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Ilona Thank God

"Ilona, help! Help me, please He can’t hurt both of us at the saet help!"

Ilona just stood there

And Tony started to laugh

"I gotta tell you, it really helps to have a babe when you’re not an adorable seventeen-year-old with his arorgeous?" he said, turning to Ilona

"I’ll get the scarves," Ilona said

Christina stared at the "You won’t otten so around outside," Christina said

There were cop cars in front of the house, and cops in the cop cars But they weren’t doing anything They were just waiting, unable to go bursting into Tony Lowell’s house without either probable cause or a warrant

"No warrant yet?" Jed de from his vehicle

A unifor his head

Killer was there, Jed realized The little Jack Russell was at the front door, going insane and throwing hiain "Killer!" he shouted, and the dog paused, hearing his voice He ran forward and picked up the little animal By that ti into her arms "Take him"

"I--"

"Get away from here," he told her

There were tears in Genevieve’s eyes "They say they can’t break in"

"I can"

He wasn’t a cop And he didn’t give a damn if anyone sued him from here to eternity But before he could break in the door, he gasped

A filthy naked wo around the side of the house toward hi cause!" Jed shouted

But he wasn’t waiting The door was locked, so he rammed it with his shoulder, then swore That was one solid door

He raain Out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the officers going to help Angie McDuff At thehow she happened to be where she was Alive…He only cared about getting inside and finding Christina

He rammed the door one ave He burst into the house The shadoithin were alht outside Heon the floor

He hunkered down

A body

Fuck

He felt for a pulse He found a face, a throat An Adarew accustoan to seeout of his rib cage

The , but Jed had to find out what he knew Trying to watch out for a sudden attack, he leaned low and placed his ear against Dan’s lips as Dan tried to speak

"Tony…and…"

There was a sudden, shrill cry of fury, and so a butcher knife and shrieking like a banshee

Jed turned just in tiht over hiht to subdue her, he was stunned to hear a woie, with a police, "Get down to the basement! Tony has Christina down there"

Jed leapt up, and with another shriek, Ilona started to rise

She didn’t ie kicked her Hard

Jed didn’t wait to seefor the stairs to the base on her with all his weight She struggled to h at least the mattress had helped cushion her when he landed

He i up a knee and slah, he twisted his fingers into her hair again and stopped her, so she sent a fist flying backward and caught him in the nose

She hoped she’d broken it

But he was strong, and he kne to use his weight to control her, all the while working to get his fingers around her neck She desperately searched thethe garden shears she’d used to free Angie

She found theers around them and lifted theo of her neck and grabbed for her hand, trying to wrest the shears from her In a moment he had the as far back against the mattress as she could

But he didn’t strike

She saw so…someone…move in the shadows behind him