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Chapter 19: Under Siege

Piper laid her bag on the couch in the living room but left her jacket on. Leo took her in his arms and kissed her, happy she was finally his. Leo broke the kiss and held her to his chest. He looked out the front window and his heart clenched in fear. About six men were getting out of various vehicles across the street, all wearing black.

"Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"Run."

"What?"

"Run!" he yelled and pushed her down to the floor as the first bullets shattered the window.

Piper screamed and crawled on the floor. She didn't stop until she reached the landing of the stairs. She curled into a ball in the corner of the wall, screaming. Leo was soon beside her, leaning against her and trying to shield her from flying shrapnel. The bullets were getting to close to protect her for long.

Her hands were covering her face. He pulled them away and made her look at him. "Piper!" he yelled over the roar of bullets. "Why I say now, climb to the top of the stairs! Keep low to the ground! Don't stop no matter what!"

She just nodded her head and screamed as a bullet pierced the wall above her. The bullets stopped for just a second, probably to reload.

"Now!" Leo shouted and he and Piper took off for the top of the stairs, staying low. They were almost there when Leo heard her scream. Afraid she had been hit, he turned around.

A man dressed in black had her by the ankle and was dragging her down the stairs.

Leo acted instinctively by standing up and lashing out his foot into the guy's face. He fell down the stairs with a scream.

Leo helped Piper up and they began to go back up the stairs. But the man's scream seemed to have attracted his friends, for there were now three men dressed in black at the bottom of the stairs.

"All we want is the woman," one of the men said with a faint accent. Japanese, Chinese, or Vietnamese, Leo couldn't tell.

Leo made use Piper was safely behind him. She put her head between his shoulder blades and held on to his shirt. "No."

The three men charged up the stairs. Leo might have been able to take them if one of them didn't have a gun or if the bullet graze in his side wasn't hurting so badly. But under the circumstances, he was out powered.

Leo took out the guy with the gun first. They began wrestling on the stairs. But as the two wrestled, the other two men in black grabbed Piper and began carrying her out of the manor.

"Leo!" she screamed, struggling against her captors. "Let go of me!"

"Piper!' Leo yelled back. The man he was wrestling took his momentary lapse in attention to send him a blow to the head. Before he knew what was happening, the man in black pushed him over the side railing of the stairs and Leo fell on the table below. The table buckled beneath his weight.

"Leo!" Piper screamed, but his body made no movement in response.

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Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter, but I thought that would be a good place to leave it. Please review and let me know what you think!