The Beachside rental house is a temporary coastal refuge for Willa and her companions, but its openness makes it difficult to secure. Colt’s efforts to turn it into a defensible base—adding cameras, sensors, and armed oversight—meet a succession of intrusions and attacks. The house’s most important feature is this tension: it offers a private volleyball court and space for the group, yet its exposed approaches and vulnerable perimeter cannot keep danger out.

Setting and Layout

Situated along Mission Boulevard in San Diego, the house stands among expensive beach homes built close to the road. Colt notices that the traffic moves too fast for the neighborhood and judges the houses’ proximity to the street a serious defensive weakness. The driveway is only about fifteen feet long, enough for three closely parked cars; because daily visitors would exceed that capacity, a public lot down the beach becomes the practical alternative.

Accordion doors open directly onto a private volleyball court, with bleachers along one side and a scoreboard at each end. An eight-foot bamboo wall separates the court from the public beach. The grounds also include an outdoor kitchen and bar beneath a thatched-roof hut and an eight-person hot tub under a separate tiki-style shelter. Upstairs, three suites each have a bathroom and a view. Colt assigns Willa and Vic the end suites and takes the middle one so he can remain close to Willa, while other members of the group are placed elsewhere in the house.

Security and Surveillance

Colt initially considers the rental’s security system serviceable but incomplete. It has several cameras and high-quality keypad locks, yet he cannot know how many previous guests have been given the codes or how often those codes change. He plans to cover every entrance and the property perimeter with additional cameras, and to use door sensors to track arrivals rather than replace every lock. He also changes the alarm code.

A later sweep uncovers four built-in cameras equipped with listening devices. They came with the house’s security setup; one is in the basement and another faces the volleyball court, while none cover hallways or bedrooms. Colt activates the cameras and routes their feeds to his phone with technical help. Additional temporary cameras and sensors are expected to strengthen coverage. The precautions improve detection, but they do not make the house impervious: alerts can show that someone is approaching without preventing the person from reaching the property.

The system first proves useful when a front camera alerts Colt to someone peering through windows and testing the doorknob. He slips outside and restrains the intruder. On another occasion, a man climbs over the volleyball court’s fence; Colt coordinates with Anja and Luca, using the outdoor lights to expose him as he drops onto the sand. The intruder is identified as Mike, who says he parked in the public lot. Colt judges him harmless, and Luca escorts him back to his vehicle.

Attacks at the House

The security team’s growing readiness does not stop violence from reaching the property. After a car alarm sounds and an explosion shakes the house, Vic rushes outside to investigate. Colt’s warning comes too late to keep him indoors. Anja takes Willa, Tabby, and Olga to the walk-in pantry, while Colt and Luca go out after Vic. Gunfire follows; Colt knocks Vic down to protect him and is grazed across the shoulder. Because Colt had not been wearing a vest inside, neither man has that protection during the attack. To keep the others from panicking, Anja tells them the shots were a car backfiring, and Willa later treats Colt’s wound without initially knowing he has been shot.

A later explosion sets Drew’s truck ablaze outside. Colt, Luca, and Anja first make sure the occupants are safe, then approach the front door cautiously, keeping everyone away from the windows in case the blast is followed by another sniper attempt. The attacks leave the house increasingly untenable, regardless of the security additions or the disturbance they cause in the exclusive neighborhood.

Evacuation and Aftermath

After meeting with Detective Bolin, Colt orders everyone to pack and announces that they are moving to a different location, withholding the destination because he does not trust Tabby to keep it off social media or away from her media crew. As he packs, a gunshot and breaking glass interrupt the departure. Colt carries Willa into the bathroom and tells her to stay there.

The house remains connected to Colt’s phone even after the group has left. During the later investigation, crime-scene personnel moving through the rental lead him to turn off its alarms; after the group relocates, he does not reset them. A critical alert subsequently arrives, but he cannot access the house’s security system because it is down. The final failure underscores the limits of the rental as a refuge: cameras and alarms can help identify threats, but neither the building nor its monitoring system can guarantee safety once the attacks escalate.