She spotted an agent tuning to her location just in time and now she wait. Their clear and happy sounds made the stay excruciating. Anxiously, her head inches up and was delighted by the empty view. She stood up and ran with all her might toward the shed with atypical disregard to whatever danger awaited her.

~~~~~~~~~~

Max arrived at the house around noon. As scheduled, Alice and her team were already on the premise beginning their task. Alice greeted Max by the car and advised her of their status. She was also being informed as to Tina and Elizabeth whereabouts on the compound. She thanked the young woman and headed inside to have that talk with Tina.

She dropped the briefcase in her bedroom and flipped the surveillance on. Her lips pursed a smile seeing mother and daughter happily at play. She shifted the viewfinder to the right and then to left. All was clear before the final panoramic view zoom out. Her eyes squinted with detection and finger triggered for the anomaly to zoom in. She picked up the phone immediately and dialed.

“Alice, report to location KB1 in ten minutes. Bring her in unharmed, I repeat unharmed and give me ten minutes head start.” Max did not want to risk hurting whomever she believed was visiting outside. More importantly, she needed to get Tina and the baby out safely from the backyard just in case her hunch was wrong.

“Where to ma’am?” Alice’s question posed a slight pause in her response.

“Headquarter and I’ll be there soon.” She gave the order weighing the importance of her immediate family first and deferred the long anticipated confrontation with the visitor to a few hours later. She placed the phone back on the receiver, took a deep breath, and headed toward the backyard with a sincerest of smile plastered on her face.

~~~~~~~~~

Bette nudged safely in between the shed and the wooden fence upon her arrival. She could somewhat make out the bouncing dark curl of a child from behind the back of a woman wearing a straw hat. Unfortunately, the fence was too high and tightly gap thus limiting her view from the source of interest. She crouched down against the shed in disappointment but it was brief. Their happy sounds revived her desire. She closed her eyes and allowed their blissfulness to enlighten hers.