Diamond Bay

Rachel stared at them, trying to gather her thoughts. They were armed only with pistols, while whoever was shooting at them had a rifle, stacking the deck against Kell and Grant. A rifle had the advantage of accuracy over a greater distance, allowing their assailant to shoot from outside the range of the pistols. Her .22 rifle didn’t have much power, but it did have a greater range and accuracy than the pistols, and she crawled into the bedroom to get it, as well as what ammunition she had. Thank God Kell had told her to buy those shells!

"Here," she said, crawling back into the living room and sliding the rifle toward Kell. He glanced around, his fist closing over the weapon. Grant was moving through the house, checking to make certain no one was coming up on them from behind.

"Thanks," Kell said briefly. "Get back in the hall, honey."

Jane was crouched there, staring at her husband with an odd fury in her chocolate eyes. "They shot at you," she growled.

"Yep," he confirmed.

She was fuming like a volcano about to blow, muttering to herself as she dragged the nylon overnighter she’d brought to her, unzipping it and throwing clothing and makeup to one side. "I’m not putting up with this," she said furiously. "Damn it, they shot at him!" She produced a pistol and shoved it into Rachel’s hand, then dug back into the bag. She dragged a small case out of it, about the size of a violin case, and threw it at Grant. "Here! I don’t know how to put the thing together!"

He opened the case and glared at Jane even as he began snapping the rifle together with swift, practiced movements. "Where the hell did you get this?"

"Never mind!" she barked, tossing a clip of ammunition to him. He fielded it one-handed and snapped it into place. Kell glanced over his shoulder. "Got any C-4 or grenades in there?"

"No," Jane said regretfully. "I didn’t have time to get everything I wanted."

Rachel crawled to the side window, cautiously lifting her head to peek out. Kell swore. "Get down," he snapped. "Stay out of this. Get back in the hall, where it’s safer."

She was pale, but calm. "There are only two of you, and four sides to the house. You need us."

Jane grabbed Grant’s discarded pistol. "She’s right. You need us."

Kell’s face was set like granite. This was exactly what he’d wanted most to avoid, one of his worst fears coming true. Rachel’s life was being threatened because of him. Damn! Why hadn’t he left last night, as he should have? He’d let sexual desire override his common sense, and now she was in danger.

"Sabin!" The voice came from the pine thicket.

He didn’t answer, but his eyes narrowed as he surveyed the thicket, trying to find the speaker. He wasn’t going to answer and reveal his position; let them find out the hard way.

"Come on, Sabin, don’t make it any harder than it has to be!" the voice continued. "If you surrender, I give you my word none of the others will be harmed!"

"Who is that joker?" Grant grunted.

"Charles Dubois, alias Charles Lloyd, alias Kurt Schmidt, alias several other names," Kell murmured.

The names meant nothing to Rachel, but Sullivan’s brows lifted. "So he finally decided to come after you himself." He looked around. "We’re not in a good position. He’s got men all around the house. There aren’t that many of them, but we’re hemmed in. I checked the phone it’s dead."

Kell didn’t have to be told that their situation wasn’t good. If Dubois used the rockets on the house, as he had on the boat, they were all as good as dead. But then again, he was trying to take Kell alive. Alive, he was worth a lot of money to a lot of people who would pay anything to get their hands on him.

He tried to think, but the cold fact was that there was no way out of the house. Even if they waited until nightfall and tried to sneak out, there was little available cover to use except for the bushes, which were right against the house. Away from the house, it was open for a good distance in all directions. That meant it would be difficult for anyone to catch them unawares, but it also meant the same thing in reverse. Even if he walked out and surrendered, it wouldn’t save the others. There was no way Dubois would let any witnesses live. He knew it, and Sullivan knew it; he could only hope Rachel and Jane didn’t realize quite how hopeless the situation really was.

A glance at Rachel dispelled that idea. She knew, all right. That had been the problem from the first; she was too aware, with no veil of ignorance to shield her. He wanted to take her in his arms and hold her head on his shoulder, assure her that it would be all right, but with those clear, level gray eyes on him, he couldn’t lie to her, even to give her momentary comfort. He never wanted any lies between them. There was a shot from the bedroom, and all the color washed out of Grant’s face, but before he could move Jane called him. "Grant! Is the kneecap where I’m supposed to shoot these people?"

If anything, he went even whiter, swearing long and low.

"Well, it doesn’t matter," she added philosophically. "I missed, anyway. But I hit his gun, if that counts."

"Sabin!" the man yelled again. "You are testing my patience! This cannot go on much longer. It would be such a pity if the woman was harmed."

"Woman," instead of "women." Then Kell realized that Rachel hadn’t gone out on the porch; they had seen Jane and thought she was Rachel. They were both slim and had dark hair, though Jane was taller and her hair was a little longer, but at a distance no one would have noticed.

It didn’t give him much of an advantage, but it might help that Dubois would be underestimating the number of armed people.