked up his other SAT phone. When he stepped outside, he’d be nothing more than a shadow moving through the trees and fields.

Before he left the house, Cody pulled up an app on the phone. It was a map of his farm, with all the sensors marked. The intruders -- and the images from the surveillance cameras proved they were human -- had tripped several alarms on the south side of the farm, about a mile away from the house. They were moving through the woods, heading toward the pasture.

Satisfied he wouldn’t walk right into them, Cody cracked the back door and slipped out of the house. He reset the alarm, then moved into the shadows thrown by the barn. Past the barn, he edged into the wooded area that surrounded the property.

After reaching the trees, he pulled the night vision goggles into place. With their bright green illumination, he moved quickly toward the area where the alarms had been tripped, listening intently as he crept through the undergrowth.

Another alarm made his phone vibrate, and he pulled it out and looked at it. Intruders, heading his way. They must have a map of the farm, and he wondered how they knew he and Sierra were here.

He’d find out after he caught them.

He surveyed the area, looking for the best place to ambush them. There’d be at least two of them -- a single man wouldn’t have been trusted to control two people. They must want Sierra very badly.

Cody settled on a log behind a tree and waited. The attackers were quiet, but he heard the crunch of leaves and twigs beneath their feet. They weren’t trying very hard to muffle their movements, probably figuring no one knew they were here.

If they reached the house, they’d attack quickly and brutally, surprising and overwhelming the sleeping occupants. They probably assumed they’d be attacking a simple farmhouse with little security.

Cody smiled grimly as he waited for them to get closer. If he did his job, the intruders would be the surprised ones.

The crackling of the undergrowth grew louder, and a few moments later, Cody saw two figures in black, both wearing night vision goggles, gliding between the trees. They’d run ops like this before. Spaced themselves six feet apart, making it impossible to take them both on at once. Cody would have to pick one, leaving himself vulnerable to the other man.

He fell into place behind them, reaching for his taser. He’d have to disable one of them before he took on the other.

As they reached the edge of the wooded area, the man to the right stopped. Motioned the other man over and pulled out what looked like a map.

Cody crept closer, holding tightly to the taser. When he was less than ten feet away, Cody shot the taser at the man with the map, figuring he was in charge. He fell silently to the ground, and his partner dropped to his knees beside him. Murmured something in a language that wasn’t English.

Cody approached him from behind and slid his gun out of its holster. Wrapped one arm around the guy’s neck and put the gun against his temple. “Don’t move,” he said in a low voice. “One muscle twitches, and you’re dead. If you try to test me, it’ll be the last thing you ever do.”

The man froze, his arms outstretched to touch his partner. The fingers of the intruder’s right hand moved, and Cody put his fingers over the man’s carotid artery. Held them in place until the guy went boneless.

Moving quickly, he bound the man’s wrists with zip ties. Then he moved to the man he’d tasered, who had stopped twitching and was trying to get to his knees.

“On the ground,” Cody ordered, pressing the gun to tasered-guy’s head. “Right now. I’ll kill you if I have to, but I’d rather not make a mess.”

After several seconds when the man didn’t move, Cody released the safety. At the sharp click, his captive dropped to the ground.

Cody quickly bound his wrists, then studied the man he’d knocked out. He woke up slowly and tried to move his hands. Panicked when he realized they were bound.

“Don’t move,” Cody ordered, then studied the two of them. He couldn’t control two men at once, even if their hands were bound. He’d have to get the farm truck and toss them inside.

Squatting beside the man he’d tasered, he bound his ankles with zip ties. Then he bound the other man’s ankles. He found a couple of sturdy saplings and attached their bound hands to the trunks with four more zip ties. He searched both men, removing their phones and weapons.

Then he said, “Either of you care to tell me why you were creeping onto this farm at two in the morning?”

Neither man spoke.

“Who do you work for?”

Again, no answer.

“Okay, then, the FBI can have you.”

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