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if Myra’s OK. If the situation was reversed, Myra would demand that we get Will out of the way so she could get into the neighborhood. “Not sure, Will,” he admitted. “The call from dispatch stated that she’d fallen on a patch of ice, but there’s more to it than that. Something has gone very wrong here.”
    Will, who had been scanning the entry while the conversation occurred, recognized the situation immediately. “Where did the Station guard go? And what happened up there ?” His gaze shifted up to the Guard Tower with the gaping hole in the side, then down to glass. “That’s not ice, is it?” His tone was ominous, and a frown formed.
    Baker shook his head. “We’d just hit that point when you arrived. Like I said, this is starting to look like something more serious than an old woman slipping and falling.”
    Will had turned his gaze back to the Guard Station, and his frown turned to a look of horror. “Michael,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm, “why is there a giant hole in the ceiling of the Station?”
    Baker’s face sank as he saw the massive crater in the Guard Station roof. His eyes moved to the gaping hole in the Tower, the glass on the driveway, and back to the hole in the Station roof. Dear God , he thought, please don’t let those be connected . Steeling himself, Baker walked over to the Station and peered inside.
    Will heard Baker suck in his breath, and then the officer turned away from the window and retched. “Oh, dear God!” he screamed between heaves. He composed himself long enough to stumble to his cruiser, seize his radio, and phone in. “Baker here. I’m at the entry to the De Gray Estates. Require backup, medical examiner, ambulance, and search unit relating to apparent double homicide, suspect is at large. Repeat: suspect or suspects at large.” Baker’s eyes seemed shattered, and his face made it clear that whatever he’d seen, he’d never be able to forget it.
    Will saw and heard nothing else after hearing Baker’s words. There had been a double homicide, and the suspect or suspects were at large...and it was hard not to assume the killer or killers had gotten into the community with other potential targets in mind. Why else would they murder the guards? Realizing that Hope and Josh were in mortal danger, he called Hope’s phone, but she didn’t answer. He left her a message, telling her to let no one in the house, to watch for intruders, and to get the gun out of the safe. He pocketed the phone, and had only one thought on his mind. He must get to his family, and protect them from whatever person or persons might mean to do them harm.
    He raced to the man-trap outer door, letting the scanner identify him, but only when the inner door wouldn’t open did he remember. No Station guard would be able to authorize his entrance. The system he’d designed to keep others out had failed to do so, and now was preventing him from getting in so that he could rush to his family’s aid. He moved to the concrete gate, which stood ten feet high. He ran at it, trying to use his foot to spring up high enough to get a grip on the top of the barrier, so as to pull himself up. But he couldn’t jump high enough.
    “Michael!” he screamed, attracting the stunned police officer’s attention. “Give me a boost!”
    Baker seemed to regain his senses as Will’s plan registered. “No way, Will. It’s too dangerous. I am not going to help you run after those maniacs out of some noble idea of saving your family. Wait until backup gets here.”
    “Please,” Will begged. “I have to go to them.”
    Baker shook his head. “I won’t help you.” A pause. “But I won’t try to stop you. I know I’d be trying to do the same thing if my family was on the inside.”
    Will nodded, and scanned the area, trying to find the weakness in the system he’d designed, a weakness that might be there now that there were no guards on duty to prevent or observe his attempts at entry.