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The house plunged into darkness.
De
De
'Shit.'
De
The notion came to De
De
Kevin shouted from the other side of the house.
'De
'It's the cops! Get those fuckin' kids!'
Blind in the darkness, De
'Kevin! Mars! Get those kids!'
Milky light from the French doors filled the family room. Kevin was behind the sofa; Mars was in the kitchen, holding the girl by her hair. Mars was smiling, the crazy bastard. Like this was fun.
'Told you they'd cut the power.'
Talley's amplified voice echoed through the house, not from the street this time, but from the backyard.
'De
De
'De
Then the backyard erupted: Explosions jumped and careened over the surface of the water like automatic gunfire. Star-bright flashes lit the backyard like a Chinese New Year parade. The world was going to hell.
De
Thomas pushed out of the wine cellar as soon as the lights went off, slipped around the end of the bar, and scurried to the double doors. De
Thomas got down on his hands and knees, and peeked through the doorway. Across the hall, his father's office flickered with light from the candles. Thomas leaned farther out into the entry to see if anyone was coming. The hall was empty.
No guts, no glory.
Thomas ran across the hall into his father's office just as Chief Talley's voice boomed through the house. He knew that something loud was going to go off, so he tried to ignore all that. He concentrated on listening for footsteps.
Thomas went directly to the computer on his father's desk. He had brought his flashlight, but the candles gave enough light so that he didn't need it. The desk was scattered with papers, but he didn't see any disks. He checked the computer's Zip drive. It was empty. He lifted the papers around the computer and keyboard, but he didn't see any disks there, either.
A series of explosions cut through the house like a giant string of firecrackers. Thomas thought De
Chief Talley had told him not to spend more than a minute or two. He didn't have much time. He had used too much already.
Thomas looked across the entry hall to the safety of the den, then glanced back at the desk. A picture flashed in Thomas's memory: Earlier that day, after all the shooting, his father had tried to talk De
Thomas went back to the desk.
The back of the house exploded with noise and light as if the Marines were hitting the beach. De
De
Talley's voice echoed from the backyard.
'It's time to talk, De
Kevin scrambled into the kitchen on all fours, fast, like a cartoon.
'What are they doing? What's going on?'
De
'Mars! Those fuckers are trying to blindside us! See what they're doing in front!'
De
The black leather case was a soft black leather folder about the size of a compact disk. The candlelight behind the desk was too dim to see into the drawer, so Thomas turned on his flashlight, cupping the lens to hide most of the light.
The case was in the top drawer.
It opened like a book. Each side had pockets to hold disks. Two disks were in the right pockets, labeled just as Chief Talley had described, disk one and disk two. Thomas was closing the drawer when he heard footsteps coming fast down the hall.
Thomas wanted to run, but it was too late.
The footsteps came fast!
They were coming to the office!
They were at the door!
Thomas turned off his flashlight and ducked under the desk. He pulled himself into a tight ball, hugging his knees, and he tried not to breathe.