“That's not how this works.”
“Then explain how it works.”
The man stepped closer.
“Residents cooperate.”
Nick didn't move.
“Residents also have property rights.”
The man's jaw tightened.
Behind him, Allison stood frozen.
Logan had begun to stir.
Nick glanced back.
“Go inside.”
Allison hesitated.
“But—”
“Please.”
She turned.
The second man suddenly spoke.
“Wouldn't want anything to happen because you're refusing an inspection.”
Nick looked at him.
“What did you just say?”
The man shrugged.
“I'm just saying.”
Nick walked toward him.
“Don't threaten my wife.”
The taller man stepped between them.
“Everybody calm down.”
Nick pointed at the truck.
“Leave.”
The men didn't.
Instead, the taller man walked around the side of the house.
Nick followed.
“You're trespassing.”
The man ignored him.
He examined the windows.
The roofline.
The driveway.
Then he pulled out a phone.
Nick noticed something strange.
The phone wasn't being used to inspect anything.
The man was taking photographs.
“Why are you photographing my house?”
“Documentation.”
“For what?”
“Compliance.”
Nick stared at him.
“Compliance with what?”
The man didn't answer.
Then he walked back toward the truck.
Nick thought the confrontation was ending.
It wasn't.
The second man opened the rear door.
He reached inside.
Nick saw something rectangular.
At first, he couldn't identify it.
Then the object came into the sunlight.
A brick.
Nick's brain refused to understand.
“Put that down.”
The man looked at him.
Allison appeared at the doorway.
“Nick?”
“Get inside!”
The man raised the brick.
Nick stepped forward.
“Don't.”
The man smiled.
And then he threw it.
The brick crossed the yard in less than a second.
Nick later remembered the sound before he remembered anything else.
A violent crack.
Glass exploding.
A scream.
Then silence.
The brick had gone through the living-room window.
Shards of glass scattered across the floor.
Allison fell backward.
Logan disappeared beneath her arms.
For one horrifying second, Nick couldn't move.
Then he heard Allison scream.
“LOGAN!”
Nick ran inside.
Allison was on the floor.
The pale blue blanket was stained red.
Logan was frighteningly still.
“No.”
Nick dropped to his knees.
“No, no, no.”
Allison was crying uncontrollably.
“He's not moving.”
Nick's hands shook as he reached for his son.
“Call 911.”
“I can't—”
“Allison!”
She grabbed the phone.
Nick pressed his fingers against Logan's tiny neck.
There.
A pulse.
Weak.
But there.
“Stay with me, buddy.”
He didn't know whether Logan could hear him.
“You stay with Dad.”
Outside, the black truck started moving.
Nick looked through the shattered window.
The two men were running toward the vehicle.
Something inside him snapped.
He jumped to his feet.
“You're not getting away!”
Nick ran outside.
The truck accelerated.
He stopped at the edge of the driveway.
For several seconds, he simply stood there.
His hands were covered in his son's blood.
Then he heard the dispatcher through Allison's phone.
“Sir, ambulance is on the way.”
Nick turned around.
He ran back inside.
The next twenty-three minutes became the longest of his life.
Allison held Logan.
Nick knelt beside them.
He kept talking.
“Come on, little man.”
His voice cracked.
“Dad's here.”
Sirens finally appeared in the distance.
Paramedics rushed through the front door.
One of them immediately began working on Logan.
“Head injury.”
“Possible intracranial bleeding.”
“Let's move.”
Allison tried to follow.
Nick held her hand.
“We're going with him.”
The paramedics carried Logan outside.
Allison climbed into the ambulance.
Nick ran to his truck.
As the ambulance disappeared down Oakridge Drive, Nick looked once at the shattered window.
The black truck was gone.
But the words painted on its side remained burned into his mind.
HOA ENFORCEMENT UNIT.
Nick didn't know who those men were.
But he knew one thing.
They had not come to inspect his house.
They had come to send a message.
And they had used his infant son to deliver it.
The emergency room doors opened.
Doctors rushed Logan away.
Nick and Allison were left in the hallway.
A nurse asked questions.
Name.
Age.
Allergies.
Medical history.
Nick answered automatically.
Allison could barely speak.
Eventually, a doctor approached.
“We're treating him for severe head trauma.”
Nick swallowed.
“How bad?”
The doctor paused.
“There is bleeding inside his skull.”
Allison covered her mouth.
Nick stared at the doctor.
“Can you fix it?”
“We're going to do everything possible.”
Then the doors closed.
Logan disappeared.
Nick sat down.
For the first time since the attack, he allowed himself to look at his hands.