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“Talia!” Stone yelled as he leapt the railing of the first-floor staircase landing, “get down!” He ran across the lawn and up to the fence with his weapon forward. But after he realized the intruder was gone, he turned and walked back until he was underneath the window. He looked up at Talia. “You okay?”
Talia’s hand was covering her mouth as the adrenaline surge took its toll. She nodded, but it was all she could do to fight back the forming tears. Keep it together, she thought. She shook her head, hard, an effort to further thwart nausea and dizziness.
“You’re sure you’re not hit?”
“I’m sure,” she said across choked vocal cords.
Stone knelt at the spot where the intruder had landed on the lawn. He picked at the larger pieces of broken glass as though looking for evidence. “Blood,
