“WE HAVE to stay back and let them attempt to serve the search warrant,” Tully instructed. He wasn’t sure O’Dell was even listening.

They had left their vehicles far back on the other side of the electronic gate that blocked the road. Tully had seen cow paths that were more easily accessible. Now as he and O’Dell crouched in the brush and mud, he regretted wearing his good shoes. A crazy thing to be thinking about when they were this close to capturing Stucky and Harding.

The Maryland State Patrol had supplied them with a half-dozen officers—officially for the sole purpose of serving the search warrant. If no one responded, the SWAT team would secure the area and accompany Tully and O’Dell in a search. Tully was quick to notice that all the members of the SWAT team wore sturdy boots. He was sweating under the weight of the bulletproof vest, but that didn’t protect him from the wind. Out here in the woods the wind swirled around the trees, crisp and cold. If the thunder was any indication, they would also be wet before the night was over.

“There’s smoke coming out of the chimney,” O’Dell whispered. “Someone must be here.”

Two of the state patrol officers approached the front door as several of the SWAT team moved in behind the bushes along the cobblestone path. Tully watched, hoping the patrolmen would not simply be easy targets. He pulled out his own revolver and started scanning the windows of the house, looking for gun barrels peeking through. He couldn’t help noticing that there were way too many windows for a man who was going blind.

No one was answering the patrolman’s knock. He tried again while everyone else waited quietly. Tully wiped his forehead and realized that all the chirping birds and rustling forest creatures had also gone silent. Maybe they knew something their human counterparts did not.

The two patrolmen looked over their shoulders and into the bushes. Not very discreet. One shrugged. The other put an ear to the door. Then he knocked one last time. For some reason he tried the knob, then again looked over to the bushes, pointing and indicating that the door was unlocked. Of course, Tully found himself thinking, why the hell would anyone lock the door out here?

Agent Alvando, who was heading the SWAT team, hurried over.

“We’re ready to go in. Give us a few minutes. I’ll come back out and give an all-clear sign.”

“Come on, Agent Alvando,” O’Dell began to argue, and Tully wanted to pull her back down into the brush. “We’re trained agents, too. It’s not like you’re here to protect us.”

He wanted to disagree, but she was right. “We’ll go on in with you, Victor,” he reluctantly told Alvando.

There was barely enough light to see inside the house. The entry included a hallway down the middle with a great room to the left and an open staircase over to the right. The landing was visible, separated only by a railing. The team split up with half of them going upstairs, and the other half covering the main floor. Tully followed O’Dell up the stairs. Before they got to the landing, they noticed the SWAT team members had stopped at the end of the hall. Tully could hear what sounded like a voice on the other side of the door where the three men hesitated. They motioned to each other, getting into position. Tully followed O’Dell’s lead and pressed himself against the wall. One of the men kicked the door open, and they stormed the room without a word to each other.

O’Dell looked disappointed when they got to the door and discovered the voice came from one of the half-dozen computers lined up along the wall.

“Click twice for confirmation,” the electronic voice said. “Speak into the microphone when ready.”

“What the fuck is this?” one of the SWAT team asked.

O’Dell was taking a closer look while the rest of them stayed next to the door watching their backs.

“It’s a whole computer system set up to be voice activated.” She walked from one computer to the next, examining the screens without touching anything. “Looks like it reports the status of his video-game business.”

“Why would anyone want a voice-activated system?” Agent Alvando was at the door.

O’Dell looked back at Tully, and he knew what she was thinking. Why, indeed, unless that person was blind—not just partially, but totally blind.