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Josie moved in to hug her. “I know I’m new to the group, but screw that. This isn’t your fault. It’s the fault of the assholes out there. We’ve just got to stall them until our trained team shows up.” Then she grinned. “You know, if Nico had promised me some action, I might not have been as reluctant to come.”
There was a pause as the double-meaning of Josie’s words hit them all. Josie’s face flushed deeply while the rest of them grinned.
“I didn’t mean it that way.” But the twinkle in her eye made Tessa wonder if maybe she did.
Josie laughed and waved her spice jars. “Get your minds out of the gutter and your asses up the stairs.”
They all moved, and no one heeded Tessa’s pleas to hide.
At the top of the stairs, Bella pulled the doors almost closed. “That should make it seem darker up here, easier for us to see them than for them to see us. But if we need to get into a room, it’ll be easier.”
They moved to the edges of the hallway, in sight of the stairs, but hopefully out of view.
Aisling moved to hug Willow. “I’m going to put the dogs in one of the rooms.”
Tansy nodded as she looked at her laptop. “Use mine. It’s farthest away. Hurry. They’re sneaking onto the deck.”
Aisling locked away Willow and Spike, but Jetson refused to leave his spot at the top of the stairs.
Tansy spoke into her microphone and updated the outdoor team on the status. “They’re a few minutes out. We’ll have to hold them off.”
Bella’s voice was steady. “We’ve got this.”
Tessa wished she had Bella’s confidence. She wanted to run and hide, but she couldn’t leave everyone else to clean up her mess. Her job was to protect her friends. Nothing else mattered.
A burst of gunfire, breaking glass, and banging doors filled the air. Tessa yelped, but managed to keep the scream inside.
Jetson appeared to be the only one who didn’t react. He kept his eyes trained on the stairs.
Tansy’s voice was a shaky whisper as she reported the breach to the team and added, “Stay safe.”
Josie opened the spice jars and passed them around. From downstairs, a male voice yelled in surprise or fear and more gunfire erupted from the main floor.
Tansy whispered with a grin. “Score one for the CleanySaurs.”
That brought another round of smiles and eased the tension down a notch, although it was thick enough for Tessa to taste..
Feet sounded on the stairs below them. The old wood made it impossible to move up or down without noise. This sounded like several men. At the second floor, the steps paused. Voices drifted up, but not loud enough for her to distinguish the words.
More creaks indicated at least one was on his way up. Tessa clamped her teeth together to stop from yelling out. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream at the man to go away or at her friends to hide. Flashes of those horrific moments in her house before it exploded threatened to overwhelm her. Only the fear for her friends helped her stay in the real world and not disappear into the panic.
When the creaks neared the top, Jetson growled low in his throat from where he crouched, watching the stairs.
Gunfire erupted and Tessa cried out the dog’s name. He didn’t yelp in pain and she strained to hear past the ringing in her ears for other sounds. When a gun barrel appeared, she tossed the spices from her jar where she hoped his face would be.
The gun disappeared and she could hear coughing, swearing, and thumping. Hopefully he broke his leg as he tumbled back down the stairs. More cursing followed and then more shots.
Tessa’s entire body shook as she hauled Jetson to her side, out of the range of bullets. Tossing the spice mix at the man had been hard enough. How difficult would it be to shoot someone? To kill?
Her stomach tightened and she hugged the dog hard as she picked up her gun again.
Another gun barrel appeared and her friends reacted. More spices flew from other jars. A rolling pin flew past her. From the swearing, she guessed both hit their target.
“Stupid bitch.” The scream sent chills over her body and into her heart. She knew the voice. She knew the hate in it.
Uncle Karlo.
“This time you’ll stay dead.”
