Kinsley blinked at him. “I didn’t know.”
“Now you do, so check out the setting and fix it if you need to.” His phone rang, and he unearthed it from his pocket. “Got to take this. It’s Colin, and he wouldn’t be calling if there wasn’t a problem.”
“He’s calling, but he’s just outside the door,” Kinsley said. “Can’t you just go see him?”
“If he wanted me to step out there right now, he would have knocked. I’m guessing he’s calling on a security issue.” Dev knew it had to be bad news, so he moved to the corner of the small room to try to keep them from overhearing his conversation.
“What’s up, bro?” He made sure to take on a laid-back approach to keep from alerting the women by his posture and tone of voice.
“We have a situation down at the lake,” Colin said. “Guy in a boat near our dock. We need to check it out.”
Dev forgot about the social media and came alert to their immediate threat. Colin must not have wanted the door open in case the man at the lake was their shooter and had a rifle. Dev wanted to go after this man, but his first priority was to make sure Kinsley stayed safe.
Their teammate, Micha Nichols, was manning the gate to be sure no one tried to breach it, but having an armed guard close to Jada and Kinsley was far more important right now.
“Get Micha down here,” Dev said. “Then we’ll investigate.”
“Roger that.” It wasn’t often that Dev’s older brother easily took direction from him, which told him Colin was worried, and this situation could be a serious threat to Kinsley’s safety if they didn’t subdue the man in the boat.
He shoved his phone in his pocket and moved to the nearest window to close the narrow gap someone had left when closing the curtains. “Colin and I need to go check something out. Micha is coming down from the gate and will be standing watch outside your door. Stay inside. Door locked. Curtains closed. Until I get back.”
Kinsley rushed up to him. “What is the something you’re not telling us about?”
“I’ll tell you everything when I get back. Just do as I say, and you’ll be fine.”
Jada crossed the room to put her arm around Kinsley’s waist. “Don’t worry. We’ll do what you say.”
“Lock the door right after me.” Dev took a long look at the women and stepped outside. He waited to hear the lock click into place and then bounded down the steps to Colin.
His brother stood at the ready, his sidearm drawn. Dev drew his gun from the holster, but spun when movement to his right caught his attention. Micha pounded down the road, his booted footfalls hitting hard and kicking up dust until he planted his feet in front of Dev.
Dev looked at Micha. “Call us if anything—and I mean anything—out of the ordinary happens here.”
“You got it.” Micha handed him a pair of night vision goggles. “These might come in handy.”
“Thanks, man.” Dev strapped the goggles on his head but didn’t put them over his eyes yet as the streetlights could damage the goggles.
“Let’s go,” Colin said.
“Lead the way.”
They started down the narrow blacktop road and reached the lake within minutes. Dev moved behind blueberry bushes, fiery red with fall color, and strapped on the goggles in the darker area. Colin joined him, stowed his gun, and lifted his night vision binoculars to his eyes. Dev peered over the lake and spotted movement. A small aluminum fishing boat had dropped anchor in the water near the end of the campground’s dock. The boat held one man wearing a baseball cap and standing in the middle of the boat. His hand was clasped around a fishing pole, and his focus remained on the lake.
“Could be a false alarm,” Dev whispered to his brother.
“Or not.”
“Be prepared to fire. I’ll call out to him to get his ID.”
Colin pulled his weapon and aimed it at the man.
“Ahoy there,” Dev shouted. “Identify yourself.”
“It’s me.” He lifted his cap. “Chief Gibson.”
“What in the world is he doing out here at this time of night?” Dev asked Colin.
“Got me.” He stowed his gun.
