Christmas Blackout. Maggie K. Black
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wheeled around, coming face-to-face with a tall, angry young man with jet-black hair. He figured it was Gavin, staying here with his wife, Trisha. “Go call the police. Now! Lock your door and don’t come out!”
Then he turned back to Piper’s door without waiting for an answer. As much as he hated the idea of running into gunfire, he could hardly leave Piper alone up there. He lowered his head and charged the door. As his body hit the center of the wood the door cracked and flew open. Piper was crouched halfway up the stairs. Her hands were raised above her head, clutching two ends of a broken hockey stick.
“Benjamin?” She spoke his name without even turning.
“Yeah.” He stretched one hand out into the empty space between them. “I’m here.”
Harry pressed against Benjamin’s leg, a deep growl rumbling in his throat. Benjamin grabbed the dog’s collar and held it firm. His gaze rose to the masked, armed blonde at the top of the stairs. “Drop the gun and let her go. Nobody needs to get hurt.”
“I can’t!” She pointed the barrel of her gun directly at Piper’s chest. The weapon shook, as if it had come to life and her hands were fighting to control it. “I don’t want to shoot her but I will if you make me.”
He heard a bedroom door open behind him. The blonde fired. Piper tumbled backward down the stairs. Benjamin let Harry go and caught her with both arms.
“My cell phone isn’t working.” Gavin’s head peeked out a doorway.
Close your mouth and close the door! Benjamin fought the urge to yell. But the top of the stairs was empty now. The gun-wielding blonde was now nowhere to be seen. Neither was Harry.
“Fortunately, Trisha got the landline to work.” Gavin was clutching a glass bottle of amber liquid. It sloshed. Please, no! Don’t let Gavin be getting drunk right now! “The police said the roads are closed due to the ice storm, so it might take them a while to get here.”
Piper slid out of Benjamin’s arms. “Gavin, you and Trisha stay in your room, lock the door and don’t come out until the police arrive.”
Something inside Benjamin was fighting the urge to tell Piper to go hide, too, and let him handle this, even though he suspected she wasn’t about to listen. Silence fell from above. He slapped his leg and whistled, but the dog didn’t come back.
“Is that Charlotte?” he asked.
“I honestly don’t know. She didn’t give any reaction when I mentioned the guy with the bear tattoo. But I’m pretty sure she knows who Alpha is.” Piper snatched up the pieces of broken hockey stick from the bottom of the stairs. “The Charlotte I knew wasn’t quite that thin and her blond hair was straight, not curly. But those are all cosmetic changes and I don’t know for sure without seeing her face. Whoever she is, she clearly doesn’t know how to aim a weapon. She’s terrified and out of control.” Determination and fire flashed in the dark depths of Piper’s eyes. “We need to find a way to hold her until the cops get here.”
He reached out to hold her back but Piper had already pulled away and looked ready to charge back up the loft.
“My bedroom window was open and I’m guessing she’ll try to run down the fire escape. It’ll be really, really icy. There’s no way she’ll be able to shoot and keep her balance at the same time—”
“It’s too risky.” This time he grabbed her arm. “That woman just shot a hole through your door.”
“And another in my bedroom wall, I know. But if there’s even a chance she really is the woman who robbed my uncle and aunt six years ago, there’s no way I’m going to let her just run away again without a fight. Either way, she’s the only hope we have right now of finding out why Kodiak attacked me at the barn or why Charlotte’s former boyfriend would send anyone here looking for her. Please, Benjamin, we have to stop her.”
She was standing there, barefoot, in a T-shirt and track pants, looking more like a college kid than the twenty-six-year-old woman he knew her to be.
He knew she was right. If he was alone, he’d chase after the intruder in a heartbeat. But he didn’t want Piper to get hurt.
But it looked as if Piper was going after the masked blonde one way or the other. Short of physically picking her up and locking her in a closet he didn’t expect he could stop her.
“How about this?” Piper said. “You head up into the attic and see if you can catch her before she makes it down the fire escape. I’ll run outside through the garage and see if I can catch her coming the other way.”
“Fine.” He looked down at the thin gray T-shirt, track pants and slippers he wore. He wasn’t exactly dressed to be chasing anyone around outside in freezing rain.
From above he heard the dog yip. At least Harry was okay. Then Harry yipped again. More insistent this time.
Piper squeezed his arm. “The dog—”
“What?” He looked up the stairs. “Oh.”
Harry was holding a handgun in his mouth.
Benjamin’s jaw dropped. Had the intruder grown so desperate she’d thrown the gun at the dog? Or had the dog somehow disarmed her? Either way, the husky was now holding the weapon, gingerly but firmly upside down by the handle. If the situation wasn’t so dangerous, he’d have laughed.
“I’ve got to go get that. You stay safe, okay? Just because she’s lost her gun doesn’t mean she’s not dangerous.”
“You, too.” Piper squeezed his arm, then she took off running barefoot down the stairs.
Harry was sitting now, gun still in his jaws, and his tail was wagging. Benjamin started up the loft stairs slowly, his hands raised. “Good dog. Give that to me. Careful. Okay?”
The dog set the gun down right between his paws, then he stepped back and waited for Benjamin.
“You are the best dog ever, you know that?” His eyes scanned the room. It was empty. He picked up the gun and slipped it into his pocket.
The sound of footsteps clattering on the fire escape drew his attention to the open window. He glanced out to see the blonde trying to break into a second-story window. “Hey! Stop!”
She glanced up, then pelted down the stairs.
He squeezed through the window and out into the storm. Freezing rain beat against his body. Cold metal stung his bare palms. His slippers pounded hard down the metal steps.
The blonde hit the ground and took off running through the ice-covered snow. Benjamin vaulted over the railing, catching her by the shoulder as they fell to the ground. The blonde kicked back frantically with both legs, and one lucky shot made contact with Benjamin’s jaw, just hard enough to make his numb hands loosen their grasp.
She slipped from his hands and kept running.
His hand reached for the gun. No, surely he could catch her on foot without taking the risk of seriously hurting or even killing her.
Benjamin ran after her into the woods. Hail pelted his bare skin like rocks. His slippers were swallowed up in slush. The motion sensor lights flickered on in the forest ahead. She could run all she wanted, but the trees were lighting up around her like Christmas. Benjamin’s legs ached. Thick branches heavy with snow pushed up against his body. His feet were bare now and numb.
A loud, guttural roar filled the air. He looked up just in time to see a bright light flying toward him. He leaped to the side. A neon yellow snowmobile swerved wildly through the trees, nearly knocking him over. Then it was gone.
He dropped to his knees as a groan filled his chest and left his lungs.
His fists hit the snow.