She stopped. There were two doors between her and Merinus’ room and one of them could possibly be opened just enough to allow anyone hiding in the room to see her pass by. Sherra moved for the door beside her. Turning the knob she eased it open and pressed Cassie inside before following her. Closing it just as silently, she indicated silence to the little girl as she moved to the wide window on the other side of the room.
Looking out, she breathed a sigh of relief as she caught sight of two guards moving along the perimeters of the house grounds. Opening the curtains wide she slowly lifted the window, praying she wasn’t giving her position away to the enemy two doors down.
She was within a second of gaining their attention when she saw them go down. First one, then the other. Her eyes widened. No sound was made, but within a second they had fallen, dead or unconscious, she wasn’t certain.
Fuck. Fuck. Looking around frantically she dragged Cassie to the closet on the other side of the room.
“You stay here.” She pushed the tearful child into the small room. “I mean it, Cassie. No one will know but me where you are hidden. You don’t move. Do you hear me?”
She kept her lips at Cassie’s ear, her heart breaking as the little girl shook and shuddered, though she nodded her head quickly.
“Stay,” she ordered her again before backing away and closing the door slowly. Whoever was waiting in the room up the hall had somehow managed to take out the communications link and/or the communications personnel and was quietly waiting. For what?
She moved back to the door and opened it slowly, peering down the hall but seeing nothing that would immediately raise her suspicions. She stepped from the room, flattening herself against the wall, weapon held ready, watching intently.
A second later Merinus’ doorknob turned. Aiming her weapon, Sherra watched coldly as it opened and the other woman stood framed in the doorway, shock widening her eyes at the gun Sherra had leveled at her. Just as quickly, the door closed, then locked.
Smart. Sherra smiled with cold determination. At least the other woman was safe. That was all that mattered. She could almost feel the waves of fury pouring from the other room now. Whoever was in there had seen Merinus’ escape back into her room as well.
A second later three loud reports sounded from Merinus’ room. The gunshots were a clear signal to any Breed within hearing distance. The bastard might have taken out the guards in the house, and those on the grounds, but there was no way he could have gotten them all. She heard a curse, soft, filled with menace, and aimed her gun at the approximate height to severely wound rather than kill. There was only two ways out of that room, the window or the door. But she wasn’t expecting what stepped from the room.
Roni came first, closely followed by the chauffeur/nurse who had come in with the Lawrences several
days before. There was a smug victorious smile on the man’s face as he held the gun to Roni’s temple and kept her carefully in front of him.
“Very lucky,” he grunted. “But not quite good enough.”
He faced Sherra with malicious contempt.
“So where’s the kid? She wasn’t in her room or with her guard.”
Sherra kept her expression cold and her gun ready. “If I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”
His beady eyes glittered with fury. “Drop the gun or I’ll kill her.”
Sherra shook her head as she allowed a mocking smile to curl her lips. “No way. And if you kill her, you’ll fall in the next second.”
He wasn’t nervous. He was cold, calculating. He had Roni by the hair, a tenuous grip at best, his gun at her temple. Sherra’s eyes met Roni’s. She could see the resignation in the other woman’s eyes. Somehow he had taken out their men. Sherra wasn’t certain how he could have managed to do it, but he had.
“Well, we could consider it a standoff.” He smiled slowly, like a viper preparing to strike. “You think that warning is going to get help here in time? I made sure your boys were out for several more hours. The best.” He grunted sarcastically. “They were easy, Sherra.”
Sherra shrugged lightly. “Seems you forgot about me, though. I’m not so easy.”
Her gaze met Roni’s. The other woman moved her eyes up to indicate the hand holding her hair, then quickly looked to the floor. God, could she pull it off? She did it again, frantically. Up, then down. Was she going to drop?
Sherra angled her weapon at Roni’s head. If the other woman didn’t move fast enough… She swallowed tightly.
Suddenly, Roni dropped. His gun went off the same second Sherra’s did. The bullet dropped the wouldbe assassin immediately as she ran to him, kicking the gun aside before dropping beside Roni.
“Bastard!” Roni came up like a demon, lips curled back, fury lighting her eyes as she kicked the fallen would-be assassin.
Merinus’ door flew open at the same time feet pounded on the stairs and male voices began to scream out in fury. It was chaos.
Kane, Callan, Taber, more than a dozen Feline guards and Seth Lawrence rushed into the hallway.
“Are you happy now, Mr. Lawrence?” Sherra snarled in his face as Taber rushed for his wife. “Was it worth it?”
He stared down at the chauffeur, his gaze somber, filled with misery before it went to his sister. Regret flickered in his eyes.