“You need to get down, honey.” Dragging the heavy antique oak dining room table away from the window, he turned it onto its side. “Over here.” He ignored the knot in his stomach and the sudden pallor of her face. “Stay as low as you can and don’t get up. You got your phone?”
She swallowed, nodded.
“Call nine-one-one. You know how to shoot?”
“Bobby taught me.” Her voice shook. “It’s been a long time.”
“Good to know, but it probably won’t come to that.”
Val’s hands trembled as she tugged the disposable out of her pocket and punched 9-1-1.
Dirk raced back into the living room, an AR-15 assault rifle slung across his chest, a tactical vest in his hand. His Browning 9 mil rode in the clip holster at his side. An extra clip protruded from his pocket.
He tossed Val a vest and Ethan a semiauto S&W .45. Ethan checked the clip, racked the slide, and put the safety on, then shoved the second gun into his waistband behind his back. Catching the extra clip Dirk tossed him, he jammed it into his pocket.
While Dirk headed for the rear of the house, Ethan covered the front. As he moved into position next to the dining room window, the first shots rang out, a burst of automatic rifle fire that shattered the glass next to where he pressed against the wall just out of sight.
Ethan stepped out and returned fire, sending one of the attackers running. “Put the vest on, Val.”
She made a sound in her throat.
“Do it, honey.”
From the corner of his eye, he watched her struggle into the vest while trying not to hurt her arm and keep her head down.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “We’ve got enough firepower to defend our position till the cops get here.”
More rounds went off, plowing into the windowsill. A couple of shots shattered the glass over the kitchen sink. The men in front moved forward. Ethan fired, taking one of them down. The other fired wildly and ducked into the foliage. Ethan heard Dirk blasting away out back.
“Where’re the police?” Val asked from her place on the floor. “Why don’t the cops come?”
Dirk hurried out of the back wearing a vest and loaded down with more weapons. He grinned. “When seconds count, the cops are only minutes away.”
Ethan just grunted. “What’s going on?”
“They’re on the move. The hill’s too steep at the back of the house. They’ll be coming in the side windows or through the front door.” He tipped his head toward the garage. “You need to get her out of here.”
“We can defend till the cops come.”
“We could—if the bastards hadn’t set the house on fire.”
Ethan’s gaze sliced to Dirk. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“I wish. My bike’s out front, but you’d be too much of a target. Take the dirt bike. You can get out through the side door in the garage. I’ll throw down enough lead to give you time to get away.”
“What, and you stay here and turn into a crispy critter?”
The corner of Dirk’s mouth lifted a little, then thinned to a grim, hard line. “I was thinking I’d make a move before it came to that.” He turned, fired off a round through the kitchen window. Ethan fired a couple of shots out the dining room window. On the other side of the living room, he could see the deck burning. No one was coming in that way.
“I can get out,” Dirk continued. “Long as I don’t have to worry about you or Val. Besides, one of you is the target. They’ll be after you as soon as they figure out you’re gone.”
It was a point and a good one. Ethan knew Dirk well enough to believe he could escape.
Ethan could smell the smoke now. The back of the house was burning. The roof was on fire.
Where were the fire trucks, dammit? Where were the effing police? “We gotta go, baby.” She came to her feet, her eyes big and blue and full of trust. Ethan’s jaw hardened. No way was he breaking that trust.
Moving her back from the window, he cinched the black Kevlar vest a little tighter around her, but it was still way too big.Better than nothing, he thought.
