Page 55 of Wired Target

Connor would be fine at the guesthouse a little longer; her father was in the best possible hands.She’d attend to them later.

Right now, she needed to see her children and update Armita.She’d kiss her babies’ cheeks, know they were safe, and enjoy as they hugged her, too.

Momi and Sean gave her strength.

Sophie hurried up the steps and entered the house through the big slider on the ocean-facing front verandah.

“Armita?”Her voice rang hollowly as she walked through the living room; no one answered.

Maybe Armita had barricaded the three of them into the nursery; that made sense.

Sophie hurried down the hall to the children’s room and yanked open the door.

The nursery was empty.

“Armita!Momi!Sean!”Sophie shouted now, whirling around, terrified.Her voice bounced back at her from the bare walls of the hallway.She gripped the doorframe, sucking in a few breaths to calm herself.

This was a smart house.The AI would know where they were.

“Angel.Where are Armita and the children?”

“Armita and the children are in the safe room.”As always, Angel’s voice was Sophie’s, and that was a bit weird, but she sighed in relief anyway.Armita must have heard the gunshot and taken the kids to the basement.

Sophie hurried to the kitchen—and drew up short at signs of a struggle.

Chairs tipped over.

The knife block had spilled blades all over the central counter island.

A jar of spaghetti sauce was broken against the wall, spilling red liquid as thick as blood all over the floor.

Under the table was Armita’s phone.

Sophie rushed over to pick it up.An incomplete call to her own number showed on the screen.

“Angel.Are Armita and the children safe?”

“Yes.Armita and the children are safe.”Angel’s voice was maddeningly calm and deliberate.

“Is anyone injured?”Sophie was already at the pantry where the automatic elevator that led down into the safe room was hidden.

“Armita is injured.”

“The children?”

“The children are not injured.”

Sophie fumbled with her phone, calling Lei even as she opened the panel to get behind the rack of canned goods and get in the claustrophobically small dumbwaiter that led directly to the basement panic room.“Lei, there was an attack here in the house.Armita is in the basement with the kids and the AI says she’s injured.Whoever it was must have run away.Can you have the officers do a sweep, and alert my men?I need to get to Armita and the kids and find out what’s going on.”

“On it,” Lei said.

Sophie ended the call and got in the elevator.

It closed, and began descending at its usual slow, steady rate.Sophie shut her eyes, breathing deliberately—in through the nose, out through the mouth.

Armita was injured, but the children were not.

The AI had not called her phone as it had been programmed to do in an emergency.Why hadn’t she been alerted, or Clement and Bill?Something was wrong with the system.“Great time to find out Angel’s broken,” Sophie muttered.

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