Page 199 of Somebody's Watching Me
Liam handed the walkie-talkie back to Jamison. “Set the alarms off.”
Since he couldn’t access the system from his phone, Rowan darted inside to the second floor master control box at the top of the stairs. Emergency personnel would head their way once the system went intoALLAlert.
Opening the panel, he flipped the switch, and the alarm sirens let loose on the night while the exterior lights flashed in warning. He waited as the five indicator lights turned green in compliance, each signaling a completed task. Lights. Alarms. Doors. Windows. Call for help.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
“Shit.”
He heard movement on the lower level, and shouted down the stairs for everyone to stay inside. They didn’t need Ben or Will running off to play hero if they caught sight of Jan bleeding out on the lawn.
Without elaborating further, he ran back out onto the balcony, and when he exited, Rowan caught a glimpse of the pool on his far left.
“The security detail is dead.” He kept his gaze on the three men floating face down in the water as he spoke. “Pool.”
“Oh my God.” Annabeth spun away so she couldn’t see the men. “But the police are coming?”
Rowan met Liam’s gaze over Annabeth’s head. “No one is coming.”
From Jamison’s balcony door, Will and Ben burst outside and went immediately to the railing.
“Do you know her?” Will asked as they peered down at Jan.
Pale and shaken, Ben nodded. “I take it the police are on their way?”
Rowan joined them, the sirens and lights abruptly going silent. Sinclair was in the system now, disarming it piece by piece. “Zanmi is using jammers, and we’ve lost our connection to emergency personnel which means we still have a mole in our ranks.”
The figures in white were on the move, nearing the edge of the tree line. “That poor woman down there is bait.” Will nodded at the forest. “And more are on the way.”
Ben pulled out his phone and attempted to make a call.
“Dad, we’ve already tried.” Jamison came over to her father and laid a hand on his arm. “It didn’t work. We were able to connect with Izzy on the walkie-talkie for a second, but that’s it.”
“If something doesn’t work, then you keep trying.” Ben dialed another number, and then another, continuing to get the same results. “If the walkie-talkies can connect, then maybe the phones can.”
“He’s not wrong,” Rowan said. “But connecting to a cell tower takes longer an—”
“Hello?” Taylor’s sleepy voice came from Ben’s phone, shocking everyone into silence. “Ben?”
“Taylor, I need you to call 9-1-1 and get the police to Haven,” Ben shouted into his phone. “Zanmi people are on the lawn.”
“How is that possible?” Taylor screeched, suddenly wide awake. “Are you sure it’s Zanmi?”
The call disconnected, and in the distance, a faint singing could be heard. No one moved. No one breathed. All of them listening as the glowing herd of white neared, transforming into clearer shapes the closer they came. Rowan couldn’t be sure, but it looked like people dressed in similar nightgowns as the one Jan wore.
“Women,” Will said grimly. “Sinclair sent their women.”
Arching up on her toes, Annabeth strained to see. “And there are so many.”
Rowan counted a dozen, with more joining. As the women in white gathered, they formed a line on the barrier between the trees and the lawn, their haunting song growing louder.
“Fire off a shot,” Will said to his son. “They’ve worked themselves into a hive state, and a disruption might startle some out of it.”
