Noah slapped him on the shoulder.“I know it.”
Noah stepping out of the shadows proved he meant it.There was no going back now.If everybody didn’t hold up their end of the task—if any of these bad guys got a single call out—this was all for nothing.
As the van got closer, Tanner turned and made his way silently through the trees so that he would be able to approach from the back.He stepped closer as the vehicle pulled to a stop directly in front of Tanner’s house.
Both men got out of the front in Colorado power company uniforms.
“Mr.Dempsey?We’re with the power company.We’ve received an urgent report that the wiring in some of the houses in this area is faulty and extremely dangerous.”
Ha, Noah, you owe me five dollars.
“Is that so?”Noah replied.“I’ve never had any problems.Not even so much as a single flicker.”
Tanner made his way closer to the back of the van.
“It’s good that you’re not inside the house,” the second man said.“We’ve had reports of unexpected fires.There have even been some severe injuries.”
Tanner recognized that voice.It was the same one who’d called Mr.Jeter in Denver.If Tanner had had any doubt about this not being the real power company, it was completely gone now.Not that he’d had much doubt.In the twelve years he’d owned this house, the power had been out here a grand total of zero times.
Tanner took a few steps closer.It wouldn’t be long before whoever was in the back came out to provide assistance.
Tanner wanted to be right at the door when they did.
“Is there anyone else inside the house, sir?”the first guy asked.“It’s important they come out right now.”
“Right now?It’s really that dangerous?”Noah played his part well.“I have a friend doing some important work on a computer.”
“Yes, sir,” Denver guy said.“If you could just call your friend out right now.We can’t let you go back inside.It’s too dangerous.”
Too dangerous for them to risk letting him out of their sights.Did they have orders to kill the would-be Bree immediately, or take her back into the Organization?
“Hey, Bree, can you come out here for a second?It’s important,” Noah called out.
The back van door creaked open.That must have been the cue they were waiting for.Tanner stepped to the side of the van.He and Noah would have to time this perfectly.
“Can you call her again, sir?”
“How about if I just go in there and get her.This is ridiculous.The house isn’t going to blow up in the thirty seconds it takes me to get her.”
“I’m sorry, we can’t let you do that.”Denver’s voice was farther from the van, closer to Noah.
“Hey, man, get your hands off me.You don’t have any right to tell me whether I can or cannot go into my own house.”
There was a scuffle, and Tanner didn’t wait any longer.Noah would take care of those guys.Tanner had his own bad guys to worry about.It ended up being three.Not dancing monkeys after all.
The first two were out of the vehicle and the third was on his way when Tanner rounded the back.
He immediately slammed the door against the head of the man climbing out, glancing over to make sure he was unconscious before facing the other two men.
Something jolted hard against the front of the van, and Tanner prayed it wasn’t Noah.
Tanner didn’t waste any time.He dived for the closest man, being sure to knock the phone out of the hand of the second guy.That bought Tanner a little time, but not much.
Fighting two men was never easy.Keeping them from using their weapons, phones or even calling out to whatever transmitting devices might pick up their voices was damned near impossible.
His flying punch connected with the first man’s jaw, and he kicked out backward with his foot to land in that guy’s stomach.Tanner grunted as he took a solid hook to the jaw from the first man, and saw the second man reaching for his gun from the corner of his eye.Tanner brought his elbow up and around into the face of the first man, hearing the unmistakable crack of a breaking nose.
As that guy howled, Tanner turned toward the second, diving for him to keep him from getting his weapon out.He knocked the gun from his hand and sent it skittering across the drive.
