Page 56 of High Intensity

Wolff

I’m second-guessing myself the moment I slip from the bedroom.

Maybe it would’ve been better to keep Jillian close. There may well be more than one intruder. In fact, it’s more than likely there are.

As I sneak down the hallway, I can feel chilled air coming toward me. I’m guessing the window or door they managed to come in through was left open.Fuck, I sent Jillian out in that cold.

I hear a rustle of clothes, moments before the narrow beam of a pen light comes into view. Someone is moving through the living room.

Pressing my back against the wall, I try to stay out of sight as I cautiously move toward the intruder, my gun in hand. My best chance is the element of surprise, so I have to stay out of sight until I can get a bead on them.

When I see the light move into the kitchen, I peek around the corner and take a step into the living area, my eyes fixed on the guy’s back. I’m hoping I can sneak up behind him and put my gun to his head before he even knows I’m here. But as I inch up on him, trying to stick as close to the wall so I’m partially blocked by the fridge, I’m suddenly shoved from behind and slam into the side of the appliance.

I was afraid there was more than one.

By some miracle, I’m able to keep a firm grip on my weapon, and when a bullet whizzes by my ear, I’m able to return fire at the figure I’d followed into the kitchen. I immediately pivot around and fire a shot in the general direction of whoever it was that shoved me into the fridge, but that individual is already darting out the front door, which is wide open. When I turn back, the original shooter is rounding the island, trying to get a better shot at me, but I’m already on the move.

Harder for him to hit a moving target, and his next shot hits the fridge behind with a loud ping. But his action leaves him partially exposed and I quickly fire off a responding shot, hitting him in the shoulder. He immediately drops his gun and—clutching his shoulder—starts running toward the front of the house.

The temptation is strong to go after him, but then I remember the other guy didn’t seem hurt and is already outside. Chances are good, I poke my head out the door, and someone’s going to take a potshot at it. No thanks.

Instead, I stop at the front door and slam it shut, not that that’ll do much. Then I turn and catch a glimpse of something I can’t afford to take the time to investigate closer. I have to make sure Jillian was able to get away safely and beeline it back to the en suite bathroom. She isn’t there and the window is open, so I assume she made it out. The only problem is, now the two intruders are out there with her.

Running into the bedroom, I grab my shirt and pull it on, then I rush to the front door to grab my boots and parka, before going out the sliding door in the kitchen to look for Jillian. I peer toward the tree line at the back of the yard to see if I can spot her, but she’s hidden well. I don’t see anything.

I’m about to head back there to find her when I hear the squeal of a hinge on the side of the house. Jumping off the deck, I rush toward the sound, peeking around the corner of the house. Halfway down I spot Jillian’s red hair and sneak up behind her.

Her body freezes the moment I slip one arm around her midsection and clamp a hand over her mouth for the second time. I’m positive I’ll be paying for that at some point, but for now I don’t want to risk alerting anyone at the front of the house any more than we already have.

I have no doubt whoever is here is looking for Jillian, but they’ll have to go through me to get to her.

“Me again,” I mumble against the shell of her ear.

She instantly swings around and burrows her shivering body against me. She feels cold in my arms and I immediately wrap my coat around her, lifting her off her feet. I only now notice those are bare.

“Wrap your legs around me,” I softly instruct her.

She hops up, her arms around my neck and her legs clamped around my waist, hanging on like a child. At least this way my body heat and the down lining of my coat will keep her warm. She’s not that heavy, and I have no problem holding her in place with one arm so I can aim and shoot with the other if necessary.

“There’s at least two of them,” I whisper as I carry her into the backyard.

My main concern is Jillian and I’m not about to go to the front of the house, where those guys might still be lingering around, with her in my arms. In fact, I don’t want her near the house at all, in case they decide to return. So instead, I carry her to the trees in the back, where I thought she’d been hiding in the first place.

“Jonas is on his way,” she tells me when I stop behind a cluster of trees. “And he said he’d make the 911 call.”

I can still see the house, but I doubt they’d be able to spot us.

“Good. We’ll just hang tight until they get here.”

Jillian tries to push off but I hold firm.

“You have no shoes on,” I remind her.

She stops struggling, but her eyes are panicked. “My dogs. What happened to my dogs?”

The sound of sirens approaching saves me from having to describe what I thought I saw in her living room.

At least for now.

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