“No.”
He yanked the lamp cord from the wall. “Here. If he moves, whack him with this.” He ran out the front door, grabbing binoculars on the way. She went all-over cold when the man moved in the chair.
“They’re coming and they’ll kill you,” he said.
The hair rose on her arms. “Who? And why?”
“She can hurt them.”
“Who?” she repeated.
He swiped at the blood still seeping from his nose. “Annette.”
Annette who?she wanted to scream.Is that thebaby or the mother?But before she could get anything out, Cullen was back. “Can’t tell how many. We’ve—”
Evel surged from the chair, running for the stairs.Tot ...
Kit grabbed his jacket as he barreled by, spinning him around, right into Cullen’s fist.
Evel collapsed, groaning.
Cullen pulled out the fallen man’s wallet. He flipped it open and yanked the driver’s license free, jamming it into his own pocket.
A scrap of paper fluttered to the floor. Kit just managed to grab it before Cullen snagged her wrist.
Evel sat up with a groan. Flashlight beams splayed into the darkened interior. He staggered upright and lurched into the kitchen.
“We have to stop him,” Kit called.
“No time,” he said, pulling on her arm. “They’re around the side of the house.” The small light over the mantel was suddenly extinguished.
“They cut the power,” she whispered. “They’re coming.” Her skin felt too tight for her body. Wordlessly, she raced upstairs after him and snagged the sleeping Tot and her duffel bag. Cullen grabbed his pack and bolted the bedroom door.
Locking usin?“What are we doing?”
From downstairs came the sound of a door being slammed open, boots trampling the wood floor of Cullen’s living room.
He hurried to the small bedroom window and wrestled it open.
She struggled to understand. “The ... roof?”
“We’re not escaping without a firefight unless we get creative.” He climbed out onto the level section of roof, banging his forehead on the sill, his wide shoulders barely squeezing through. Hand extended, he crooked his neck to see her.
“Fast, Kit. We gotta move fast.”
With great difficulty, Kit climbed over the sill, holding Tot in a death grip. At the edge of the flat portion, the eaves dropped away at a frightening angle. They both sat down on their bottoms.
The shingles were slick, and the loose socks caused her to slip. Cullen grabbed her arm. “You hold Tot. I’ll hold you.”
Together they skidded and slid their way to the very edge of the roof, where her toes encountered the gutter. Fifteen feet, maybe. Too far to jump.
“How are we going to get off this roof?”
Cullen pointed. “We’ll climb down the drainpipe. It’ll deposit us near the garage. We’ll get to my truck.”
Shimmying down drainpipes with a baby in the dark. A completely ridiculous and risky plan, but what was the alternative? Return to the house for a shootout? Deliver the money and hope they wouldn’t be murdered?
“They’re coming and they’llkill you.”
