Bodyguard by Melanie Shawn
32
Gage
I pulledthe SUV to the curb at a spot two blocks away from Savannah’s old house. Just like we’d done at her WITSEC house, we had chosen a spot strategically to be far enough away to avoid detection by anyone watching the house, but close enough to run to easily should trouble kick off.
We walked purposefully down the side alley that backed up against her yard. The mistake most people made when they were sneaking around was looking like they were sneaking. They just couldn’t resist the furtive looks around to see if anyone was watching them.
That attracted attention, though. It activated peoples’ spidey senses. The key to going unnoticed was to act like you knew where you were going and what you were doing, and you had every right to go there and do that.
The key was to act like this was any other day, and you were doing any other thing.
I was more successful at that than Savannah. I’d had more practice. But I had to hand it to her, she was also pretty good.
When we drew even with the portion of the back fence that separated her yard from the alley, we paused, and I gave her an encouraging nod. This was the most vulnerable point in our plan. Hopping the fence was the one thing that we had to do in the public view, and there was no way to make it look normal just by adopting a cavalier attitude. If anyone happened to be looking our direction at the moment either one of us was going over that fence, there would be no question we were doing something wrong.
The only thing we could do to lessen our chances of detection was get it over with as quickly as possible.
She returned my nod and placed her hands on my shoulders. I leaned down and laced my fingers together, and she put her foot onto the makeshift step I’d created for her. I gave her a boost and she was up and over the fence in just a few seconds.
A few seconds later, and I was landing on my feet on the grass of her childhood backyard, standing right next to her.
She was frozen, staring at the façade of the back of the house. She looked like she’d seen a ghost, and in a way, I guessed she had. I looked at it through her eyes.
It was achingly familiar. The new owners had painted it and added an awning, but other than that it was exactly the same. The siding, the patio, the sliding glass door, the placement of all the windows. Exactly the same.
I put a hand on her arm. “Come on,” I said, gently but firmly. “We’ve got to get this over with as quickly as possible.”