Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,61

harmed. The relief was short-lived, though, because Ashlyn knew there could be other shots. Plus, she still wasn’t sure if Eli was okay. He certainly wasn’t calling out to her to let her know he was all right.

Ashlyn blinked back the tears that automatically started to burn her eyes, and with her gun ready, she hurried out of the doorway of the bedroom and into the hall so she could see what was going on.

And what was going on was chaos.

Eli was alive, thank goodness, but she saw that there was blood on his hands. That tightened the muscles in her chest so that it was hard for her to breathe. The slam of adrenaline didn’t help, either. Everything inside her was screaming for her to get to Eli to save him.

But Eli was trying to save himself. He had his hands clamped around Remy’s, and the grip no doubt stopped Remy from firing again.

Dominick reached down, scooping up Eli’s gun from the floor, and he took aim at Remy.

“No,” Gunnar told Dominick, taking the word right out of Ashlyn’s mouth. “Don’t shoot. You could hit Eli.”

Thankfully, Dominick held back, but she could tell from the way he was moving around that he was trying to find a clean shot. Gunnar was doing the same, but Remy wasn’t making that easy for them. He and Eli were locked in a fierce battle, rolling around on the floor while Remy kicked and punched at Eli. Somehow, despite all of the blows he was getting, Eli managed to hang on to Remy’s shooting hand.

“The fire’s out,” Kellan said when he hurried in through what was left of the front door. He also had his gun drawn, and he cursed when he saw the struggle that was going on between his brother and Remy.

“Was Remy alone when he brought you here?” Kellan snapped at Dominick.

Dominick nodded and kept moving. Kept looking for that shot. It was obvious he was furious with Remy, and Ashlyn didn’t think it was solely because of the kidnapping. She’d heard the rage in Dominick’s voice when Remy threatened to fire shots into the house.

Kellan moved to the side of the room, looming near Remy and Eli, and he tipped his head to Dominick. “Move. Go back toward the door and stay down. This clown could get off a shot.”

Yes, a shot that could go anywhere, including into Eli or Cora.

“Did you see any other gunmen?” Gunnar asked Kellan.

The question gave her another hit of adrenaline along with another jolt of fear. Eli was in a battle for his life, but she needed to make sure no one tried to climb through the window to get to Cora. Now that Eli had turned off the security system, they wouldn’t even know if a hired gun broke in.

Ashlyn hurried back to the doorway, and she volleyed her attention between Eli and the window. Cora had stopped crying again, but it still wasn’t easy to hear if someone was approaching the house because of the shouts and curses from the living room.

Even though Ashlyn had tried to steel herself for it, the next shot still stunned her. And put her heart right in her throat. From her position she could partially see Eli, but Kellan was in her way so she couldn’t tell if Eli had been hit. Kellan’s next round of ripe profanity didn’t help that, and he moved in, kicking at something.

Remy’s arm, she realized.

Remy howled in pain, and Ashlyn moved out a few inches so she could get a glimpse of Eli. He was still down, and he had Remy’s hand pinned to the floor. That didn’t stop Remy from pulling the trigger again.

This time, Ashlyn didn’t have to guess where the bullet had gone because she saw it blow out a hole in the wall just above Eli’s head. Another couple of inches, and he would have been killed.

“Enough of this,” Eli snarled.

Ashlyn held her breath and watched as Eli gave Remy’s hand another bash on the floor, and then he rammed his elbow into Remy’s chest. The man sputtered out a cough, and that split-second lapse was enough for Kellan to move in. He latched onto the back of Remy’s shirt collar and dragged him off Eli.

But Remy somehow managed to keep hold of his gun.

A gun that he aimed at Eli.

Ashlyn heard herself yell for Eli to watch out, but he was already scrambling to the side while he reached to draw his backup from