Page 36 of Lone Star Secrets

He brought up his gun and fired. The shot was deafening and seemed to rattle the entire house.

The gunman returned fire, and this shot slammed into the fridge. Mia had no idea if the metal sides would prevent the bullet from making its way through, but she prayed it did.

“Shit,” Angel spat out. “Someone’s breaking down the front door.”

Sweet heaven. Mia seriously doubted it was the cops since they couldn’t have gotten here that fast. So, there were possibly two attackers. One pinning them down with gunfire while the other came in through the front.

And they’d be trapped in the crossfire.

The partial wall on their right wasn’t going to do much to hold back someone hellbent on killing them. But who was the target?

Maybe all of them were.

“I’m going to hold off this guy by the tool shed,” Angel said, his attention volleying between the front and the back. “Move to the backstairs and try to get the hell away from here.”

The back stairway was across the room, tucked up behind another partial wall. Not far but not close either. A good fifteen feet away. But the part of the plan that Mia hated was that she didn’t think Angel would be joining them there.

“And what happens when we get to the stairs?” she asked Angel. “You face down two gunmen?”

He glanced at her, the fierce argument showing in his eyes. She was certain there was one in her eyes, too. But Angel diffused it right away.

“Please,” he muttered. “Get Melanie and RJ to safety.”

Hell. He was playing dirty. He also wasn’t giving her a say in this because Angel added, “Move now.”

That was the only warning she got before he turned to the back window and started shooting. He was sending a stream of gunfire at their attacker that would hopefully prevent him from shooting at them.

Mia didn’t waste any time. Staying low, she darted out from the fridge, grabbing a butcher knife from the block on the counter, and she took hold of RJ’s arm to get him moving. In turn, RJ took hold of Melanie.

And they hurried toward the stairs.

They’d barely made it to the first step when there was another shot. Not from Angel this time. It’d come from the front of the house.

Her heart stopped.

She was sure of it.

And for a terrifying moment Mia thought Angel had been shot. She was almost too afraid of what she would see, but she forced herself to look.

Just as Angel fired one shot into the backyard, pivoted, and sent a shot in the opposite direction. In the same motion he dived to the floor, sliding across it and coming up on the opposite side of the fridge from where they had been.

He took aim again toward the living room.

And fired again.

But so did someone else. Not a single shot either. But a barrage of gunfire.

“Get up the steps,” Mia told RJ and Melanie.

Thankfully, they did. Thankfully, too, Melanie had stopped screaming because Mia didn’t want the shooter to be able to use the sound of her voice to track where they were.

Behind her, RJ and Melanie began scurrying up the stairs. But Mia stayed put. She kept her attention on the back window and door.

Waiting.

If the shooter burst through there to try to trap Angel, she’d hurl the knife at him and then get the hell down. It might not work. She could be shot. But there was no way she would let Angel fight this battle alone.

While she was steeling herself up to join in the fight, the gunshots stopped. Just stopped. And the eerie silence spread through the house.

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