Identity: Classified. Liz Shoaf

pour coffee into the mugs when Sam rounded the door frame of the kitchen with her poodle wrapped tightly in her arms. He froze when he saw the expression on her face. She was trying to hide it but failed to suppress the underlying fear.

      He put the coffeepot back where it belonged and rounded the kitchen island to stand in front of her. “Sam, what is it?”

      She finally looked at him, as if just realizing he was standing there, and shook her head. “Somebody’s been in my room. They went through my things.”

      It didn’t take but a few seconds for the information to register, and his heart pounded at the implications. “Mrs. Denton,” he breathed. If anything, her face paled even more, in stark contrast to her short black hair.

      “No,” she whispered, then louder, “no!”

      She turned and raced toward the stairs before he could get in front of her. He grabbed her arm on the top step and pulled her back. “Wait,” he whispered forcefully. “You wait here while I check out her bedroom.”

      She nodded and he removed his gun from his jacket pocket. After one last look to make sure she stayed put, he crept down the hallway and stopped in front of Mrs. Denton’s room. He pressed his ear to the door, but didn’t hear anything. Slowly, he eased the door open and saw the older woman tucked into bed. Nothing looked disturbed, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he heard gentle snoring. The perpetrators were probably long gone. He closed the door and nodded at Sam. Her shoulders sagged in relief, and he was glad to see she cared about Mrs. Denton’s safety. Taking her by the arm, he led her farther down the hall. He wanted to check out her room. They were about halfway there when the fur ball in Sam’s arms released a low, fierce growl.

      Ethan stopped walking and looked at Sam for direction. He didn’t know what the growl meant, but he saw fear, mixed with a healthy dose of courage, on her face and watched the knife slip from her sleeve and into her hand. He tensed a second before a closet door to his right slammed open with maximum force. The impact of the door caught him in his right side and he stumbled before falling to the floor. He caught a glimpse of a masked man jumping out of the closet, gun in hand, and knew they were in trouble, and in that moment, he was glad he hadn’t confiscated Sam’s knife.