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with a silencer.
    She shoved through the swinging door into the kitchen, immediately turned, and slammed the door back the other way, into the person nearest her. There was a crunch—hopefully his nose—a thud, and a bellow. Two down? Scrambling around the center island to the towel drawer, she yanked the drawer out too far and it fell, sending the gun clattering across the ceramic tile. She dove for it, the island giving her a little protection, a few seconds of cover, and hopefully an element of surprise. The gun shifted in her slick grip. The safety seemed to echo as she clicked it off, straining to hear where her pursuers were. Had they even come into the kitchen? She couldn’t wait for them, there wasn’t time. Kelsey. She had to warn Kelsey.
    Regan stood with a roar, aiming and firing at once, but it was a stupid move. Two of the men had entered, but neither stood where she was aiming. All she did was kill her Audubon bird clock. The guy on her left grabbed her left arm and reached for the gun. The guy on the right grabbed her right arm and did the same. Penned in from either side, she dropped straight down, but not before the guy on the left batted the gun from her hand. It clattered on the tile again as her weight pulled the right-hand attacker to the floor with her.
    She screamed at a sudden, sharp, burning pain in her left shoulder. The left-hand guy had held on to her arm and stayed upright, dislocating her shoulder. Her vision went black, her stomach churning. She retched. He let go, and she yelled again when her arm hit the floor, reigniting the pain. She tried to roll away from him, knowing instinctively he was going to kick her. But she had nowhere to go. The guy on the right blocked her way. He didn’t seem to be moving.
    She was trapped now, boxed in by her cabinets and her enemies. Let go , her mind whispered. Just give up . But Kelsey’s laughter echoed in her head. Kelsey, who’d met a new guy. Who’d thanked her for being brave.
    Gasping for air, she forced herself to block out the pain in her arm and rolled back to the left, into the feet of the one who’d dislocated her shoulder. He was only standing on one foot, the other swinging forward to kick her. Instead of her kidney or ribs he hit her hip, and she was closer so the strike wasn’t as bad as he’d intended. She kept going and knocked him over. Unlike his buddy, he landed on her and knocked her breathless. Her left arm useless and still excruciating, she tried to drag herself out from under him with her right arm. Odd mewling, panting sounds echoed in her ears, seeming to come from someone else’s lungs. Hands grabbed at her hips, slipped away, then found better purchase on her lower legs. She kicked ferociously and contacted rough fabric over very soft tissue. Bull’s-eye.
    He let go of her for a moment, long enough for her to struggle to her feet. She had to call Kelsey. Her phone. The cell phone was plugged in, in the front hall. She had no time to get there. But the kitchen phone was cordless. She leaned against the counter, trying to catch her breath, knowing she had seconds before he’d be on her again. She staggered toward the door, grabbing the phone off the hook with her right hand, fumbling it. The inside door was still open, and the screen door had been ripped off its hook. She was through, and he still wasn’t behind her. She had a few more seconds. He’d started cursing.
    She pressed pound-oh-one and tried to run across the back yard. Wrong way. It was all enclosed. Stupid. Why hadn’t she realized? She turned left, toward the rail fence between her and Tyler’s yards. The screen banged behind her. Kelsey’s dorm phone rang once, followed by a decade of silence. Footsteps in the grass. Ragged breathing. She swung a leg over the fence and teetered with no free hands to balance herself. She half fell over the other side, listened to another ring. More silence. Why the hell wasn’t she in her room at this late hour?