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“I love you.”
“Love you too,” he replied, quickly ending the call.
He turned up the radio, and asked for an update, but static was the only reply.
Taking one of the reusable shopping totes off the peg by the door, he dumped in the rest of the ammunition. With the radio back on his belt, he headed back inside to look for the missing twenty-two. He’d feel better if Eva was armed and the smaller gun shouldn’t give her shoulder any trouble.
Locking the door behind him, he reset the door chimes on the security system. Assuming Eva’s enemies wouldn’t have any problem disarming the system, he made a mental note to find a low tech, old school noisemaker to put by the doors too.
Did they still call it paranoia when the threat was real? Didn’t matter. Anywhere he could eke out an advantage he would.
The radio crackled again and a voice calmly announced, “Unknown contact lakeside. Investigating.”
Carson paused in the small exercise room, cursing himself for not putting a radio next to Eva in the den. Lakeside could mean just about anywhere out back. Ruth’s house had an excellent view of the entire north end of the lake, something he’d admired until it worked against him.
Confident the team on the perimeter would do their job, he entered the kitchen as the glass in the back door shattered, sending broken bits of glass skittering across the tile floor like sharp-edged raindrops.
Not a gunshot he realized, peeking around the cover of the center island. An elbow. And the hand attached was working to unlock the door.
Carson stood tall, shotgun ready. His order to freeze was ignored and the security system wailed as the door parted from the sensor. He leveled the gun and fired.
The intruder stumbled with a pained yelp, but kept advancing into the kitchen.
“Where is the queen?” Glass crunched underfoot. “Give her to me and you will live.”
Carson wondered how that would work since it appeared he was the only one armed. He pumped the action and held down the trigger, using a slamfire technique in an attempt to drive the intruder out.
The man lunged, heedless of the gunfire and Carson found himself in hand to hand combat. He held his ground, using the butt of the rifle to ram the attacker’s gut, only to feel an unyielding flak jacket.
It pissed him off.
He went for the weaker points of knees and the wound in the intruder’s arm. Still, he found himself in a choke hold, pinned against the center island, his service weapon out of reach. There was no way he was letting this happen. No way would he allow this guy to lay so much as a finger on Eva.
He rolled back onto the island, drawing his knees up and slamming the heels of his hands into the man’s ears. Not the final strike, but enough to give him room. He gulped in air as he landed on the other side of the island and drew his weapon.
The intruder rushed by him, racing toward the den. Toward Eva.
“Get back,” he shouted at her as he fired three rounds into the back of the intruder’s knee. The man dropped with a scream that rivaled the alarm. Furious, Carson stalked over, grabbed the guy’s collar, and dragged him back across the broken glass toward the door.
***
Eva hovered in the doorway, staring at the men and the mess strewn across the kitchen. “Are you hurt?”
“Stay down!” he shouted over the incessant blaring of the alarm. “There may be more.”
She sank to the floor. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
But his voice was rough from the abusive choke hold. “Give me the radio.” She needed something to do and the dark look on his face told her he wasn’t about to part with a weapon. Relieved he didn’t hesitate, she scooped up the radio and called for an ambulance. Then she requested an immediate team check-in and ordered everyone to fall back to the house.
Only five of the six guards working the perimeter responded affirmatively. She wanted to redirect someone on the team to the last known position of the sixth, but it was too risky. Once they understood the current crisis, they could send someone out.
She watched Carson go through the pat down looking for weapons. Once he’d removed a knife and a syringe of some sort, he cuffed the intruder.
The syringe had probably been meant for her, but to break in with only a knife seemed like a serious planning mistake. And why hadn’t the guy pulled the knife during the fight?
She started to stand, but Carson signaled her to stay put. Fine by her. If he wasn’t ready to ease up, she could wait it out. After placing all of the weapons and the syringe safely out of reach on the center island, he crossed to the security system control panel and silenced the alarm.
