Page 67 of Beautiful Scars: Unshakeable

A sharp buzz makes me freeze. Then light floods back in, sudden and blinding. The security panel by the stairs blinks as systems reboot. Three minutes. According to my watch that's how long the blackout lasted.

"Check the cameras," I order Wolf, already heading for the security room. "I want every frame from the last hour."

"On it." Wolf falls in behind me, tablet in hand. "Jayce called. There haven't been any other reported outages in the area. This was targeted."

My jaw clenches. Of course it was. This is Garrett, showing us he can reach us whenever he wants. Playing with us.

"Wake anyone who's not up yet," I tell Wolf. "Full sweep of the property. I want eyes on every inch of—"

"Levi." Sunny's voice stops me at the top of the stairs. She stands in our doorway, Zane's hand on her lower back. The overhead lights cast shadows under her eyes. "It was him wasn't it?"

Her voice is so small and more frightened than I've heard it in months. I don't trust myself with anything more than a nod. Rage burns through my veins, hot and familiar.

"Chase!" I call down the hall. A door opens immediately—he was already up. "Check the generator. Take Ty."

"Boss!" Rex's voice crackles through the radio at my hip. "Found tampering at the meter. Professional job. They knew exactly what they were doing."

Of course they did. Garrett's had plenty of time to regroup. Plenty of time to find and train a whole new crew of professionals. Ones with enough talent to be able to disable a secure compound's power grid without tripping any alarms.

Jade appears from Colt's room, already dressed. "I'll start coffee," she announces, reading the room. "We're gonna need it."

The house comes alive around us—doors opening, voices calling out, boots on stairs. My team falling into practiced protocols. But my focus stays on Sunny, on the way she's pressed against Zane's side, eyes distant. A deep shiver runs through her.

Zane's hand tightens on her hip. I see the same murderous rage I feel reflected in his eyes.

"We've got you," I promise her. "We know he's coming this time. You're not going anywhere."

"Boss!" Chase calls from below. "You need to see this."

I share a look with Zane. He nods, drawing Sunny closer. "Go. I've got her."

I take the stairs two at a time, following Chase outside to the fortified shed by the barn where we keep the generator. The emergency lights cast everything in an eerie red glow that sets my teeth on edge. Chase and Ty are already crouched by the main panel, tools scattered around them.

"Look at this." Chase points to a small black box wired into our system. "Professional grade. Military spec. This isn't street level tech."

My stomach drops. "How the hell did they get this close?"

"That's not even the worst part." Ty stands, wiping grease from his hands. "This was installed days ago. The timestamp on the connection log shows last Tuesday."

"Fuck." I run a hand through my hair. Someone breached our perimeter almost a week ago and we had no idea. "Rex!"

"Here boss." He appears in the doorway, tablet glowing.

"Full sweep of every inch of this property. I want thermal imaging, the works. If there's so much as a nest of squirrels out there, I want to know about it."

"On it." He's already typing as he moves away.

Colt's voice crackles over the radio. "Levi, get to the security room. You need to see this."

The security room is a hub of activity when I arrive. Screens line three walls, most showing static or error messages. Colt hunches over the main terminal, fingers flying across keys.

"Someone tried to hijack our entire system," he explains without looking up. "It was a sophisticated attack. Looks like they were trying to install some kind of remote access program but it didn't fully take."

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, but it'll take time. Need to purge their code, change all our security protocols, check every subsystem manually." He finally glances up. "We're looking at hours of work, most likely days."

"Do it." I squeeze his shoulder. "Whatever you need."

---