Seeking Dangerous Treasure

Chapter 18

Hayden covered Kelsey. "Let's crawl to the back of the house."

"I don't think that's going to save us. This has to do with my job—my old job—after all. Now it all makes sense. Clark kept denying he had anything to do with the attacks on my life. But we need to call for help. I dropped my phone."

"And mine's in the kitchen."

"Poor Chickory!"

Thor was in the mudroom with the puppies and their mother, barking and growling. Protective. Hayden wished his instinct hadn't been to close the door.

"I should let him out," he said. "He can restrain the person shooting."

"No, he'll get killed. I couldn't bear that. This is on me. It's all on me."

"Don't say that. Let's just get out of here."

Bullets continued to fire through the windows. A machine gun or more than one person shooting? Hayden belly-crawled enough that he could reach Kelsey's cell. Fire lanced across his back. A graze. It had to be a graze. He couldn't deal with anything more. God, please...

I have to protect Kelsey.

They remained flattened with nowhere to go. He called 9-1-1 and relayed the information.

"Hayden, you know this is up to us. Help won't arrive soon enough. Help...that's you. We can do this. We can find a way out of this."

"With this kind of attack, all the doors and windows have to be covered. But what about the crawl space beneath the floor? We could get out that way."

"Then come around and take these guys out. I'm with you. Except that access is in the sewing room closet. We'd have to pull everything out to get to it."

"Then we'd better get started." They slipped into the hallway and crawled toward the sewing room. But then the bullets stopped. All was quiet.

They were too late.

Hayden held Kelsey's gaze. A finger to his lips. The shooters would now enter the home and search to see if they were merely wounded and then kill them. He signaled for her to remain hidden and pulled his weapon out. He remained on the floor.

He'd shoot and then roll into the bedroom.

Footsteps creaked. Two sets of them, if he counted correctly.

Then another set. Soft footfalls. Heart pounding, he prepared to start shooting. He had to save Kelsey.

A shotgun pumped. "Hold it right there, boys."

Grandma?