Page 49 of Tiger on the Prowl

“Standing by,” Fox confirmed.

At the door to her home, Olivia pulled her house key from her handbag, before looking at Jay. “I’m ready.”

“Fox,” Jay said, “you give the signal.”

The tapping of a keyboard could be heard from the cell phone. “Put your key in the lock. Unlock on my command.”

Olivia put the key in the lock, her heart racing now.

“On three. One, two, three.”

Olivia unlocked the door and pushed it inward, then charged into the house. The house was just like she’d left it. Smith hadn’t disturbed a single thing. If it weren’t for the surveillance equipment Jay had installed, she would have never known that a stranger had been in her house and would be recording her every move.

In the office, she raced to the closet and slid the door to the side, then reached for the wooden panel in the back of the closet. She slid it to the side to reveal the safe. Her hand trembled when she touched the combination lock. She punched in the eight-digit code, but a beep sounded, and an error sign flashed.

“Fuck!” She was shaking too much.

“Take a breath,” Jay said calmly beside her.

“Twenty-five seconds left,” Fox said through the cell phone.

The second time she entered the combination, she heard the click of the safe opening, turned the handle, and pulled.

She reached inside, pulled out her computer and the external hard drive, and handed it to Jay.

“Fifteen seconds to go.”

Olivia slammed the safe shut, turned the handle, then spun the manual dial to lock the door. Quickly, she slid the wood panel in front of the safe and stepped out of the closet. She gripped the closet’s sliding door, when it jammed. She jerked on it, but it wouldn’t move, and she shot Jay a panicked look.

He pressed the computer and hard drive into her hands, and crouched down, pulling on a sock that had gotten stuck on the track.

“Ten seconds,” Fox advised.

“Almost there,” Jay said and was finally able to pull the sock out, toss it back in the closet and slide the closet door shut.

They were both racing out of the office, through the short hallway, and through the living room into the foyer. Olivia ran through the door first, Jay on her heels, pulling the door shut behind him, the key still in the lock. He turned it.

“Two seconds.”

Jay pulled the key out of the lock. “We’re out.”

Olivia breathed hard, her chest heaving, her heart hammering up into her throat. “We did it.”

Jay put his phone into his pocket and smiled at her, already ushering her to where they’d parked the car. She noticed that Jay was glancing up and down the street, always vigilant.

“Did anybody see us?” she asked, concerned.

“No, we’re good. Now let’s go see the others.”