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of the house, his gun held steady, aiming into the dark. “What is it?”
    â€œTwo of them ran toward the woods.”
    Carly radioed it in. A police helicopter would head their way. They’d also notify the authorities to be on the lookout for cars coming from this direction.
    â€œCarly!”
    Mason. She motioned for Nicholas to follow her back into the house. Police now swarmed the property. Mason stood in the den area talking to several officers and barking out orders.
    â€œWhat is it, Mason?”
    Her partner looked up as she walked in. “He—or they—got away, but one of the dogs snagged this.”
    With a gloved hand, he held up a piece of fabric. Carly wrinkled her nose. “What is it?”
    â€œA piece of a shirt, I think.” In his other latex-covered hand, he held up wire cutters. “We’ll have the lab test thisfor prints, but I don’t think they’ll get anything. Whoever is after Nick is smart and they’d have had gloves on. It’s a no-brainer.”
    â€œStill, we’ve got to try. We might get pleasantly surprised and catch a break.”
    Mason grunted his disagreement as he set the two pieces of evidence aside to be taken to the lab, but didn’t argue. She knew he secretly hoped she was right.
    Nicholas ran his fingers through his already tousled hair and sighed. “Why didn’t the generator kick in when they cut the power? And how did they get past the dogs?”
    â€œThe dogs were maced,” Mason informed them. “They came prepared to take the dogs out. As for the generator, I checked on that. It’s been dismantled.” Mason paced from one end of the den back to them.
    â€œHow?” Nicholas snapped. “It’s in a closed area that blends in with the house. How would they know where to find it?”
    Carly drew in a deep breath and shared a glance with Mason, who said, “Our intruders did their homework. They’ve probably been doing it ever since they found out you were going to be sitting on the case. These guys are good, professional killers.” He sighed and rubbed his chin. “But why strike here? Professional killers prefer to work from a distance. Why didn’t they shoot you instead of Harrison Frasier?”
    Carly sighed. “Good point. Unless,” she pondered, “they don’t really care if you’re dead or not. They just want you off the case. If they can scare you off, why bother to kill you?” She threw her hands into the air. “Who knows? I do know this—we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
    Nicholas shot her a ferocious frown. A hand reached up to rub the back of his neck, and Carly’s palms actuallyitched with the sudden impulse to massage the tension from his shoulders.
    Get a grip, she ordered herself and curled her traitorous hands into fists. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Nicholas’s arm almost before she thought about what she was doing.
    Footsteps sounded and Carly jumped back, but not before Nick’s frown softened and his eyes glinted with something she wasn’t able to put a label on.
    Lindsey rushed into the room and wrapped her arms around her uncle’s waist. Christopher grabbed a leg and held on. His breathing seemed much better, Carly noticed.
    Nicholas placed a hand on each of the children’s shoulders and reassured them with pats and hugs. “Everything’s fine, kids. Go on up and get in your beds. I know it’s going to be almost impossible to sleep, but you try for now.” He shot a pleading look at Debbie. “I know you’re not on duty at night, but do you think…”
    â€œI’ll take care of them.” Debbie stepped forward and held out her hands. “Come on, Chris, let’s go make sure Pepper’s all right and give him a big hug.” Christopher eyes brightened, but he still gave one last lingering glance at his uncle before following Debbie to