She points the weapon at the walls and starts firing, going around in a complete circle. I leap behind the couch for protection when she swings the gun in my direction.
“Who are you shooting at?” I yell.
“Whoever is shooting at us!”
“Well, stop before you kill me.”
“I’m not going to kill you.” Everything goes silent, and I peek my head up from behind the couch. “But you’re right. That was excessive.”
“How did you even know how to use a weapon like that? The safety was on.”
Her eyes sweep over the gun, and she shrugs. “I’ve played a lot of video games at arcades.”
I stand, walking toward her. “From here on out, let's leave the shooting to me.”
The front door bursts open, and I lift the gun in Lacee’s hand. Together we shoot the man that busted through. Then we turn and shoot the person crashing through the living room window. Behind us, another comes in the kitchen window. I swing Lacee’s arm around and fire at him.
We stand in silence for a second, arms stretched out in front of us, my chest pressed against her back, and the top of her head resting on my cheek.
“I thought I wasn’t supposed to use the gun anymore.” She breathes against me.
I think I was the one doing the shooting.”
“Are you sure?” Her blue eyes peek at me. “It felt like I was the one in control.”
Actually, I’m not sure, but I have no time to analyze the situation.
I step back, sifting through Sienna’s supplies that I threw over to my bag. I take the most important things and zip the bag shut. “We’ve got to go.”
“Do you think we killed everybody that’s after us?”
“Probably not.” I shake my head, throwing the shoulder strap over my body.
“Then how are we going to get out of here?”
I rush to the kitchen, pulling out the oven. I yank on the gas pipe, breaking it off the wall.
“You’re going to blow this place up?” Her jaw drops. “Why? It’s such a cute beach house.”
“It’s our only way to safety.”
Lacee shakes her head, backing up. “No, this is a terrible idea.”
I glance out the front door. “See that huge rock island down there?”
She jerks her head to where I’m pointing. “What about it?”
I grab one of Sienna’s gadgets. It looks like an oversized machine gun, but it’s not. I point it at the rock island and pull the trigger. A metal arrow shoots out of it with a cable attached. It speeds through the air, down the hill one hundred yards, until the tip hits the side of the rock cliff and locks into place. I fasten the gun to the hook bolts in Sienna’s ceiling—I like the forethought she put into her exit strategy. Then I detach the handle.
“This gadget is going to shoot us out of the house like a rocket.”
“That sounds sketchy.”
“It’s not. Basically, we’re going to zipline from this house down to the island.”
“But there’s only one handle.”
I wrap one arm around Lacee, bringing her to me. “I’ll hold on to you.” I smile at her—that’s my go-to reaction when I’m trying to keep her calm.
