A guard in a dark blue trench coat held up his hand for the truck to stop, and Tony could make out the assault rifle just barely visible under the guard's coat. "Stop." Tony whispered under his breath, and hopped out of the truck now as it rolled to a halt. "Guys! It's me! Tony!" he called over to them, removing his hat.
"Check fire!" came a yell from inside the gate.
"Tony?" the first guard asked, blinking as he looked the ferret over. "Holy shit! It IS you! Where ya been?"
"That's for my father to know." Tony responded. "These guys kind of rescued me." he said motioning behind him to the truck.
The guard regarded all the SUVs suspiciously. "All of them?" he asked in disbelief, and Tony nodded. "What's the password?"
Tony swore under his breath. His father used two passwords, one for duress, the other for non-duress. But he changed it every year... and it had been a year. He went with the old one for non-duress, hoping it'd work. "Priority mail." he said.
"That's the old one." the guard responded. "But all right... you been gone a year." Tony sighed visibly, relaxing as the guard spoke a few words into his radio. Waiting for a response, a few awkward moments passed, and then the guard approached Axel on the driver's side of the truck. "All right, you, drive up to the front of the house. Here." he held out a map for Axel to follow. "Do NOT deviate from that route. The SUVs are gonna have to park it in our lot. You'll be subjected to thorough screenings at the main entrance, so be prepared." the guard warned, then waved a hand, and the front gate began to retract sideways into the wall. A secondary concrete barrier also visible behind the gate lowered into the ground, and a gravity trap along the ground deactivated as well.
"My father takes security seriously, as you can see." Tony said with a shrug as he climbed back in beside Axel. "One of his capos will probably be meeting us at the front entrance. Whatever you do, don't set him off... both of them are trained killers. Just know you'll have to be screened if you intend to enter the main house." the ferret advised.