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Cullen shot a glance out the window. “Motorbike outside. Snuck in around my cameras. You the one who shot out the SUV tires?”

The man didn’t speak, so Cullen moved a step closer, gun aimed at his head. “Slide out the gun from your waistband with two fingers and ease it down on the carpet. If you move fast, you die fast. Got me, Evel?”

Not reacting to the nickname, he did as directed. Cullen seemed outwardly calm, but he was breathing fast.

Cullen gestured with the gun. “All right. Now that we’ve got that taken care of. Sit in that chair, hands in your lap.”

Kit felt her stomach uncoil a fraction as the man complied.

Cullen did not lower his weapon. “Who are you and why are you breaking into my cabin?”

The lamplight revealed him to be in his late twenties, her age maybe, as tall as Cullen but thin and wiry. His clothes were filthy but not threadbare. He remained silent, drops of blood flowing from his bitten hand and his nose.

“He asked me where she was,” Kit said.

Cullen frowned. “She who?”

“I don’t know.” Kit understood what Cullen wanted to know. Was the stranger after the baby or the missing woman? Or both?

Cullen took a step closer. “You’re going to start talking.”

Evel tipped his blood-smeared face to Cullen. “Who are you two?” he countered, eyes blazing. “How’d you get the baby? Where are they?”

Cullen’s head cocked ever so slightly. “You’re confused about the situation here, fella. You broke into my house, and I’ve got the rifle. Means you answer the questions, not ask ’em.”

The stranger’s leg muscles bunched as if he was going to spring from the chair. Instinctively, Kit braced to defend herself, but Cullen took a step closer, and Evel sank down again.

“She’s mine. They’re mine. I want them back,” the man said.

“That explains nothing,” Cullen said. “Right now, we got a whole bunch of people interested in this baby and her mom. Dunno who’s being truthful, and that means you’re gonna have to do some serious talking. Cops are notified. On their way now.”

“No, they aren’t. All the communication’s knocked out.”

A tiny beeping yanked their attention.

“What’s that?” Kit said.

“Front camera alert.” Cullen pulled out his phone and handed it to her. “Check the screen.”

As she did, her stomach contracted to a fist. “A car ... the SUV, coming this way.”

“How many inside?”

She squinted. “I can only see...” She gasped. “The image disappeared.”

Cullen muttered. “Lost the remaining signal.” He turned to her. “Know how to shoot?”

“No.”

He yanked the lamp cord from the wall. “Here. If he moves, whack him with this.” He ran out the front door, grabbing binoculars on the way. She went all-over cold when the man moved in the chair.

“They’re coming and they’ll kill you,” he said.

The hair rose on her arms. “Who? And why?”

“She can hurt them.”

“Who?” she repeated.

He swiped at the blood still seeping from his nose. “Annette.”

Annette who? she wanted to scream. Is that the baby or the mother? But before she could get anything out, Cullen was back. “Can’t tell how many. We’ve—”

Evel surged from the chair, running for the stairs. Tot ...

Kit grabbed his jacket as he barreled by, spinning him around, right into Cullen’s fist.

Evel collapsed, groaning.

Cullen pulled out the fallen man’s wallet. He flipped it open and yanked the driver’s license free, jamming it into his own pocket.

A scrap of paper fluttered to the floor. Kit just managed to grab it before Cullen snagged her wrist.

Evel sat up with a groan. Flashlight beams splayed into the darkened interior. He staggered upright and lurched into the kitchen.

“We have to stop him,” Kit called.

“No time,” he said, pulling on her arm. “They’re around the side of the house.” The small light over the mantel was suddenly extinguished.

“They cut the power,” she whispered. “They’re coming.” Her skin felt too tight for her body. Wordlessly, she raced upstairs after him and snagged the sleeping Tot and her duffel bag. Cullen grabbed his pack and bolted the bedroom door.

Locking us in? “What are we doing?”

From downstairs came the sound of a door being slammed open, boots trampling the wood floor of Cullen’s living room.

He hurried to the small bedroom window and wrestled it open.

She struggled to understand. “The ... roof?”

“We’re not escaping without a firefight unless we get creative.” He climbed out onto the level section of roof, banging his forehead on the sill, his wide shoulders barely squeezing through. Hand extended, he crooked his neck to see her.

“Fast, Kit. We gotta move fast.”

With great difficulty, Kit climbed over the sill, holding Tot in a death grip. At the edge of the flat portion, the eaves dropped away at a frightening angle. They both sat down on their bottoms.

The shingles were slick, and the loose socks caused her to slip. Cullen grabbed her arm. “You hold Tot. I’ll hold you.”

Together they skidded and slid their way to the very edge of the roof, where her toes encountered the gutter. Fifteen feet, maybe. Too far to jump.

“How are we going to get off this roof?”

Cullen pointed. “We’ll climb down the drainpipe. It’ll deposit us near the garage. We’ll get to my truck.”

Shimmying down drainpipes with a baby in the dark. A completely ridiculous and risky plan, but what was the alternative? Return to the house for a shootout? Deliver the money and hope they wouldn’t be murdered?

“They’re coming and they’ll kill you.”

From the window she heard the sound of boots kicking at the bedroom door. They’d be through in a matter of seconds.

She peered into the darkness. She’d survive the drop if she fell, but Tot? What if they bungled the transfer? She clenched her teeth. “Will the downspout hold?”

Cullen gave her a “hurry up” gesture and tossed the pack and duffel onto the ground, then slung his rifle over his shoulder. “You go first in case I’m too heavy. I’ll lower Tot down to you.”

She eased over the roof and gripped the cold metal.

It was gritty against her palms. Her socks reduced her traction, and she quickly shimmied them off.

Her toes screamed at the freezing metal, but with the improved friction she was able to slither down.

When her feet landed on a slimy spot of grass, she could hardly believe she’d done it.

“Here’s Tot,” Cullen whispered. He held the baby by the back of her outfit, leaned his torso into the gap, and extended his arm to its full length.

Kit stretched until her spine cracked, her hands woefully short of the dangling baby.

Tot’s limbs twitched madly as he eased her down a couple inches more. The baby was ready to scream.

“I can’t reach.”

“Gonna let go. Catch her.”

Catch her ? Panic rippled her limbs. “No, don’t.”

But he counted down from three and let go. The baby dropped from his fist and thudded softly into Kit’s arms with a squeal. “Shhhh shhhhh,” she soothed, trying to calm them both. Wood splintered inside as the bedroom door was kicked off its hinges.

“They’re through, Cullen,” she called. “Hurry.”

Cullen scooted onto the downspout. He looked like he was acting in some sort of clip from a bad B movie, his giant frame clinging to the spindly metal conduit. No doubt the guy was athletic, but he wasn’t exactly graceful.

As he fought for a hold, boots sliding, the metal shrieked. The drainpipe sheared away from the cabin. Cullen toppled like a felled pine, landing on his back in a swirl of debris. Immediately he rolled onto all fours and staggered to his feet. “Go. I’m okay. Get to the truck.”

He delayed a moment, but she didn’t stop to find out why. With Tot clamped to her front, she ran to the garage. Every rock and stone found the soles of her bare feet, but she kept on, finally ripping open the driver’s side door of Cullen’s truck and tossing in the duffel before getting in with Tot.

Tot cried as Kit looked anxiously for Cullen. Where was he? One minute and she heard shouts from the house. Had he passed out? Broken his leg and been unable to make it to the garage? She’d have to go back for him.

Hand on the door, she flung it open just as Cullen sprinted up and leapt into the truck. He cranked the engine and slammed it into reverse.

“Down,” he roared a second before bullets sprayed at them from the roof.

The SUV guys had discovered their escape route.

She could see their dark shapes dropping from the roof, one, two.

The truck lurched. Cullen cleared the garage, and then he pivoted in a U-turn.

He floored the gas. They streaked down the drive until he slammed on the brakes.

The SUV was parked in the middle of the cement, blocking their escape.

Tot chose that moment to wail. The sound pierced her eardrums like an arrow. Behind them, flashlights moved along the drive, bobbing as the two men ran to catch up with the truck.

Cullen was still for a moment, then he wrenched the wheel and plunged off the road and into the pasture. She barely maintained her grasp of the baby.

“Can your truck handle this terrain?”

“We’re gonna find out.”

“Is there an exit in this direction?”

He didn’t answer. They surged on, bumping and pitching. In the sideview mirror, the SUV’s headlights activated. Their attackers had reached their vehicle. The pursuit was on again.

She couldn’t talk. They were jostling so much she could barely think. Bare feet braced, she wedged herself in the seat and caged her arms around Tot. As much as Cullen sped up, the SUV managed to make steady progress in closing the gap between them.

Ahead, a sturdy split rail fence barred their way. He turned parallel to the fence until they reached a metal gate. He braked, leapt out, and hurried to open the combination padlock. Like a linebacker, he shoved the gate aside.

“How’s this helping?” she started when he got back in, but he drove through, jumped back out to close the gate, and locked it behind them. In a flash they were moving again, the ground more uneven than before.

“I know my land,” Cullen said. “They don’t. The gate will slow them down long enough for us to get to the bridge.”

“And the bridge leads to ...”

“We’ll get to my friend’s place outside of Grandlake. He was uncertain about evacuating, but even if he did, he has a landline. Might work.”

“ Might work?” They were banking their lives on a flimsy notion like that? Over the growling engine she heard metal smashing metal, a shriek that hung in the air. The SUV guys were attempting to bash through the gate.

Evel’s rasping voice replayed in her thoughts. “How’d you get the baby? Where are they?”

They? The baby and Tot’s mom? She had to be the key to whatever the murderous men were after, and it wasn’t just the money in the duffel. “She can hurt them.”

Tot screamed and Kit held her steady. How long before the attackers would be upon them again?