Shock whipped through her.
“Jethro’s out there!” she cried hoarsely, her horrified gaze meeting Mac’s.
“You stay put. ” His finger was in her face, his expression fierce as he suddenly dragged her along the floor, moving her into the washroom, then the inner small bathroom.
“In here. ” He pressed a gun in her hand, his expression so savage he terrified her. “Leave this room and I promise you, I’ll tan your bottom. Do you understand me?”
She nodded fiercely.
“Jethro,” she whispered. “Hurry, Mac. Please hurry. ”
A reluctant smile tugged at his lips as his gaze suddenly gleamed not just with fury over the attack but with an inner satisfaction.
“I’ll be right back, sweetheart. Stay put for me, baby. I’d lose my soul if I lost you. ”
“Right here,” she promised, then cried out in fear as another shot sounded.
Mac slammed the door, and Keiley heard nothing after that.
Mac stopped long enough to pull the Glock he kept hidden in the pantry closet free. He checked the extra cartridges as he ran through the kitchen, jerked the door open, then jumped and rolled across the patio until he came to rest behind the thick shrubbery growing at the corner.
He scanned the yard before moving, staying behind the carefully planted ornamental trees, thick shrubbery, and decorative cement pieces.
He came up behind Keiley’s favorite cement gargoyle, a huge black monstrosity nearly as tall as he was, thick, heavy wings outspread.
He scanned the area again, grimacing when he saw the shadowed outline of his friend beneath the thick spruce tree growing at the boundary of the yard.
Damn, why hadn’t he thought to get radios?
“Jethro,” he called out when he saw Pappy slinking from beneath the other side of the tree. “You okay, man?”
Jethro moved as the dog, evidently smarter than its human counterparts, kept its belly to the ground as it made its way along the edge of the yard and begun coming up to the house behind the same border of cover Mac was using.
Following Jethro’s hand signals, his gaze moved past the barns and stables to the hill rising above the house on the other side.
Squinting, he tracked the land, seeing nothing but the soft breeze playing through the trees.
“I have you covered!” he yelled back, keeping his eyes on the area. “Work your way in. ”
He watched, his eyes piercing the thick woods, but he couldn’t see a damned thing. Long minutes later he shifted his gaze away enough to catch Jethro moving to his side.
His shoulder was bloody, a thick furrow slicing across the bicep.
“You okay?”
“Bastard winged me,” Jethro cursed. “I was able to spot where the first shots came from, but after that I lost him. ”
“Get ready. We need to get in the house. ” Mac was tense, worry for Keiley obliterating everything else.
“I’ll go first, then cover you. ” Jethro started to move when Mac gripped his shoulder and pulled him back.
“You’re already hit. I’ll go first. ”
“Like hell. The last thing Kei needs is a bloody husband. A bloody third is another damned thing. ”
He heard the shade of bitterness in his friend’s voice but let him go, his eyes on the hill until Jethro made it across the patio.
With his weapon raised, Jethro covered Mac’s quick sprint across the open portion of the patio before they both moved hastily into the house.