I gritted my teeth and tried not to panic.
But who the hell was I kidding?
Fuck!
I reached up and tried to think what the fuck I should do. Then my cellphone buzzed, making both of us jump. It wasn’t so much of an issue for me, but with my trigger-happy son at my side, it rattled us both when he knocked the muzzle into the windowpane.
Thankfully, it was quiet enough for it not to have caused an issue, but I whispered, “Be careful, Seamus.”
He nodded. “Sorry.” I could see the fuzz on his top lip, where he was starting to get a bit of a mustache, was beginning to gleam with sweat.
I reached for my cell and peered at the screen as I tried to cover it so the gleam didn’t reflect in the window. Because I couldn’t see who was calling, I just hit the green button and raised it to my ear. “Hello?” I whispered, half terrified it would be whoever had just killed our guards.
“Aela? It’s Brennan—”
“Brennan! Thank fuck! Someone shot our guards.”
Silence fell on the line, but it barely lasted fifteen seconds before he growled, “Stay on the phone. I’m going to get the cops over there.”
The cops?
My eyes flared wide. “You’re calling the cops?”Was this a parallel universe?
“Of course,” he rumbled, but though he sounded furious, he also sounded calm. Like this was just another day at the office for him, which, of course, it was.
I gulped.
What had I done? Bringing Seamus into this world? I was the one who needed shooting.
Turning my back on the window for a second, I pushed my spine into the wall as I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the clusterfuck going down around me.
Then, realizing it was stupid to leave my son watching over the scene, I twisted around and carried on scanning the front yard.
I didn’t see anyone, and peering into the car didn’t give me much hope either. So I put the phone on speaker, turned the sound down so it was barely audible, and focused on the street.
“They were both killed?”
Seamus squeaked out, “There were three men in the SUV.”
“Three?” Brennan rasped, but his voice was different, tempered.
He knew who he was talking to.
“Yes. Three,” Seamus confirmed, and it was stupid, but I was proud that he sounded so sure of himself. Sure, he was squeaking, but that didn’t matter, did it?
“Seamus?”
“Yes. I’m Seamus,” he replied.
“I’m your Uncle Brennan. I promise, when this is all over, it won’t happen again.”
Seamus was quiet for only a second before he whispered, “Why is it happening at all?”
A sigh sounded down the line. “I don’t know, but I promise you I’ll find out. Now, you said there were three men in the SUV?”
“This afternoon I was doing yard work, and I saw this strange car down the road. No one drives BMWs around here—”
I winced because while it was true, it made it sound like we were living in a ghetto. This was one of the priciest neighborhoods in the area, but it was liberal to its core. Everyone drove Teslas and hybrid vehicles, for God’s sake.