Close Range Christmas by Nicole Helm (ebook reader for laptop TXT) 📗

to grab the knob, but another shot rang out, splintering into the house somewhere too close to Sarah for comfort. She snatched her hand back and huddled lower.

Liza scooted up next to her, but before she could pound on the door, it opened. Then, before Sarah had a chance to crawl forward, she was being pulled inside and immediately out of the doorway.

Despite her extra girth, Dev had moved her quite easily, Liza scurrying in behind her. Dev practically had Sarah in his lap by the time she looked around the room. Liza was sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. Jamison and Tucker were at the window above the kitchen sink, guns pointed out the opening. With no words spoken, Gage took the gun from Jamison and replaced him at the window. Jamison fell to his knees next to Liza.

“I’m okay,” she said before Jamison could say or do anything. She reached out and cupped his cheek. “Might have a few cuts from the glass, but nothing serious. Would have been worse, but Sarah figured things out.”

“I’m not sure I figured them out so much as Cash... He was barking. Then he stopped.” Sarah tried not to think the worst. After all, no gunshot had gone off before Cash’s barking stopped. He couldn’t have been killed. Please. Sarah looked up at Dev, who was smoothing down her hair. “He’s out there.”

“That’s okay. He’s a smart dog. He’ll be all right,” Dev said roughly.

Then another, more horrifying thought pierced Sarah’s mind. She whipped her head toward Liza. “Is Gigi with Nina and Brianna?”

“And Cody. We told them about the note before coming here, so they’re being careful,” Liza said, but she had paled, and she looked to Jamison as if seeking reassurance.

No one mentioned that someone had snuck past all the security defenses Cody had set up around the property—and if someone could do that here, surely they could do it at Cody’s house in Bonesteel.

“He didn’t kill anyone, and he could have,” Dev said. “Maybe this is just another warning.”

But it was a warning with bullets, and Sarah knew that meant things were escalating. Danger was well and truly here, and they somehow had to find the strength to fight it again.

WHOEVER WAS OUT there stopped returning fire after Sarah and Liza were safely inside.

After minutes of endless waiting, there’d been a heated argument about how they would go about determining if the gunman had left, had been injured in return fire or was waiting them out.

Tucker had called Duke and Rachel immediately, having them take shelter at the Knight house since that’s where they’d been closest to while dealing with the cattle feeding. He’d kept them on speakerphone, so if anything changed on their end, they’d know about it right away and could send help. Brady had Cody on speakerphone for the same reason.

Grandma Pauline was upstairs with Felicity and Claire, and Cecilia was still at work at the reservation. They’d texted her to stay put for the time being.

“It’s been long enough. If we don’t go out soon, we’re going to lose daylight,” Jamison said, pacing the length of the kitchen.

“Maybe that’s what he’s counting on,” Liza insisted.

“Maybe, but how will we know if some of us don’t look?” Dev asked. He was doing his best to remain still, to remain calm. Not to let his brain go back to when that gunshot had gone off and they hadn’t known if Liza and Sarah were okay.

It had been a brief second before Tucker had looked out the window and been able to see them crawl inside. But it had been a terrible, bleak second.

“Any luck on those cameras, Cody?” Brady said into his phone.

“No. Whatever he did, he cut my mainframe. I don’t have any video feed—or anything recorded.”

“How would he do that?” Dev asked.

“Not a clue.” Cody didn’t have to be in the same physical space as Dev for him to be able to read Cody’s frustration.

“We have to do a sweep,” Jamison demanded. “Nobody goes alone, and we don’t do anything stupid. But we have to look.”

“He’s right,” Gage added. “We can’t just sit in here and twiddle our thumbs. Especially when we know he’s cut the video. Who knows what other security measures Cody put up have been tampered with?”

“Why don’t two of you search the main area around the house. Have Duke and Rachel drive over, keeping an eye out on that end. I’ll pack up the girls here and drive for you guys—which will give me a look around the highway side of the property. There’s no way we can reach everything, but we can scope out a lot.”

“He’s right,” Dev agreed. “If we do a quick sweep and don’t find anything, we’ll need all hands on deck to keep a lookout through the night.”

Liza scowled, but she didn’t pose an argument.

“Rachel and I are on our way,” Duke said from Tucker’s speakerphone.

“Nina and I will be on our way with the girls in a few,” Cody said from Brady’s speakerphone.

“We’ll go out,” Dev said to Jamison. “Search around the house and the stables.”

“Why you?” Sarah demanded at the same time Liza did.

“I know where everything should be better than anyone,” Dev said to Sarah. “And Jamison is the best shot,” he said to Liza.

“Well, now, I wouldn’t go that far,” Gage muttered.

“He is and we all know it. So, he’ll have my back and I can see if anything is off.”

“Don’t you think we should all agree and not just listen to orders from you?” Sarah said. She looked terribly uncomfortable, fidgeting in the kitchen chair like she couldn’t find a position that didn’t hurt her back. They’d tried to convince her to lie down or at least go relax in the recliner in the living room, but she’d refused.

“We’ll never get anything done if we wait for consensus,” Jamison said gently. He was holding Liza’s hand. Even though she looked furious, she wasn’t arguing anymore.