Page 61 of Smoldering Nights
He tapped the phone so the speaker came on."Go ahead, you're on speaker."
"This is Trey Fielding.We have people looking in the woods around the perimeter of the Barracks.Stay inside until I let you know it's safe."
Izzy looked into Mitch's eyes.He replied."Will do.Let me know if you need me to help you search."
"Roger that."
The call ended, and Mitch glanced out the window once again, then motioned with his head toward the living room."Let's hang out here.We can open the blinds and watch from the sofa.”
Izzy curled into the corner of the sofa, her duffel bag beside her like a lifeline.Mitch stood by the window, hands on his hips, gaze flicking between the tree line and the street beyond.The blinds were half-open now, letting in the late afternoon sun, but every shadow outside looked suspicious.Every movement made her pulse skip.
Mitch hadn’t spoken much since the call.He was locked in that internal mode she was beginning to recognize, where his body stilled and his mind spun with possibilities.She didn’t interrupt.She was doing her own mental calculations, too.
Unable to wait any longer, she asked, “Do you think he’s really out there?”
“I don’t know,” Mitch said, not looking away from the window.“But you were right.It’s too still.”
She nodded.Her fingers dug into the soft cushion.“It’s not just paranoia?”
“No.”His voice was flat.“It’s instinct.”
A minute passed.Then two.
The silence grew thick.
And then…
A sharp knock echoed from the back door.
Izzy jumped.Her breath caught in her throat as Mitch spun toward the kitchen, one hand already going to the small holster at his hip.
“That door leads to the private garage,” he said quietly, moving silently toward it.“No one uses that entrance but me.”
Her stomach dropped.“You don’t think...”
A second knock.Slower this time.More deliberate.
Mitch held a finger to his lips and moved to the security panel.He pulled up the garage feed.Izzy came up behind him and peered over his shoulder.
The grainy footage showed a man standing just outside the garage’s side door.
Noah.
He wasn’t wearing his uniform.Just dark jeans and a hoodie.His posture wasn’t aggressive, just… patient.Like he knew he was being watched and didn’t care.He knocked again, slower this time, as if they’d simply missed him the first two times.
Izzy’s heart slammed against her ribs.
“He found us,” she whispered.
Mitch didn’t respond.His hand hovered near the security panel.
On the screen, Noah bent slightly and placed something on the stoop, something white.
A moment later, he turned and walked out of frame, toward the tree line.
“Do we follow him?”she asked.
“No,” Mitch said tightly.“Not yet.”
