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He flattened his back against the wall at the base of the stairwell. There was silence now, the final report of the rifle fading. Staying on the edge of the stairway, Sean started up, gun ready.
The staircase had a turn halfway up. Sean paused, then peered around the corner.
Clear.
He moved quickly, listening carefully, and suddenly Miller sprinted toward the end of the hall. Miller saw Sean at the same moment Sean said, “Drop it, Miller. Now.”
Miller dove through another doorway and Sean heard footsteps running downstairs.
Shit! There was another staircase.
Sean jumped over the stair rail and Miller shot at him from the kitchen. He missed, then reached for a door.
The basement.
Sean fired in rapid succession. He hit Miller in the hand and Miller dropped the gun.
Miller ran back the way he’d come. Sean said, “He’s on the move and injured.” Sean hesitated. He wanted to pursue Miller, but if he circled around, Miller might have yet another entrance to the basement. He would be leaving Lucy unprotected.
Sean opened the unlocked door and took one cautious step down. The basement was barely lit, faint light coming in from the narrow windows.
“Lucy?” he called, louder than he’d intended. Rescue operations might be part and parcel for the course in his brothers’ lives, but not his. He was the brains behind the operation, not the operative himself.
Except now he didn’t have a choice.
“Sean! Oh God, Sean!”
He closed the door at the top of the stairs so he’d know if Miller was coming through. He found the light switch, which lit only two fluorescent lights, one above the door and one in the center of the basement.
He saw the cage. And Lucy looking up at him through the bars.
Sean’s chest tightened with a rage so powerful he nearly stumbled as he ran down the stairs.
“Lucy!” He knelt next to her, and she reached out of the bars and grabbed his neck.
He kissed her, holding her face with one hand. Blood had dried on her cheek and matted her hair. She had a gash on her arm that looked deep, and her sweater was torn in multiple places. She was so cold, her entire body shaking. He looked at her bare feet; she had no shoes. He quickly took off his shoes and socks, and handed her his socks before putting back on his shoes.
“Where’s Miller?” Lucy asked as she pulled on the socks.
“I don’t know where he went. I shot him, but he ran to the back of the house. He’s not getting out without a confrontation—SWAT is almost here, and Dillon, Kate, and Hans are outside. But I need to get you out of the cage first.”
Lucy said, “And Carolyn.” She motioned toward the corner.
A blond woman stared at him with huge blue eyes. The resemblance to the younger Rosemarie Nylander, Miller’s ex-wife, was stunning.
Lucy said, “He really screwed with her head. This isn’t going to be easy.”
He assessed the combination lock on the cage door. He handed Lucy his lock pick and said, “Can you get out of the handcuffs?”
She nodded and started working on the cuffs.
Sean went over to the padlock. He put his ear to the lock and listened to the tumbler as he turned the knob.
“Sean, do you smell something?”
“Shh.” He had to concentrate or he’d miss the sound and feeling of the clicks.
One. A tumbler fell into place, and he turned the other way, all the way around, then listened very carefully…
