Strikers Instinct by A. D. Rogers

that by the time she had everywhere completely dust free, then the builders would probably be back to work on the rest of the property. On reflection, Luke decided that he would let Sue have that conversation with Nell.
    Luke picked up his coffee and walked across to the open patio doors. It was a lovely May morning and he gazed out across the open fields to the woods beyond. He still found it hard to believe that all this belonged to him. More than ever he wished that his father was alive to see all this. Then he laughed to himself when he realised that his father would probably say that all this was too much for one family. Luke sighed again and shook his head. Even after all these years he still missed his father so much.
    He turned his attention back to the house. When he had finally decided to sell the business, Sue in turn decided that they needed a new home to use as a base for whatever they planned to do once Luke came home for good. Luke agreed and they drew up a list of essential must-haves and in the months leading up to Luke’s return they spent hours searching for the perfect place. They finally discovered a lovely old farmhouse in acres of land surrounded by many outbuildings. Both Luke and Sue fell in love with the place after the first visit and it seemed to tick all the boxes. It was on the outskirts of Wishton, with incredible views over the town but it was still close enough to the kids school and to both Sue’s and Luke’s mothers. The motorway was only a few minutes away so Sue could easily commute to Manchester.
    Sue loved the old red brickwork and the light airy rooms and she quickly drew up a plan which involved knocking down walls and throwing up extensions and a large orangery. Luke agreed with her designs but it was other features of the property that caught his attention. The numerous outbuildings could come in very useful in the future but it was the position of the house that appealed to him most of all. He didn’t discuss that aspect with Sue but he wanted to buy somewhere that could be easily defended. If he had mentioned that to Sue she would think he was being melodramatic but then she would probably have become uneasy and wonder why Luke would want to defend the property?
    Luke had worked on the fringes of the Security Services for many years and it had slightly altered his outlook on life. He didn’t have any big secrets to protect but he would never take any chances with his family so as the work began on the new house he began to incorporate subtle changes of his own into the design. He installed a security gate at the end of the long drive – this meant that callers had to press an intercom before they could gain access. They would then be viewed by various cameras before they were buzzed through. The postman left letters and parcels in a secure steel box by the gate. The exterior of the property was crisscrossed with security devices. There were a couple of obvious, large cameras that looked out on the front and rear of the house – just to deter potential burglars – but there were dozens more hidden devices, cameras, heat and motion detectors.
    In addition, each external door had three locks. A traditional deadlock was accompanied by an electronic keypad and was topped off with a biometric fingerprint reader. All these devices were installed in a short space of time by a specialist company who arrive in unmarked vans. The first that Sue knew of this was when she tried to drive up to the house. She had been away for a few days on a conference and on her return she drove up to the new house to check on progress. She was annoyed to find that she couldn’t get through the new steel gate at the end of the drive until Luke buzzed her through. Then she was livid to find that her key wouldn’t open her lovely new front door.
    It took Luke a while to calm her down but he explained that they couldn’t take any chances with security and when Sue claimed