Sierra jumped slightly when the lamp opened, then she smiled up at him. “Cool!” Leaning over, she saw the small pistol he’d stored inside the lamp. “Why am I not surprised you’ve got a gun hidden in your lamp?”
Grover didn’t return her smile. “Because I’m Delta. Because I’ve seen too much shit in this world to not be prepared to protect myself.”
Tilting her head, Sierra asked, “Do you have more hidden around here?”
Grover finally allowed himself to relax. “Maybe.”
“Oooh, I’m intrigued. Will you show me?”
“Of course. I want you to be able to access a weapon if you need to. I love living out here, but I also know it could put me at risk.” He turned and motioned to a large clock on the wall. “There’s one in there too.”
“In the clock?” Sierra asked, immediately heading across the room. She poked at the clock a little before turning to him. “How does it work?”
“Push on the face…right there near the three.”
She did, and the Velcro holding the face securely in place lifted on the left side, revealing another hidden compartment. He had a Glock in there, and a wicked-looking knife.
Sierra turned to him and her eyes were sparkling. “It’s like hide and seek! Where else?”
Relieved that she wasn’t accusing him of being paranoid or insane for having so many weapons hidden around his house, Grover pointed to the coffee table.
Going over to it and falling to her knees, Sierra motioned impatiently. “Come on, don’t make me wait. Tell me its secret.”
“The entire top simply shifts backward. So you can access the compartment without having to disturb whatever you have on top,” Grover said. “There’s a button on the underside on the right that will release the inner latch. You have to push it down, then back.”
After struggling with the button, she finally got the safety released and she slowly moved the top back, revealing a shotgun he’d stored inside. He also had another knife there, and some throwing stars. They looked almost decorative, but were extremely deadly if thrown right.
“I could’ve just put them in drawers and things, but I didn’t want someone to accidentally find them. A safe seemed too obvious, someone could just steal the whole damn thing and break it open later. Also, the last thing I would want is for someone who broke in to be able to use my own weapons against me, or go out and hurt someone else with a gun they stole from me,” Grover explained. “When my friends’ kids are here, I definitely didn’t want them to get their hands on any of my…toys. And of course, if there’s ever a time when someone gets into my house without my permission, I’d want to be able to surprise them and protect myself if needed.”
“You don’t have to justify anything to me,” Sierra said. “I think it’s smart. And these are cool. I want to see more.”
Grover chuckled.
He showed her the bathroom off the great room and the office. He didn’t really use the latter much at all, but it had great built-in bookshelves along one wall. When Riley saw it, he could practically see the drool coming out of her mouth. She had an impressive collection of books, and Oz had actually come over to inspect it closer, see how it was built, as he wanted to surprise her by turning one of the rooms in his gigantic house into an office for his wife…complete with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves just like Grover’s.
He swung open the door to the theater room and stepped back as Sierra entered. It was cooler than the rest of the house, since there were no windows inside. He’d put a screen on one wall with a projector in the back. He’d also spared no expense with the sound system. He didn’t use the room all the time, but it was pretty kick-ass to watch his military movies in here. There were three rows of some of the most comfortable chairs he’d been able to find. They were large enough to fit his frame, and the cushions were extremely…squishy. That was the word Kinley had used when she’d first sat in one.
“Wow!” Sierra exclaimed. “This is impressive.”
“Yup. And that huge-ass wooden flag on the wall isn’t there just as decoration.”
She grinned and practically skipped over to it.
“The star section opens up if you hit the button on top.”
Sierra turned and pouted at him, and Grover laughed. She wasn’t nearly tall enough to be able to reach the top of the handmade wooden flag. He walked over and reached for the button over her head. Then he opened the hatch. Another gun sat inside. “And if you flick the switch on the bottom to the side, the bottom half opens…careful,” Grover warned as she almost got smacked in the head by the door.
“What’s that? A phone?” Sierra asked.
“Yeah, it’s actually an entire communications system. Kind of like a CB radio truckers use. There’s also two satellite phones that don’t rely on cellphone towers to work.”
She stared up at him. “You really are a prepper, aren’t you?”
Grover merely shrugged.
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but don’t you think this is all a bit…overkill?” she asked.
“Probably,” Grover agreed without hesitation. “But you have to understand that my entire adult life has been spent trying to find bad guys or saving people from them. I’ve learned how sneaky people can be, and how even good people can do bad things when their back is against the wall. I’d much rather be overprepared than underprepared.”
“I can understand that,” Sierra said, nodding.
“You might have noticed that I’ve got hiding spots that are low, waist height—at least waist height for me—and up higher. I never know what situation I might find myself in and have prepared for anything.”
“Anything else in here?”
“Some of the chairs have hidden compartments under them. They aren’t accessible to kids, I made sure of it. Those actually have biometric locks. They’re programmed to only open with my fingerprint. Which reminds me, I’ll make sure you have access, as well. We can do that after we eat.”
“I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Sierra protested.
Grover struggled to find the words to explain why this was important to him. “I need to know that no matter what happens, you can protect yourself. As much as I want to say I’ll always be there when you need me, we both know that’s not possible. Shit happens, and if shit happens to you, I want you to be able to do what’s necessary to keep yourself safe. And me, if I’m incapacitated.”
“Okay,” she said quietly. “Now, can we stop talking about you being hurt and me having to go all Rambo on someone?”
“Absolutely,” Grover said immediately. He didn’t want to think about the hundred and one horrible situations running through his mind where Sierra was on her own and needed a weapon to protect herself.
He saw Sierra look around the room once more, then visibly shiver.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“It’s just…this room kinda reminds me of that cave. No windows, dark, cooler than the rest of the house.” She shrugged a little self-consciously. “It’s not a big deal.”
Grover immediately took her elbow in his hand and led her toward the door. He hadn’t really thought much about it before, but she was right. He made a mental note to get a contractor to the house to knock a hole in the wall to make a window. He could put in blackout curtains and still make it useable as a theater, but it was probably safer to have an egress point anyway.