But Aidan’s right side was crushed against the staircase. Michael found footing against the wall behind him and kicked hard. He and Aidan rolled so that Michael was now on top of the other man. Michael reached around to the inside of his jacket, but before he got there, Aidan pulled out the gun with his left hand. His nondominant hand. This was possibly even more dangerous.
“Michael. He has a gun.” Ellie’s voice broke through the pitch of the alarm, and both Michael and Aidan shifted toward it.
“Get behind the wall,” Michael shouted.
As the last word came out of his mouth, the gun went off, a thundering boom over the wail of the alarm. Fear surged through Michael’s body, a cold echo inside him. Had Ellie been hit? Not her, Lord. Please, not again. Michael couldn’t see her. He had to make sure she was all right. That meant he had to disarm this man now. He tugged hard against Aidan’s arm, tightening his hold, distracting him as he reached for the left arm. When he caught it, he banged it against the edge of the stairs, once, twice, harder each time.
“You should be protecting her, not threatening her,” Michael muttered.
Aidan’s grip began to loosen, so Michael rapped the man’s knuckles again and again until, finally, the gun clattered onto the step. The moment Aidan let go, Michael twisted his left arm behind him. Now both arms were secure. Aidan struggled underneath him, but the man was stuck. The problem was, so was Michael. The moment he moved, Aidan would be up, too. But Michael could deal with that once Ellie was safe.
Please, don’t let her be hurt.
“Ellie? Are you all right up there?”
A pause. One second stretched out into another, infinite, as he teetered on the edge of panic. “Ellie?”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft, barely audible over the alarm.
Thank you, Lord.
“I need you to come down here,” he called. “Get his gun. I have a hold on him so he can’t get up.”
Aidan renewed his struggles, kicking and bucking as Michael tried to take a glimpse up the stairs. Finally, Ellie’s red curls peeked out from behind the wall, then her face. She looked at them, like she was assessing the situation for herself. Slowly, she started down.
When she was a few steps away, Aidan whispered something Michael didn’t catch. Ellie swayed, gripping the banister, as a look of devastation crossed her face. Stay strong, he silently pleaded. Then she straightened, let go of the banister, and continued down the stairs.
Aidan barked, “You both are going to regret this.”
“That’s funny,” she said. “I’d think you were the one with the regrets at this moment.”
Aidan growled. As she took the last steps, he lurched toward her, but Michael pulled hard on his right arm.
“Steady,” muttered Michael, who then turned to Ellie. “Pick up the gun.”
Ellie scowled down at it and then picked it up, keeping it pointed at the floor.
“Now go out the back door,” he said over the alarm. “Take your snowmobile and get away from here.”
Ellie stared at him with that hard look of determination.
“There’s no way I’m leaving you behind.”
SEVEN
Fear jolted through Ellie like a live wire to her system. Aidan’s voice. A dark cloud of dread came over her.
Her breaths came faster as she neared a full-system panic. The attack outside the cave came back in full detail: the way he had yelled at her, overpowered her, the stars that had crept into her vision as the world faded away.
Now it was happening again. Ellie took a deep breath. Another. Was she having some sort of breakdown? Aidan’s comment back in the cave came back. This is your fault, Elizabeth, he’d hissed. All of it.
How could she be sure that she could trust anything else about herself right now? The echoes of her past were determined to swamp her.
She’d thought they could come and go from the house without being caught, but as she’d crossed the hallway, go bag in hand, the alarm pierced through the house. For a moment, she’d considered bringing it with her, but what if the intruder got ahold of the only money? So she’d shoved a few things into her jacket and thrown the go bag into the cabinet below the bathroom sink. Then she’d waited, listening as Aidan had spun a new version of events for Michael.
What if Michael believed Aidan over her? She knew she’d been acting odd, secretive, and she wasn’t even sure she could trust herself. Michael might give her away, either accidentally or intentionally. Ellie closed her eyes and prayed. She prayed for help, and she prayed for calm, for a way out of this panic. Trust God. He will guide you. Trust God. It’s the only thing you have right now.
But... This is your fault, Elizabeth. All of it.
Ellie had almost tripped down the steps as those words rattled through her, warring with the calm she was desperately grasping for. The fragment of that morning in the cave had come back, just a flash of words and emotions. Your fault. Those words, the cold that had seeped through her wet boots, all the way up to her neck, and the sinking pit of dread inside, the dread of being trapped by him. Your fault.
Ellie’s heart jumped in her chest. She had to keep it together, for her sake but also for Michael’s.
Anger shone from Aidan’s eyes as he looked up at her, struggling under Michael’s firm hold.
The alarm wailed, over and over, incessant, demanding her attention. She ignored it, ignored that fragment of memory. She had to close all her memories off and focus on the gun. Get it far away from Aidan.
She swallowed, feeling the weight of it in her hand. She hated guns, hated the one Sean had kept in the house, even after she told him about the time her neighbor had accidentally shot her father in the arm. It had left her dad with chronic pain, a pile of medical bills, and a ranch that her parents could no longer keep up with on their own.
But I’m careful, Sean had said. We should have one, just in case.
In what case would he have shot someone? She hadn’t pushed the point with him and, truthfully, she was glad she’d never know. It was the first thing she had gotten rid of after he’d died. And now there was another one in the house.
“Ellie, go!” Michael shouted.
She looked down at him.
But, like she’d told him, there was no way on earth she was leaving him behind.
