"I bought the present after she phoned. I suddenly remembered it was her birthday today."

"Why then?"

"It might have to do with a job for us."

"Your really nice family needs a private investigator?"

"And she didn't want to wait."

They turned off the winding country road and pulled into the long drive, passing trees on both sides.

"Boondocks," muttered Michelle.

"Private," Sean amended.

The next instant the large house came into view.

"Nice place," she said. "Your friend obviously does well."

"Government contracting. The Feds apparently throw money at people."

"Wow, what a surprise. But the house is dark. You sure you got the time right?"

Sean eased the car to a stop in front.

Michelle put down her coffee and pulled out her pistol from its belt holster. "That was a woman's scream."

"Wait a minute. Don't go off half-cocked," he said, putting a restraining hand on her arm. The crashing sound from inside the house made him reach in the glove box for his own weapon. "Let's confirm before calling the cops."

"You hit the back, I got the front," Michelle said.

He climbed out and hustled to the rear of the brick colonial skittering next to the side-load garage and stopping for a few moments to scan the terrain before heading on. After doing her own recon of the area, Michelle was next to the front door a minute later.

No more screams or crashes. No other vehicles in sight. She could call out, see if everything was okay. Only if it wasn't she might be giving some bad guys a warning. She tried the front door. Locked. Something made her pull her hand back, she wasn't quite sure what, only she was glad she had.

The bullet blast ripped through the door, sending shards of painted wood spinning into the air. She could actually feel the slugs race past before they riddled Sean's car.

She leapt off the front porch and did a roll, coming up and hitting full sprint two steps later.