Deke spun and raced back through the French doors, heading for his men. Turning to Carly, Linc caught her shoulders. Her face looked pale but her jaw was set.
“Carly, honey, gather up Mrs. Delinski and the rest of the staff and get them downstairs to the basement, out of the line of fire.”
“I can’t believe this.”
“Go, baby.”
She nodded, turned, and raced into the house. Linc and Quinn strode after her. As they stepped into the family room, he could hear her shouting orders, saw the housekeeper running for the entry to bring the gardeners inside.
“There’s a gun safe in the study,” Linc said to Quinn, striding in that direction. “I keep a Nighthawk .45 for protection, a little .380, and a couple of hunting rifles.”
Quinn jerked his pistol out of the clip holster on his belt. “Standard FBI issue, Glock .23, forty cal.” Dropping the clip, he checked the load and shoved it back in, slid the gun back into his holster.
“FBI’s on the way,” Quinn said. “Sheriff’s been alerted. Should be some deputies out here in the next few minutes.”
“Howler’s an idiot. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get his men killed.”
They started out of the study just as the front door burst open and armed men in camouflage and tactical vests poured into the marble-floored entry, with Deke Logan in the lead.
“Mendez, Conners, Wash, and Cisco—cover the windows across thefront of the house.” Deke pointed in that direction. “Ash and Castillo, get the injured men downstairs, then go with Brewster and Finn to cover the back.”
Deke turned to Linc. “Cain, you’re with me. We’ll take the dining room.”
Linc didn’t argue. Logan was former special ops. He knew what he was doing, and defending the ranch and its occupants was what he got paid for.
“I’ll meet you there,” Linc said, regretting his decision to give Marino the next two days off, though they were well deserved. Striding into the study, he opened the gun safe and took out the weapons, checked the load in the Nighthawk, and shoved it into the waistband of his jeans.
When Carly ran up, he didn’t tell her to wait in the basement with the staff—he knew damned well that wasn’t going to happen. Instead, he handed her the. 380. “It’s this or a rifle.”
She took the smaller weapon, shoved it into the pocket of her jeans, and grabbed one of the rifles, an older model thirty ought six. “I’ll take both.”
Linc’s mouth edged up. He couldn’t resist pulling her in for a quick, hard kiss. “Stay close,” he said, and Carly nodded.
Linc grabbed the remaining rifle, a thirty-thirty that had been around the ranch for years. Taggart headed for the living room while he and Carly ran for the dining room, where Deke had turned over the huge mahogany table and shoved it in front of a window.
Carly surveyed the opulent surroundings the same way Deke had. “When these guys start shooting, it’s going to destroy your house.”
Linc flashed her a grin. “Yeah, that’s too bad.”
Carly laughed. He couldn’t believe it. With Zapata’s army bearing down on them, a helicopter armed with God-only-knew-what circling overhead, and the house about to be blown down around her ears, she managed to laugh. If he wasn’t already in love with her, he’d be crazy in love with her now.
They dragged a couple of heavy wooden dining chairs up to the windows and tipped them over, then settled in to wait.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“No.” She tilted up the rifle, used the barrel to smash out one of the windowpanes, and rested the gun on the sill. “I am now.”
His mouth edged up. He wanted to tell her he loved her. Almost spit out the words. Might have if the rattle of machine gun fire and a barrage of bullets hadn’t shattered the window above their heads. Shards of glass flew across the dining room.
Armed with an AR-15, Deke returned fire. Linc could hear shots being fired into the house from a dozen different locations, hear shots being returned from the living room, billiard room, ladies’ salon, and rooms at the rear of the house.
The fight was on. Now all they had to do was survive till the cavalry got there.
Linc hunkered down at the window and began pulling off shots.
* * *
By the time the FBI showed up, the house was a pile of rubble. With limited ammunition, Carly took careful aim with her rifle, managed to hit one of the attackers in the shoulder and spin him around, shot another in the knee. Linc took the helicopter down with a couple of well-placed shots through the bubble window, wounding the pilot, who toppled over onto the controls.
