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those gunmen, Cass had braced herself for the possibility that she’d have to dodge gunfire. What she couldn’t have planned for was the deafening blast that sent that bullet their way. The sound ripped through her, spiking her adrenaline and sending her heartbeat racing out of control.
    “Stay down,” Matt barked.
    Just as another bullet slapped into the dirt mere inches from her head.
    Cass flattened her body right against the frozen ground, and she tried to find out where the shots were coming from. The angle was all wrong for the bullets to have come from the gunman behind the big tree.
    “He’s on the roof,” Matt informed her, as if reading her mind. He levered himself up and fired.
    Cass hadn’t braced herself for that, either, and if she’d thought the shooter’s rifle was loud, it was a whisper compared to the sonic boom that came from Matt’s gun a couple of feet from her ear.
    “Did you get him?” she asked, unable to spot the guy who was obviously trying to kill them.
    “Not a chance. He’s out of range, and he knows it. That’s why he’s up there.”
    Oh, mercy. So, they had one shooter out of range and another likely creeping his way through the woods toward them.
    “Turn around,” Matt ordered her. “And watch our backs.”
    Cass hadn’t thought it could get any worse until he said that. Her heart was no longer just racing, it was banging against her ribs, and she could feel her pulse pound in her ears.
    Forcing herself not to panic, she rolled over so that she was on her back. The trees that’d given them so much protection to get to the bunker were now obstacles. Each one could hide a potential killer. Even worse, if she managed to spot him, Cass wasn’t even sure she’d be able to shoot. Simply put, her aim had never been tested in a real situation, only at a firing range.
    She might die right here, right now. And all because Dominic wanted to make sure she couldn’t testify against him.
    Those words flashed through her head and fed the adrenaline. They also fed her determination. They had to survive this. They had no other choice. Because if they died, they would never get Matt’s child away from Dominic.
    Fueled with her new motivation, Cass readjusted her position and her gun so she’d be better ready to fire. And she waited.
    Next to her, Matt fired two more shots.
    “You said the guy on the roof is out of range,” Cass whispered.
    “He is. The guy behind the oak moved.”
    Oh, God. More heart-pounding adrenaline. But Cass stayed focused on her own task. There was no movement in the back of the woods. No sounds, other than those that should be there. So all she could do was wait and pray that Matt was as good a shot as she thought he was.
    It didn’t take long, mere minutes, for the winter to stake claim to her body. She was bone cold, and her butt had likely frozen. Oh, and her teeth were chattering. Audibly chattering. Cass clamped her teeth over her bottom lip and hoped it would help.
    Matt fired yet another round and then almost calmly readjusted his arm. “The guy behind the tree is injured. I shot him in the right hand, so he probably won’t be shooting at us anymore.”
    He’d said that so calmly that it took a moment to sink in. Cass hated that she felt nothing but elation over the injury of another human being. But it seemed appropriate, considering this man, this stranger, had been willing to kill them.
    “What about the one on the roof?” she asked.
    “Still there.”
    Wonderful. They couldn’t get him, but he could certainly do some damage to Matt and her.
    There was a cracking noise. A sound that caused both Matt and her to scurry to re-aim. But Cass saw no gunman. Instead, a dead tree limb swooped to the ground.
    Matt immediately went back to his original position so he could keep an eye on the roof. “We need to get to that clearing just to your right.”
    She glanced in that direction, and it was obvious that Matt and she did not share the same