Page 58 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

Slater cursed, too, just as there was a knock on the bedroom door. Bree hurried to open it, and Duncan stuck in his head.

“The security camera has likely been compromised,” Duncan immediately said. “Woodrow just told me he thinks the camera feed’s on a loop.”

Luca’s stomach dropped because that was the same thing that’d happened to the baby monitor.

“I think we’ve got a hand down and someone already on the grounds,” Luca explained, handing Duncan the binoculars so he could see for himself.

It took a couple of seconds with Duncan moving the binoculars around, but his muttered profanity told Luca plenty. “Someone’s coming across the pasture, and I don’t think it’s one of the hands.” His attention slashed to Bree. “Grab Gabriel because you need to take cover now.”

THEFEARANDadrenaline slammed through Bree. Oh, God. No.

Please not this again.

She hurried across the room to scoop up Gabriel. She prayed this would turn out to be nothing, that her baby wasn’t in danger yet again. But she had the sickening feeling that a killer was coming for them. And they still didn’t know who was after them. Whoever it was, the person was relentless.

“Take Gabriel to the main bedroom,” Duncan instructed. “Joelle and Sandra are there with Izzie. I want all of you in the bathroom. It’s bigger than the one in here, and the shower stall is all tiled.”

Tiled and therefore more resistant to bullets than a wall would be. Bree had to tamp down images of bullets slamming into the house, the way they had when they’d all been huddled in the barn. She had to tamp down a lot of things and focus on keeping Gabriel safe.

Bree glanced at Luca, and their gazes connected for just a second. He was checking his primary weapon and backup, obviously gearing up for a fight. One where he could be shot.

Or worse.

Yes, that was another image she had to shove to the side because she couldn’t give in to the fear and panic. She had to do whatever it took to keep their baby safe.

Clutching Gabriel to her chest, Bree hurried down the hall. Unfortunately, the jerky movement woke him up, and he started to cry. She soon learned Izzie was doing the same thing as Joelle and her mother maneuvered them into the shower. The shower stall was plenty large enough, but her mother was trying to make it more comfortable by placing heaps of towels on the floor so they wouldn’t have to sit on the tiles.

“I didn’t grab Izzie’s pacifier,” Joelle muttered, handing off Izzie to their mother so she could run back into the bedroom.

Gabriel didn’t use a pacifier, so Bree tried to rock him to soothe him. That wasn’t working though, and she figured Gabriel had to be picking up on her racing breath and accelerated heartbeat. He was too young to understand the danger, but he likely sensed something was wrong.

When Joelle hurried back, she saw that her sister not only had the pacifier and a small stuffed animal but also her holster and gun. It was a reminder for Bree that she hadn’t grabbed her gun from the closet. And she wanted it. If the killer managed to get into the house, she needed to be able to defend Gabriel and her family. Definitely not something she wanted to do because it would mean the killer had gotten way too close to them, but Bree didn’t want to risk being unarmed.

Once Joelle had taken Izzie, Bree eased Gabriel into her mother’s arms. “I’ll be right back. I just want to get my gun and a bottle for Gabriel.” He wouldn’t be hungry, but a few sips might allow him to settle down enough to fall asleep.

As she’d done with Luca, Bree met her mother’s gaze for a second. Of course, there was fear there. Plenty of it. But she also thankfully saw a resolve that Bree figured was in her own eyes and Joelle’s. They weren’t going to let a killer get near the babies.

Bree rushed back out into the hall and spotted Duncan and Luca on the stairs landing. Duncan went ahead down, but Luca stayed put while she made her way to him.

“What happened?” she asked because she could tell from his expression he’d gotten yet more bad news.

“Duncan’s not sure how long the security system’s been compromised,” he said, the worry flaring in his eyes. “He checked the doors and windows, and they’re all still locked, but he can’t be sure someone didn’t manage to get inside.”

It felt as if someone had sucked all the air out of her body. She fired glances around as if someone might be ready to jump out at them. But she heard and saw no one other than Luca.

“I want to get my gun and a bottle for Gabriel,” she managed to say.

Luca nodded. “Do that, and then go straight back into the bathroom. Lock both the bedroom and bathroom doors and turn off the lights. I don’t want anyone watching the house to be able to pinpoint our locations.”

She nodded and tried not to look ready to curse. But she was. It was heart crushing to know the danger could be so close to them.

Luca’s phone vibrated, and when he took it from his pocket, she saw Woodrow’s name on the screen. “Go ahead and get the gun and bottle. Duncan and I are going to do a room-by-room search downstairs and up here, but I won’t do that until you’re safe in the bathroom.”

A horrible thought occurred to her, and Luca must have known what put the terror on her face. “The killer didn’t sneakinto our guest room or the main bedroom. If so, we would have heard it.”

That restarted her breath because he was right. It was probably the same for her mother’s room. That left the hall bathroom and the nursery. It was right next to the main bedroom and was empty since Duncan and Joelle had moved Izzie into their room.

Bree hurried into the guest room, grabbing a premade bottle of formula and the diaper bag since she wasn’t sure how long they’d be stuck in the bathroom. She took her gun, shoved it into the back waist of her jeans and went back into the hall. Luca was still there, talking on the phone to Woodrow. He had his back to her and was peering down the stairs, no doubt looking for any signs of trouble. Judging from his body language, he wasn’t seeing any.

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