“Can you do that?”
“The War Office can do anything,” Isaac grunted. “Two more gone.”
“Seven left,” Connor told him. He turned to Tahlia as though he had just been discussing nothing more interesting than the weather. “It will be alright. I promise.”
Isaac turned to Oscar. “Go to the front rooms and take a peek through the shutters. See if there is anyone lingering out front. Count how many there are. We aren’t going outside, it is too dangerous. At least in here we have food, warmth, and shelter. We will have to wait until Barnaby tries to return. He can send for reinforcements if he witnesses someone watching the house.”
Connor nodded grimly. The urge to get Tahlia to safety was purely masculine; a man looking after his mate. However, the fighter in him, the Star Elite worker, had to be logical. They would be safer to remain where they were, and continued to fend off anyone who tried to get into the house.
“Two out front, but they are just watching and not trying to get in,” Oscar reported as he came to a stop in the doorway. “What do you want me to do with them?”
“Keep watch, Oscar. Do all of the rooms have the shutters drawn and curtains closed now?” Connor replied. As he spoke he was already on his way toward the connecting doors to the room next door.
“Yes, why?”
“Is there something in the cellars we can use to barricade the window that’s been smashed?” Connor asked. “Once Isaac has taken out as many as he can see, we can secure the window and turn out attention to keeping watch upstairs.”
“Why upstairs?” Tahlia asked with a frown. “Wouldn’t we do better if we kept watch down here where we can fight whoever tries to get in?”
Her use of the word ‘we’ unnerved him.
“We need to stay up high because we can see anyone approaching the house before they get to it. We can then be in whichever room they approach. It is no good standing in the sitting room at the side of the house if they are trying to get into the front parlour.”
He had a point. Nodding her understanding, she turned her attention to Cecily when Oscar and Connor went to find
something to block the broken window.
“Are you alright?”
Cecily laughed as she pushed up her sleeves. Her cheeks were already smudged with soot and her hair looked like she had spent the night under a hedge, but that didn’t bother her. Not given the circumstances. There was a militant gleam in Cecily’s eye that matched Tahlia’s determination to thwart the blackguards who were trying to break into her house. Tahlia had no idea who they were, or really what they wanted, but whatever it was, they weren’t going to get it. She winced when Isaac let off another volley of shots that was accompanied with a distant cry of pain. Quickly closing all thoughts of what might have happened to the recipient of that particular bullet, she turned to watch Oscar and Connor carry two old doors into the room.
“Six,” Isaac called. “I think it is five now because one has gone down but hasn’t left.”
“We need to cut these boards down to size,” Connor murmured.
“I have the thing.” Minutes later, Oscar re-appeared with a small saw used to chop the meat bones in the kitchen.
“Tell me when you are ready,” Isaac warned.
Connor had a hammer tucked into the waist-band of his breeches and Oscar had a fistful of nails. Once the doors were reduced, they moved the newly sized doors into position.
“How many more are there?” Connor asked, wise enough to know not to try to see for himself.
Isaac studied the darkness. He didn’t turn around to look at Connor as he spoke, but kept watch as he carefully assessed the shadows.
“Stay out of the line of sight,” he warned. “I think there are three more in the bushes. Of the rest, two are still down. Three others are injured and were helped over the garden wall. We need help, Connor.”
“We have to wait for Barnaby to get here. We don’t have any way of getting a message to him.”
Isaac’s sigh was heavy. He knew they were in dire trouble but didn’t say as much for fear of instilling hysteria in the women. However, it didn’t sit too well that they were like sitting targets waiting to be picked off. While the men who had just left were injured, and unlikely to return, Sayers would send reinforcements, and they would be even more determined than this lot. If there was one thing Sayers absolutely hated it was having his plans thwarted.
“When you are ready,” Connor grunted as he and Oscar crept across the room on their knees with one of the doors. “Step back and we will plug the gap.”
“Ready?” Isaac emptied both guns in a volley of shots that rendered at least two men out of action.
“Go,” Connor ordered.
He and Oscar immediately stood and slammed the door across the window opening, immediately blocking the view into the room from outside. Isaac dragged the second door up to cover the space beside it and held it in place until the window was blocked completely. By the time numerous nails had been hammered into place the doors worked more effectively than the shutters.