Page 33 of Guarded By Them

Did Timmo know someone was here? There was a chance whoever had turned up had nothing to do with us, and was here because of his counterfeit money business, but I wasn’t about to take any chances. I cracked opened the door of the bedroom Dillon and Rue had taken. In the dim light, I could make out their sleeping forms curled around each other. Staying low, I ran over to the bed.

“Wake up,” I whispered, shaking Dillon’s shoulder and then Rue’s. “You gotta wake up. Someone’s here.”

“What?” Rue’s voice was blurry with sleep.

“Get dressed and stay down,” I snapped.

“Jesus Christ,” Dillon cursed, and then did what I’d done, and swung his legs out of bed and grabbed his gun. He worked quickly, yanking on his jeans and a t-shirt, and jamming his feet into shoes.

We might have to run, assuming we didn’t get shot before we’d even made it out the door.

Rue hurriedly got dressed as well.

Movement came behind me, and I swung around, my gun pointed, ready to shoot.

“Lower the weapon,” Ryan hissed. “It’s me.”

He crossed the room and checked out the window, looking left and right, trying to see down the sides of the cabin. He turned back to me and shook his head. There was no one there.

I headed back out of the bedroom. “Come on.”

The four of us stepped into the hallway. There was one thing I needed to check before we made any rash moves. Timmo’s bedroom was across the corridor. I signaled for the others to stay where they were and then ran for the bedroom, pushing open the door.

The older man sat up in bed, looking around at my sudden entrance in confusion.

“You expecting company?” I asked, not even giving him the chance to question what I was doing in his bedroom in the early hours of the morning.

“What? No.”

I wanted to grill him, to find out what he’d been saying and to who, but we didn’t have time for that. If whoever was here wasn’t here to do business with Timmo, then they were here for us, and that wasn’t going to be a good thing.

“Well, there’s someone here.”

He lifted both hands in a gesture of futility, telling me he had no idea who they were. I didn’t have time to stand there and argue with him. I hoped there would be time for me to question him later. Right now, I just wanted to get back to the others and make sure they were safe. The thought of something bad happening to any of them made me sick with fear.

I left Timmo still sitting in bed and turned and hurried back out into the corridor where the others were waiting. There were no windows in the corridor, only the back door which led onto the yard and the building housing the printer. Though they couldn’t get shot through any windows, someone could easily barge through the back door and start firing. Ryan and Dillon were both armed, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t get hurt.

I was met with questions in their eyes. I shook my head, indicating that whoever was here wasn’t for Timmo.

Moving as one, we went out into the living area. Where the hell were these fuckers, and what were they doing out there?

I didn’t like that I had no idea how many people we were dealing with. Were there two or more? Did they already have the cabin surrounded? Were they at the front of the property, or had they moved around to the back? One advantage we had was that, because of the moon, it was lighter outside than it was inside. We’d all been sleeping, and the cabin was in darkness. It meant we were able to see outside better than they’d be able to see inside to locate our positions.

But going near the windows was a danger in itself.

My mouth ran dry, my heartbeat hammering with frustrating loudness. I needed to be able to hear any movement outside, not the sound of the blood rushing through my ears.

Ryan pointed toward himself and then to the window. He was thinking in the same way as me—probably better than me. After all, he’d come from a military background. I could handle myself, but nothing like him, or Dillon, who was strong when it came to hand-to-hand fighting.

Ryan checked the living room window, keeping his body against the wall as much as possible. He turned to look over his shoulder and shook his head. No one was there.

Rue looked understandably worried. Not only that, helpless. I didn’t like her looking that way. She was capable, and should be given the chance to defend herself and not have to rely on us. We’d let her down in that respect, and if we made it out of this situation, I’d rectify that.

Timmo hadn’t made an appearance, though I suspected he’d be grabbing his shotgun. He didn’t seem like the type to hide away. Unless, of course, he knew exactly who’d come to the cabin, and he’d been instructed to stay out of the way.

Shit, I’d messed up. I’d thought we could trust him but, clearly, I’d been wrong. He must have told someone about our location.

I went to the window on the other side of the house and peered out.

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