Page 65 of Deadly Protector
Another thud sounded behind her, maybe him kicking another bin.
As she reached the opposite side of the attic, ignoring the cobwebs covering her face and hair, she reached around blindly for the other opening into her garage. One of the selling points of this house had been the huge attic and the possibility of turning it into an extra room. Right about now she was so damn grateful she’d never done that.
Her hand clasped around something raised. The folded ladder!
“Stupid bitch!” His angry words came out of the dark a moment before the light flared on.
She looked behind her, couldn’t see him. Just stacks of bins in the way, a bit of dim yellow light shining behind them.
Focusing on the task, she ignored the sound of his boots stomping in her direction as she shoved the panel open.
Bang!
Wood splintered a foot from her. There was no time to release the ladder. She slid over the side of the opening, fell right onto the hood of her car.
Metal crunched under her, the painful impact of the fall jarring her whole body. Palms damp, she half slid, half fell off the hood and slammed her hand against the garage door opener.
As it started to lift up, she raced for the opening, not waiting for the door to get high enough. She dove under it as another gunshot exploded from the attic.
It pinged against metal this time but she shoved to her feet and ran.
Straight into a wall of muscle.
She bounced back, stumbled and looked up into Dimitri’s face. “Ryba’s in the attic with a gun!” she cried, torn between terror and relief.
“Run to my SUV!” He shoved her in the direction of the street then raced back into her garage as he pulled out his own weapon.
She wanted to run after him, to stop him, but knew that would be stupid. She would just distract him.
“Zamira?” Mrs. Shirley, her next-door neighbor, strolled across her lawn, cocktail in hand. “What’s going on, dear? I thought I heard fireworks.”
“Inside now. We need to call the cops.” She grasped the older woman’s arm and steered her straight back into her home. “An armed man broke into my house.”
“Oh dear!” She patted her pocket, pulled out her phone and Zamira snapped it up, called 911 immediately.
Before they picked up, she heard a very loud gunshot. Her heart seized.
Dimitri.
