“Let’s plan for your next day off,” Gavin said encouragingly.
“Oh!” Edie said suddenly. “Kenzie, I have a little dagger for you in my car for you to practice with. Let me grab it.”
“I’ll come with you,” Kenzie said with a smile. Edie had been her partner at weapons class and had taught her so much with the thin-bladed dagger. As weird as the class was, it was also the most fun she’d had in ages. The women were so nice and encouraging and the weapons were challenging. Kenzie had left the class energized and looking forward to the next one.
Edie grabbed her purse and headed for the door. Kenzie followed as they talked about the dagger Edie had used for practice when she’d started out. The night air was cool and a fog was rolling into town from the river. It was beautiful, causing the night lights to shimmer.
“The fog is so pretty,” Kenzie said, looking at the shimmering lights as the fog grew heavier.
Edie gave a little shiver at the dropping temperature. “I hate the fog. It’s creepy, but this time of year we have it quite a bit. Anyway, may I recommend filling a pillowcase with straw and hanging it from a tree to practice on, but hanging it from your shower rod can work, too,” Edie explained as she opened the trunk of her car.
Kenzie glanced down at the array of weapons in her trunk. There was a rifle case in the back. There were also swords in scabbards and even a bow and arrow. “I didn’t know you did all this,” Kenzie said, gesturing to the rest of the weapons.
“The rifle was my husband’s. Then my brother got me this,” Edie said, pointing to what Kenzie guessed was a handgun case. “Then I got into archery after working with the crossbow at church. Now I even go to a few competitions now and then.”
A large extended SUV pulled onto Main Street and Kenzie watched as it drove slowly down the street. She noticed Edie was watching it, too. “Is something wrong?” Kenzie asked.
“Yeah, I get nervous about SUVs with blackout windows,” Edie said, reaching for the handgun case. Her thumb unlocked it right as a window of the SUV rolled down and a rifle stuck out.
“Edie!” Kenzie yelled as she grabbed her new friend and flung her to the ground behind her car as the first gunshot went off.
Edie didn’t stay down, though. She pushed herself up and took aim. She fired five shots at the SUV, sending it speeding down the street. “What the hell was that?”
“I don’t know,” Kenzie said as fear filled her. “But they’re turning around.”
“Grab everything you can carry and run for the bar,” Edie said, shoving some of the swords at her as Edie grabbed both the rifle case and bow and arrow case.
Kenzie gripped the swords under her arm and ran for the door that was opening as they neared.
“Did I hear gunfire?” Kord asked as he opened the door.
“Yes!” Kenzie yelled as she dove through the door a second ahead of Edie and only two seconds before the door was peppered with another round of bullets from the SUV.
“Not again,” Harper groaned. “Doesn’t my door have enough bullets in it?”
“Close the shutters!” Kord ordered, and Trent and Ridge rushed to close the interior shutters of the large front window so whoever was in the SUV couldn’t see in.
Kord locked the front door and then sent a text. The front window shattered and pieces of the shutter exploded.
“Kord,” Georgiana said softly from where she stood with a beer in her hand.
“Get down, Georgie,” Kord responded without looking at her, but Kenzie saw it. There was a bloom of blood on her shirt.
“Gavin!” Kenzie yelled as she scrambled from the floor and caught Georgina as she fell.
“No!” Kord yelled as he finally saw what had happened.
Kenzie was already in the zone where everything going on around her disappeared. All she saw and heard were her patient and the doctor. Kenzie tore open Georgina’s shirt to find the bullet wound in her upper right shoulder.
“It’s okay,” Kord said softly to her as he cradled her head. “Gavin and Kenzie will make it all better.”
Georgina groaned in pain as tears leaked down her face.
“Roll her,” Gavin said as Kenzie was already moving her hands to do so.
Kenzie rolled Georgina toward her and held her tight as Georgina cried out in pain at the same time the door tried to open.
“Barricade the bar!” Harper called out.
All around Kenzie, people were moving the ancient solid wood tables and stacking them up against the front and back doors and all the windows they could.
“It’s through and through,” Gavin said over the noise. “That’s good, Georgie. It’ll help with healing. Now hold on and let me clean it.”
“You’re doing great,” Kord told her, helping Kenzie hold her still so that she could assist Gavin.
Kenzie placed her hand on Georgie’s chest and felt her draw a breath. “I think it missed the lung,” Kenzie told Gavin.
“I couldn’t hear any leaks either. It got through, but we’ll want an X-ray to make sure her clavicle or scapula didn’t get damaged. Let’s move her behind the bar so she’s safe,” Gavin told her.
Kord bent down and scooped her up into his arms. Georgie cried out and Kenzie noticed Turtle, Skeeter, and Gator surrounded her for added protection.
“How about hiding people who aren’t able to fight in the cellar? Then most of us can stay here to guard the entrances while anyone with a gun can go up to the second floor. We’ll have a good vantage point to see down to the street. We don’t have enough ammo to outshoot them, but it could be enough to keep them out until reinforcements arrive,” Harper suggested.
“Good idea,” Wade said with Darcy hidden protectively against him. “I’ve already called in an SOS to the Coast Guard and they’ll pass it along to the Charleston PD.”
“I’ve texted Granger and Ryker,” Kord said. “We just have to keep everyone safe until they can get here.”
Harper darted up the stairs and then was back down a moment later with a sheet in her hand. “I’ll put this on the floor in the cellar so Georgie’s wound doesn’t get dirty. Everyone who isn’t able to fight, follow me.”
Kenzie took the sheet and followed Harper into the kitchen. The center of the floor was lifted and a small steep staircase was below. Kenzie followed Harper down the stairs that were little more than a ladder and into a dark cool room underground. “Is this an old root cellar?”
“Yes, but now I use it to store my liquor,” Harper told her as they laid down the sheet in the back. “Give us Georgie,” Harper called up to Kord.
It was a struggle, but together they got Georgie down into the cellar as she cussed and cried out in pain. “Here,” Kenzie said, grabbing a bottle of vodka from the shelf. “Pain medication. Not too much, though.”
Georgie tipped back the bottle and took two long, deep drinks. Kenzie took the bottle and set it down for her before climbing back up the stairs.
“Lydia, you and the children need to get down here,” Harper said to a young mother with several crying children clinging to her.
It took a couple of minutes, but when Harper closed the door it seemed to melt into the floor. “Move this table,” Kenzie said, pointing to a small table covered in paperwork. “That way if they get in they won’t find them down there.”