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From the kitchen, there was the sound of breaking glass. At first, Bree thought that was because dishes were falling.
No.
The shutters and the windows were breaking, being ripped apart, and the smoke began to ooze through the house.
“Is that tear gas?” she asked, and yes, Bree heard the rising panic in her own voice.
“It is,” Rafe confirmed, just as there were three more of those deafening blasts. “We need to move now.”
The tear gas hit Bree, and her eyes suddenly felt on fire. She couldn’t breathe either. And the tear gas just kept coming.
Tessa seemed frozen in place with her gaze fixed on Rafe. “I’m so sorry,” she said as the smoke rushed toward her. “You deserved so much better than me.”
And with that, Tessa threw open the door and ran out into the night.
Rafe cursed through his own coughing. “Use the tunnel,” he told Bree. “It leads to the far back pasture. Just lie low there until I can get to you.”
Bree tried to process what he was saying, but everything inside was shouting for her to get outside into the clean air so she could breathe. She tamped down that urge and attempted to focus on what Rafe had said.
Then, on what Rafe was doing.
He ran toward the front door, no doubt going after Tessa. With those armed thugs out there, he could be gunned down. They both could.
Bree ran toward the door, too.
No way would she use the safety of the tunnel when both Rafe and Tessa were in extreme danger.
She bolted out into the night, gulping in some much needed air, and she fired glances around to try to assess her situation. Tessa was running toward the pasture, toward the helicopter.
Rafe was right behind her.
Bree headed in that direction just as there was another triple explosion, and this time, the wall of the house seemed togroan before it gave way. The sound of it crashing blended with another sound. More gunfire.
No.
Not gunfire.
The launcher maybe, but this time, there wasn’t a blast. There were thuds as something hit the ground.
It didn’t take Bree that long to figure out what they were because thick white smoke began to billow from them. This didn’t smell the same as tear gas, and it didn’t cause her eyes to burn, but it immediately engulfed her.
One second, she could see Rafe and Tessa.
The next second, she couldn’t.
The smoke had swallowed them up, and the only thing she could do was try to run where she’d last seen them. No way would she let Rafe try to fight off Buckner and the four hired guns alone.
Bree didn’t run, but she moved as fast as she could, mindful of where she was stepping so she didn’t trip on something. She also tried to listen for those thugs if they approached her. But it was hard to hear anything though over the heartbeat slamming in her ears.
She stopped when she sensed some movement ahead of her. Impossible to tell who it was. And calling out to Rafe would only pinpoint her location to those men with the grenade launchers.
Could they see her?
Hear her?
Maybe if they were wearing some kind of equipment that allowed them to do that. In case they were, she ducked down, weaving through the side yard instead of a direct line. It was a way to avoid being shot, but it might work in a situation like this.
Ahead of her, she heard another sound, and this time she knew what it was.Tessa. Oh, God. Tessa.
