It wasn’t one of my guards.

“Perimeter clear,” the voice said, unfamiliar and flat. “Move to the secondary entry points.”

Daniel looked up at me, his face pale under the glow of the penlight.

“They’re inside the outer fence,” he whispered.

Marcus tightened his grip on Caleb’s collar.

“How many?” Marcus demanded, shaking Caleb.

Caleb merely smiled, his lips pulling back over his teeth.

“Enough to finish this,” Caleb said.

Daniel reached down and ripped Caleb’s left boot off his foot.

A small, flat plastic device fell onto the dirt floor.

It was a backup transmitter, its tiny blue light blinking in a steady pattern.

“He’s been broadcasting our location the entire time,” Daniel said.

He crushed the plastic device under the heel of his boot.

The blue light shattered into tiny pieces of glass and wire.

Above us, a heavy thud vibrated through the floorboards of the main house.

It was the sound of a glass door shattering on the terrace.

The wind from the river must have carried the sound down through the stone vents.

“The French doors in the library,” I said.