The shrieking sound of the wind blasting against her house greeted her.It was so gusty, the door was almost ripped out of her hand.She held tight to the doorknob and managed to stumble outside.
The wind whipped her hair around and tried to rip open her bathrobe, but she ignored it as she stared across her yard.It was dark and spooky out here and there was no moon tonight.
Good, if someone was out there, they couldn’t see her.But she couldn’t see them either.
With her back against the log walls of the cabin, she kept her gun down to her side, and cautiously moved toward the front of the house, where it overlooked the parking lot.
She stopped at the corner, waited, and listened.
Above the roar of the wind, she heard the crickets.Crickets wouldn’t be singing if someone was lurking around out that way.
She stood there for several minutes and listened for anything out of the ordinary, but there was nothing.She dared to peek around the corner at the parking lot but saw nothing in the darkness.
Then she moved in the direction she’d come from and went back inside.
She was still trembling as she returned to her kitchen which would give her a good view to the road in case headlights came barrelling in.
Standing by the sink, she placed her gun onto the counter, pushed aside the curtains, and kept staring into the darkness.
If someone dared to come, she’d shoot first and ask questions later.
She grew tense when she heard another sound.Thankfully though, she recognized it as a helicopter, and she found all her fear disintegrate.Help had arrived.
Her landline phone rang making her jump and curse.She swept the receiver off the cradle and was glad to hear Ben’s voice telling her the chopper had her place in sight and they would land, leaving one officer with her while the other one left with the helicopter to search along the road.
Jenna almost cried when she thanked him for his help.Usually she was pretty cool under pressure but ever since getting pregnant, her emotions were all over the place.
Moments later, strong search lights cast white beams across the parking lot.It appeared they were looking for a place to land and moments later, the chopper put down in the nearby field.A lone figure dashed out of the chopper and ran toward her home and carefully avoided her parking lot where Jenna knew they’d investigate for tire tracks.She doubted they’d find anything because the wind had probably already whipped around the dirt, destroying evidence.
In order to avoid any problems with the police, Jenna locked the gun’s safety and slid her weapon into her purse and stuffed her purse into a kitchen cupboard.She didn’t want the cops questioning her as to why she was carrying a gun.She was legally allowed to have the gun but not concealed on her person and only used for protection in her home.It would take time to explain a handgun, where in most instances they were illegal in Canada unless one had a special license, which she did, but she needed their focus to be on why they had been called here and not on the gun.
Jenna flicked on the porch lights, and moments later, a thin woman made her way up the stairs, one hand hovering near her holstered gun at her waist.
She was a tall woman.Younger than Jenna.Maybe in her mid-twenties.Her dark brown hair was pulled professionally back into a lone ponytail and her light blue eyes shone with seriousness.She had little makeup, and she wore a dark blue aviation suit with an insignia that stated OPP Aviation Unit.
“Jenna Donnelly?I’m Constable Frannie Bracken from the Ontario Provincial Police Aviation Unit.Officer Ben McFadden sent us.Said you had an intruder.”
Jenna swallowed, her pulse still thudding in her ears from the adrenaline crash.
“Yes, they smashed my bedroom window, and they took off in a vehicle.I haven’t checked how they broke the window.Figured I should stay out of the room since it is a crime scene.I was asleep so I don’t know if they’d been lurking around before coming in with their vehicle.”
Her voice wavered despite her best effort to sound steady.
“And you heard them leave by the road?You said they?How many did you see?”
Heat crept up her neck as she answered.Why she was embarrassed she didn’t know, given she’d done nothing wrong.
“Oh, sorry.I don’t know how many.I didn’t see anything, not even the car or truck.Something, I don’t know what, woke me up.I heard a vehicle coming and I got a bad feeling, so I got out of bed and went into the hallway.I was there when the window was smashed.”
The constable nodded and spoke into a radio that she wore attached to a bullet proof vest.
“The intruder is escaping via the road.Ms.Donnelly was not able to see how many or what type of vehicle.”
Hearing her own nightmare repeated in that clipped, official tone made Jenna’s stomach twist.
“Copy that,” came a man’s reply.
“Ma’am, would you mind showing me where this happened?”she asked politely.
