My heart climbed up into my throat as I glanced back at the panic room. "You don't think...?"
"Yeah, I do think." Sal strapped on his SWAT vest and then his guns. "I think whoever is trying to kill Skip followed him or found out he was here and decided to finish the job."
"With a rocket-propelled grenade?"
Who the fuck were we dealing with?
"They're just lucky the kids weren't here, or I'd be digging their graves while Lany ripped out their throats."
Yeah, that was true.
Lany Delvecchio was five foot five of sandy-haired klutz. He could be the nicest man on the planet until you messed with his kids, and then he didn't stop to think about why you might have done it. He just went straight for the jugular.
He'd shot the last guy who'd come into the house and tried to hurt one of the kids, and he'd been a DEA agent. Granted, he deserved it for what he'd done to one of the kids Sal and Lany had adopted, but still...he'd been a DEA agent.
"Joe took a piece of the ceiling to the head. He's not going to be much use to us," Sal said. "Jerry, how long has it been since you've been out in the field?"
"Not so long that I don't remember how to handle a gun."
"Gear up. You'll find what you need in the armory in the panic room."
"I only have the one clip," I said as I gestured to the holstered pistol on my hip. "Do you have more? I also need a vest. Mine is still in Brodsky's car."
"Check the armory."
I walked back into the panic room and went to the armory. I was always a little surprised at the things Lany and Sal had in their house. You would have thought, after all of these years, I would be used to it.
Nope.
I grabbed a Kevlar vest and pulled it over my head and then went for extra clips of ammunition. I grabbed a shotgun as well as a box of shells. It wasn't a rocket-propelled grenade, but it would do in a pinch.
When I stepped back out into the hallway, Sal closed the door behind me and waited until he heard a distinctive thud as the lock clicked into place before standing back so the wall that concealed the panic room entrance slid back into place. A panic room didn't work well if everyone knew where it was.
I followed Sal when he started down the hallway, the others trailing behind us. He stopped at the security office and walked over to his security chief. "What have we got, Brant?"
"A boat of eight men landed on the river side of the estate. They took out the four men patrolling that side of the estate," Brant said. "After destroying the dining room, they spread out and started for the house. My men are rounding them up now. But they aren't the problem."
Sal's eyes narrowed. "What is?"
Brant hit a button on the keyboard, and the picture on the surveillance camera changed to the front gate, which was wide open and hanging slightly to one side. "Just after the dining room was destroyed, two armored vehicles hit the front gate. They used explosives to break the gate open."
"Porca troia!"
Yeah, pretty much.
"I've counted ten more men coming from that direction, but I can't be sure there aren't more. They seem to be aware of where most of the cameras are located, and they are eliminating them one by one."
Sal's lips thinned. "You think this is someone we know?"
"Either that or they've been watching the place long enough to learn where things are located."
Well, that wasn't good.
"I've alerted the authorities, sir," Brant continued, "and informed Mr. Lany's parents to take the kids to their home and go on lockdown."
"Good." Sal's brow crinkled as he frowned. "Has anyone checked on Mrs. Martinez?"
"She's in the panic room off the kitchen with Moe."
