The two pistol shots shatter the quiet of the morning, sending a shock through all of us. I've checked on Melissa, she's upstairs with BA, and she's doing well. Carson was right. Melissa only needs someone else to need her, and she's able to find the strength, at least temporarily.

I'm coming down the stairs when the first shot goes off, and I run down the rest of the way, looking for Jackson and Katrina. “What happened?”

“Single shot, sounds like Nathan's pistol,” Katrina says, her Glock up and pointed toward the windows of the kitchen. Another shot comes, and her eyes flick toward the back, judging our next move. “Cover the front.”

“Shouldn't we go out there and help them?” I ask, and Katrina shakes her head.

“Either they've taken care of it, or they were already taken out,” Katrina says, her eyes cold and hard. “I'm sorry Andi, but Nathan would want us here. Carson, too.”

I nod, swallowing the fear and hurt in my chest and go to the living room, holding my pistol up. Jackson follows me, his own pistol ready. “She's not trying to be cruel.”

“I know,” I respond, setting aside my emotions for a moment. There's no time for them, that'll come later. “I'll cover the stairs.”

Jackson nods and I stay by the main staircase, trying my best not to be scared shitless. Tension seeps through the air as the minutes crawl by, nothing but the sounds of the morning cicadas starting to creep in through the windows.

I'm sweating, I know from a mix of fear and nervousness, and my hand is shaking so hard I can't stand it. “Jackson... talk to me.”

“What about?” he asks quietly, his eyes still scanning the windows, looking toward the street.

“Did you and Katrina ever build that Corvette model?” I ask, thinking about anything to get my mind off of the situation at hand. “You know, that '67?”

“We got the main painting and gluing done, so now we're working on decaling and then finishing it up,” he says, a smile in his voice. “We're taking our time.”

“What's next?” I ask. “Another car?”

“Actually, we were thinking RC,” Jackson says, chuckling. “Something that we can play around with once BA starts walking.”

“You're going to put a tail on it and make her chase it, aren't you?” I ask, laughing. “That would so be you.”

“Nah, not unless she wants to,” Jackson replies. “Actually, Katrina was joking that she's going to get something strong enough that I'll have to work hard chasing it. I'm faster at running than she...”

An explosion rocks the house from the back, and smoke starts to billow out of the kitchen area. “Katrina!”

Jackson runs toward the kitchen, while Melissa appears at the top of the stairs, BA in her arms. The baby is screaming, panicked by the loud noise, and I hold up my hand. “Stay there! Protect her!”

Melissa nods, her face a pasty eggshell white, but she backs up again, and I run toward the kitchen. Before I can even get halfway there Jackson and Katrina are backing down the hallway, Katrina firing her pistol quickly but calmly. “Living room!”

I back up, trying to raise my pistol as purplish black smoke fills the hallway. I can see something, but I don't know what to make of anything as the three of us back up. I get to the base of the stairs and retreat up two steps, my pistol ready, while Jackson and Katrina arrange themselves side by side.

Vadim Orloff bursts from the smoke like a demon from the depths of hell, his kick catching Jackson in the shoulder and sending my brother flying. He's got something in his right hand, but Katrina kicks, catching him in the wrist and sending what I now see is a straight razor flying out of his hand where it clatters on the floor. “Ah, the woman. I've been warned about you,” Orloff says, smiling still.

Katrina lashes out with another kick. Orloff blocks it, but Katrina follows with a pointed finger attack that catches him in his right arm, and he grunts, backing up and shaking out the arm.

“You do have skill. Not too many people know about those.”

Jackson's recovered, while I'm trying desperately to get a clear shot, but I don't have anything. Every time I think Orloff is clear, Katrina's moving in between us, and I realize that she's keeping herself between Orloff and the staircase, protecting her daughter and me.

“She's not the only one you have to worry about, asshole,” Jackson says, darting inside with an elbow strike. Orloff blocks, but it gives Katrina an opening, the two of them working together. She comes underneath, but Orloff spins away, and suddenly he's between them and me, his eyes darting between all of us.

“Andi, down!” Jackson yells, and he fires. Orloff's fast though, and the bullet just seems to graze his ribs as he rotates, his foot crashing into Jackson's side and I can hear ribs break as Jackson is sent hurtling backward. Katrina attacks, but he spins again, groaning as Katrina's gun hand catches him in his wounded side, but he goes with it, his fist flying out and catching her in the back of her left shoulder, sending her crashing to the floor.

“No!” I scream, leaping from the staircase onto his back. Orloff staggers, I don't think he expected me to do anything, but he recovers quickly, throwing me off his back and to the floor. In a whirl of hands he's disarmed me, and has my pistol pointed against my head, and he's backing toward the front door.

“That's enough,” he says in his pained, accented English as Katrina gets to her feet, her pistol raised. I see Melissa start to come down the stairs, but Orloff is using me as a meat shield, holding me in between them. “One more step, and you pick her brains up off the floor with the kitchen mop.”

We bump into the door and Orloff jams the pistol into my temple harder. “Reach back, open the door,” he says, turning me slightly. “Don't piss me off. Your father might want you alive, but he's willing to accept your corpse if he has to.”

“We will find you, and we will kill you,” Katrina growls, and Orloff laughs.

“Perhaps. But considering that I've disabled three of you, killed another, and am leaving with one? I like my odds,” he says as I get the door open.

“Katrina?” I ask, and Orloff's arm tightens around my neck, cutting off my air as he drags me back.

“We'll find you, Andrea. You fight, understand?”

Orloff drags me backward down the steps, his arm loosening just enough to let me take a single, fiery sweet breath of air. He keeps backing up, until we're at the street, and I see a black car parked in the shadows. Katrina's emerging, her left arm hanging limp at her side, but her right arm still holding her pistol on Orloff as we round the curve in the road. His arm tightens, cutting off all air. Darkness starts to creep in, and I try to fight it, but it's impossible. As everything goes dark, I only hope that Katrina is right, that they can find me.