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fired up a mini blowtorch behind us and went at it without so much as a speck of protective gear. Wasn’t the first time, wouldn’t be the last.
    I took lead, dipping my HK VP40 pistol in front of me as we exited the hollow-sounding room.
    Bane and Walker herded Tilly and Lawless from the back, and we traversed from what amounted to a reinforced bunker into a short hall that looked like it might’ve been a servant’s corridor.
    “Still got power, I see?”
    “Designated generator to these rooms in case of attack.”
    “Someone was thinking.” I nodded in approval.
    “After 2008 things got a little more orderly around here,” Lawless commented from my left shoulder.
    “Orderly.” Tilly scoffed. “It’s like being shut up in a prison.”
    “You live here too, miss?” I asked, keeping my eyes aimed forward instead of glancing back.
    “I told you, mah name’s Tilly, not miss or Matilda.” The lilting accent came out full force when she was pissed off.
    Pardon me if I liked it. Liked it a lot.
    And a southern woman to boot. Damn. I never had one of those.
    Her accent reminded me of the peach color of her hair—and a hell of a lot of other parts of her I had no goddamn business imagining.
    Remaining silent, I rotated into the next room.
    “ Ah don’t live here, no.” Tilly’s hushed whisper followed me into what seemed to be a fairly decent sized galley. “I’m a professor of photography at Savannah College of Art and Design.”
    Filed that intel away for future investigation. One Matilda Lawless. Definitely a Georgia peach. Appeared to be in her mid-twenties.
    “I’m just visiting,” she finished.
    “Seems like a foolish place to visit,” I said before I could stop myself.
    I bit my lip when I heard a hiss behind me. So that was probably the wrong thing to say to the woman.
    “I am not foolish.”
    Swinging around, I faced Tilly on the opposite side of the room. Her cheeks stained pink and her eyes flashed with anger.
    “I didn’t mean to imply you were.” My voice lowered an octave, and I looked away from her.
    “Foolish, no. But you are damn stubborn, Tilly. Just like your momma was.” Lawless placed a hand on her arm.
    I didn’t want to get involved in their family dynamics any more than I wanted to feel this instant dangerous attraction to Tilly. All I had to do was keep them alive, get them out of the country, and say sayonara.
    “So, we’ve got the bunker, the kitchen. What else is in play, sir?” My eyes swerved and locked with Tilly’s determined ones for the space of a heartbeat before I found her father, watching with his hands pressed to his hips.
    “James. I said call me James,” he chewed out between tight lips as if it pained him to welcome me to use his given name. “Through there.” He pointed. “Two bedrooms, bathroom, the gym. The rest is closed off.”
    “A gym?” Walker blurted.
    “Waste of square feet to include a gym in the secure set-up.” Bane scowled.
    “I imagine whoever implemented it thought it might be a good way to blow off steam when cabin fever set in.” A small glimmer appeared in Lawless’s eyes. “I petitioned for an armory myself.”
    Huh. Now that was a goddamn good idea. Maybe we’d get along after all.
    “This area of the residence isn’t in regular use. No windows. No exit or entry points aside from the one now—”
    “Screwed beyond repair?” Walker was having a problem keeping his diarrhea of the mouth in check.
    “And now we’re all just snug as bugs.” Tilly chimed in with a teasing smile.
    “Like cockroaches in a trap,” Bane pressed out between thin lips.
    “My, aren’t you the cheerful one?” Tilly’s smug grin grew, and Bane gave her a glowering once-over.
    I was surprised he didn’t just outright growl at her.
    She didn’t seem to give a shit, surrounded by three big, solid, supposedly unapproachable dudes carrying all sorts of weapons.
    In fact, she leaned a hip against the counter and examined us all right