Connor nodded.“We wait.”
***
At Connor’s call, Ethan breathed a sigh of relief.This would be over soon.At the second call, he dropped from the tree branch to the ground.Whoever it was, was headed this way.
Rhys and Noah would fall in behind the intruder, cutting off his escape route, and Ethan would follow when he passed.
The man had a jerry can.
Anger simmered in Ethan’s stomach.The garden’s destruction hadn’t been enough.If he was a betting man, he’d bet a structure would be the next target.
He hoped it wasn’t the house.
At the crunch of footsteps Ethan slowed his breathing, ready to act at a moment’s notice.The man walked past, not even in a crouch, but brazenly as if he had every right to be there.Though Ethan couldn’t see his face, he had the same build as Darren.He waited until the man went down the path towards the barn before following.He spotted Rhys’s tall frame in the shadows and Rhys gestured he’d go down the far side of the barn.
Ethan nodded and continued following the intruder.
A low curse had Ethan shifting back against the oleander hedge.It was followed by a mutter and the rattle of the padlock on the barn door.
Did he think they would make it easy for him?
A moment later the smell of fuel drifted towards Ethan.Time to move.
He slipped around the corner, spotted the man pouring the fuel along the wall of the barn and tackled him to the ground, planting his face into the dirt and pulling his arms behind him.The muffled cries soothed Ethan’s soul, but not the ache in his pelvis from the move.“Target neutralised.”It was almost too easy.
The rest of his team shifted out of the shadows, Noah standing up the jerry can, Dobby telling Connor to call the police, and Rhys standing guard in front of the barn.Heath shone his torch on the man’s face as Ethan tied his hands together and hauled him to his knees.
Forty years old, greying hair, scowling face.
Not Darren.
“I’m guessing you’re Leyton.”A widening of the man’s eyes told Ethan he was right.
“Let go of me,” Leyton bellowed.
“Not going to happen,” Ethan told him pleasantly.
“We’ll watch the petrol,” Noah said.“In case he’s got help lurking around.”
Good idea.Darren could still be involved, plus Josh would want to capture the evidence before they neutralised it.He dragged the man to the front porch with Heath and Dobby accompanying him.
“Police called.Chelsea wants to come outside,” Connor said in his ear.
“Let us do a sweep first.”
Heath and Dobby disappeared into the shadows to check the rest of the garden.At one time, Aunt Maggie had lights in different areas, so it lit up at night, but Ethan had tested them yesterday and none of them were working.Something else to fix.
“What are you going to do with me?”Leyton demanded.
Ethan dropped his voice, murmuring in the man’s ear.“If it were up to me, I’d make you disappear.Will anyone miss you?”
“It wasn’t my idea.”The bluster was replaced by fear.
Ethan smiled.“I didn’t see anyone with a gun to your head as you walked through the garden carrying the jerry can.”
“He might as well have.He has evidence I lit the fire last night.”
“Who has?”
