Chapter 8 - BLOOD ON THE SNOW
Adrenaline, pure and unadulterated, flooded my system. The terrified pregnant woman vanished; the ER trauma nurse took over.
I grabbed the heavy iron poker from the fireplace and threw myself against the heavy oak front door, slamming the deadbolt shut just as a hail of bullets splintered the wood. Glass shattered. I dropped to the floor, crawling toward the window.
Outside, Dominic was bleeding heavily, but he wasn't dead. Using the porch railing for cover, he drew his backup weapon and fired with lethal accuracy. One of Enzo's men went down with a bullet to the skull.
"Claire, stay down!" Dominic roared over the gunfire.
I couldn't just sit there. I low-crawled to the kitchen, grabbing the massive first-aid trauma kit Dominic had ordered stocked for me. I tore open bandages and pressure dressings.
Another gunshot rang out, followed by a sickening thud. Enzo had flanked Dominic. Dominic shot Enzo in the leg, but Enzo managed to fire a graze shot that caught the side of Dominic's abdomen. Dominic went down hard.
Enzo limped forward to finish him off.
I didn't think. I kicked the side door open. I had Dominic's heavy hunting rifle in my hands—I didn't know how to shoot, but I knew how to hold a weapon. I aimed at the porch and pulled the trigger. The recoil knocked me flat on my back, but the blast shattered the wooden pillar next to Enzo's head, sending splinters into his face.
Distracted, Enzo screamed. Dominic didn't miss his window. He raised his handgun and put two bullets squarely into Enzo's chest. The traitor collapsed, dead in the snow.
The remaining men fled in the SUV, terrified of the bleeding Don and the lunatic nurse with a rifle.
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I scrambled up and ran to Dominic. He was pale, gasping for air, bleeding heavily into the snow.
"I've got you," I cried, ripping open his shirt and pressing the trauma pads hard into his shoulder and side. "I've got you, stay with me!"
