Chapter 78 Standoff In The Hall

• Arkan heard the footsteps before anyone else did. They were not the pounding of the guards' boots but the steady tap of thin soles, calm, like someone walking through her own house. He raised a hand and signaled the others. Darto pulled Hendra behind the door, Bima locked himself into the corner of the wardrobe, and Yusuf slipped into the bathroom with a spare pistol in his hand.
• They had barely hidden when the door of the empty bedroom swung fully open.
• Sekar walked in without hurry, followed by two guards who stopped at the threshold. She went straight to the bookshelf on the west wall, studied it for a moment, then rapped her knuckles against the wood three times.