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Noelle sucked in a silent breath as the realization hit her These weren't just some punky kids out to make a few bucks off a stolen TV Whoever was in her house was armed in a serious way

Noelle heard the faint rattling of the batteries against the plastic case of the flashlight held in her tre to her left, casting the shadow of steps--like jagged black teeth--onto the floor near her feet The red dot glowed brighter and she could see the streak of laser light bouncing off the dust particles floating about in the griainst her will and blood pounded loudly in her ears Noelle watched the white light, saw it gather and grow shter as the wielder stepped onto the stairway

The old wood of the top step creaked under the h the open back of the steps as he descended

Noelle tried to catch her breath as she shrank back into the s that it was her only weapon She knew also that it was going to be a poor ainst men armed with real weapons

A sharp pop, followed by aroo as if the ht disappeared for an instant She heard a grunt and the sickening crunch of breaking bone, then the body of thelie of each wooden step

When he landed at the bottom of the steps on the dirty floor, his dark eyes were open, staring right at Noelle

She froze with fear It took her several frantically fast heartbeats to realize that the man was dead Most of his face was covered with a black knit ski lazed and fixed in death

The sht mounted to the top of his rifle cast a brilliant cylinder of dusty light against the wall immediately to Noelle's left The dust kicked up by his body's landing on the dirty floor swirled in the air, clawing its way into her lungs The need to cough strained her chest as she fought to reroan of old wood sounded directly above her head and her chin shot up in time to see a new pair of boots land stealthily on the top step

This tier

The e so that the wood made as little noise as possible Noelle forced herself to reainst herHe race that told her he'd done things like this before A lot

No flashlight was mounted to this man's weapon, but now that he had descended the steps far enough for her to see hi headgear--likely the Starlight scopes the ht vision

He knelt before to the dead ainst the side of the fallen man's throat Even as he checked for a pulse, his eyes never lowered

He plucked so from the dead man's head and fitted it into his ear--probably souessed

He scanned the roooggles, his body went still

Cold sweat slid down between her breasts She cla it as she would a baseball bat Slowly, she forced her tre her way to the only escape

--the steps

"Dr Blanche?" asked the man in a near whisper

He knew her naht?

"I'et you out before the bad guys can" He extended a gloved hand His body was entirely encased in black Even his face had been smeared with black paint behind the eyeholes in his mask He held the rifle with the unconscious confidence of aweapons

She prayed he wasn't lying She wasn't used to running on instincts, so hers were rusty, but they told her that he was telling the truth He was here to help

Intellectually, her best option was to et out and let the police sort out good guys froood plan Her only plan But as if he anticipated her et to the stairs, she'd have to go through hih statistics classes to know the chances of that happening were al the lottery

Painful, ragged heartbeats punctuated her scattered thoughts Above the thud in her chest ca floorboards Someone else was up there

Noelle's heart did a flip-flop and settled low in the pit of her stomach

The loved finger to his lips for silence and knelt to switch off the dead ht

Instantly, the baseed back into dusty blackness Noelle's eyes widened, but there was siht available She was blind

Noelle resisted the urge to flip the sht and sweep away soht She knew that would give away her position not only to the man here in the basement, but also to the one above

Those rusty instincts screaet out of the house Too bad they hadn't started shouting five minutes sooner

Cautiously, Noelle reached out a hand to feel for the stairs as she stepped forward Before her first step had fallen, the man in the basement with her had crossed the distance between theloved hand and used his body to flatten hers against the brick wall behind her