The one that had a single exit. Reese swore under his breath.
“What?” Mati asked and it sounded close to a sob.
“Nothing. Tell me more, okay? Do you think the person in the house with you knows you’re in that room?”
Mike quickly gathered the children and moved them toward the kitchen. Reese closed his eyes, hoping he hadn’t frightened the boys. He’d thank Mike later for pulling them away.
“I don’t think so. I don’t think he saw me,” Mati said quietly. “But maybe he heard me run? Or close the door?”
Reese silently agreed, while hoping that wasn’t the case. He told himself to stay focused on what he could do. What he could fix. “He…you’re sure it’s a he?”
“I think so?”
“And there was only one?”
She told him what she’d seen and heard.
“That’s good. I’m glad you were in the kitchen and not in your office.” He couldn’t stomach the idea of her caught somewhere she couldn’t escape. “Can you hear anything now? Can you tell where he is in the house?”
“No. I don’t know.”
He shuddered to think the bastard could be outside the door listening. He didn’t say that, not wanting to frighten Mati more, but the odds were good that the guy knew she was there. Reese had heard the door shut over the phone. The house was big, but the intruder could easily have heard it, too.
“Mati, sweetheart—”
He cut off when Alexei burst through the door with Hodges right behind him and Callum bringing up the rear. Hodges had his tablet in hand, scowling at it as he ran to Reese. Everyone gave Hodges enough room to operate but crowded close.
Reese looked at the screen, and there, standing in the middle of his office, rifling through the papers on his desk and yanking out drawers, was the man Mati had described.
“Okay, Mati, I can see him on the cameras now.”
“You can?” Mati asked.
“Yes, Hodges and I can access the security system from anywhere.”
“Why can’tIdo that?” she asked.
Reese smiled. Rupert thought Reese was a control freak, but he had nothing on Mati.
“We’ll see you get access as soon as we get back, okay? But right now, we need to get you safe.”
“Okay,” she whispered.
His heart ached at the shake in her voice. Hodges dug his elbow into Reese’s side, and he saw the tablet screen was split and now also showed the kitchen. A second man was walking toward the back stairs. He was much shorter and stockier, but, like his partner, he wore dark clothes and a ski mask.
“Mati, I want you to go out into the hallway, as quietly and quickly as you can, and head for the master bedroom. Do it now.”
Hodges added the upstairs hallway camera and they watched Mati poke her head out of the bedroom door. Her glasses gleamed in the light so Reese couldn’t see her expression well, but he was achingly aware of how small she looked. How short—though she’d insist the correct word waspetite.
On the other half of the screen, the stocky man mounted the back stairs.
Mati looked up at the camera at the end of the hall. “Are you sure I shouldn’t go back downstairs?”
Reese didn’t want to tell her why that was a bad idea for fear of panicking her further. He just said, “Go to my room, Matilda. Please. Right now,” as firmly and urgently as he could without yelling.
“Oh, no. I can hear footsteps,” she whispered back. She still wasn’t moving. Her voice was hoarse and shaky.
Reese’s heart broke. “Yes, my love, and we can see him headed toward you. Please hurry. You have enough time.”
