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Onelever on his Škorpion rasped his shoulder and said so in Russian that made him lower the weapon Sam said to Remi, “They need us alive, to turn over the treasure”

“Do you promise?”

The three rushed toward Saed them Sam faked to the side and redirected the first ave the second a glancing punch along the side of the head as he went by

Ree fireplace that dominated the foyer As the third man came toward her, she snatched up the poker He took a tentative step toward her, but she didn’t budge “You just cairl”

He smiled

“Bad choice” Re thrust with the fireplace poker, which extended it at least a foot farther than the man had anticipated and poked hirasp his sto the poker overhand and hit hi that in close quarters he could overpower her She swung as she stepped to the side, bashed the back of his head as he went by, and put hi, on the floor

She saw the other two had recovered and were beginning to rush Sam and so she thrust the poker between the ankles of the nearest ht it across his head as he fell The third , started to raise it toward her, and Sam delivered a kick to the side of his knee The sudden pain brought the un away

The gun went off, firing an unaimed burst into the floor, the far wall, and the staircase Then it was empty, and Sam delivered a punch to the face that bounced the un and pulled the spare , ejected the spent one and inserted the spare

Re room They both could hear the thunderous sound ofdown the stairs from the second and third floors

Sae for room, with its thirty-foot table, and then ran into the kitchen Sa?”

“We need to get out, but we can’t go outside yet or they’ll get a clear shot at us”

“We’ll have to try toroom, ran to the other side of the kitchen and bolted the door to the back stairway, then locked the

door that led outside They could hear running feet outside as ot into position

Saas stove and turned on the burners There was no sound except the electric starters clicking repeatedly as they produced a spark “They turned off the gas,” he said “Electricity’s still on because they expect to catch us in the lights”

Saht, and looked inside There was a barrel about five feet deep and three feet in diameter He took off the top “Flour,” he said He tilted it and rolled it to the middle of the floor