Brimstone
Chapter One
Agnes Torres parked her white Ford Escort in the little parking area
outside the hedge and stepped into the cool dawn air. The hedges
were twelve feet high and as impenetrable as a brick wall; only the
shingled peak of the big house could be seen from the street. But
she could hear the surf thundering and smell the salt air of the
invisible ocean beyond.
Agnes carefully locked the car-it paid to be careful, even in this
neighborhood-and, fumbling with the massive set of keys, found the
right one and stuck it into the lock. The heavy sheet-metal gate
swung inward, exposing a broad expanse of green lawn that swept
three hundred yards down to the beach, flanked by two dunes. A red
light on a keypad just inside the gate began blinking, and she
entered the code with nervous fingers. She had thirty seconds before
the sirens went off. Once, she had dropped her keys and couldn't
punch in the code in time, and the thing had awakened practically
the whole town and brought three police cars. Mr. Jeremy had been so
angry she thought he would breathe fire. It had been awful.
Agnes punched the las ... read full excerpt from: Brimstone ebook
