Page 111 of Brooke's Bliss
And he was out of time.Shane moved as Kingman raised hisgun again.They should have tied him up.He kicked the table over to givehimself some cover and reached for the knives as the first shot blasted.
Cover.He had some.All he had to do was get to the nextroom.Trev’s office had heavy oak doors.
“Like that’s going to keep you safe,” Kingman said andpicked up the table and tossed it to the side.
Fuck.He was going to die.He was going to die right hereand now.He stood and started to rush at Kingman when he heard a loud blast.
Time seemed to slow, and Shane realized getting shot didn’tfeel as bad as it should.He reached for his gut, trying to stop the overflowof blood that would come.
Except it didn’t.
Kingman’s eyes had gone wide, and that was when Shanerealized he wasn’t alone.
Bay stood behind Kingman, and he had a gun.
Shane’s heart thudded as Kingman clutched the hole in hischest and dropped to the floor beside his mistress.
Bay’s skin was a pasty white but his voice was steady.“Youokay?”
“Where did Dennis go?He has a gun, too.”Shane had neverbeen so fucking happy to see his brother.And there were plenty of times whenBay walking in a room had saved him from something terrible in their childhood.
“The older gentleman?”Henry Flanders walked in the room,and he was covered in blood.“He’s dead.I caught him a few seconds ago.I gotthe others before that.”He seemed to realize they were all staring at him inhorror.“Oh, this?Not mine.The one in the basement found a knife.I got itaway from him.Then I used it on him and his friend, and then the older guy.Itook out the guards the old-fashioned way.It’s been too long, and even thoughmy wife told me I could use the guns, I find them loud and impersonal.Theknife was better.”
He was scared of Henry freaking Flanders, who looked veryDexteresquein that moment.“Brooke?”
Bay stepped over Kingman’s body and took a place by Shane,helping him move around the wrecked table.“Is she okay?”
Henry’s manner was detached and cold.He wiped the big knifeon his already coated jeans.“She’s protecting the barn for me.We need to getthe radio working.Nell needs an ambulance.Are there any other men I shouldtake care of?I handled the one in the basement and the one who came to checkon him.”
Just then the door opened and Shane heard a voice call out.“Hey, boss.Everything okay in here?We didn’t find…”
The knife hit the man in the center of the neck with a deep,thudding sound as it sank in.Instinctively the man pulled it out and bloodgushed forth.
He was dead before he hit the ground.Henry calmly picked upthe knife.
Bay’s head shook.“Uh, I think I saw two of them walking outto the foreman’s house.This one and a tall, dark-haired guy.It might havebeen Mike.”
Shane nodded.“It was Mike.They were looking for Bay’ssketchbook.We need to get to Brooke.”
He heard the sound of a gunshot and couldn’t handle it asecond longer.He took off running.
ChapterSeventeen
Brooke stared at the door even as Nell somehowmanaged to keep it all together, despite the fact that she had just expelled ababy out of her body.
“She’s here,” Lucy said reverently, and Brooke heard Nellgasp and sigh as she fell back.The labor had been rushed and furious, asthough the child knew something was happening and she didn’t want to miss aminute of it.
“Brooke, I hear someone,” Noah said, his voice still steady.He’d been a rock all through the last terrifying moments.“They’re coming inthe back.”
“Hey, sister, don’t shoot,” a familiar voice said.
Max.Her brother was here, and he was coming in through theback door.She hadn’t even realized there was a back door, but then Max hadspent a lot of time out here with Jamie and Noah growing up.By the time shewas a kid, they were all working so she hadn’t had the same experience.Shebreathed a deep sigh of relief and ran to him.
Max wrapped his arms around her.“You okay?”
She sniffled and hugged her brother, still holding theshotgun Henry had given her.“Shane is in the house and I don’t know where Bayis, and Nell had her baby.”
“Shit.Is Henry handling things?”Max asked.
