16

Bunny walked back the way she had come, sliding back into the dark bedroom as Harris walked to the front doors and simply entered as he always did, calling out that he was done for the evening and ready to go.

Bunny slid up the stairs, clinging to the wall and into the room she knew the kids would be in, both still engrossed in the movie.

"Babies, we have bad things happening and I need you to hide" she hissed, both heads turning to stare at her with shock, "Come on. We are going to the attic, like a game of hide and seek. Only Daddy can find us, come on now."

"Where's Quinn?" David was instantly on alert, sensing the danger.

"He's OK, he's in the barn with Kyle who will keep him there" Bunny whispered, "Come on love. No time for this, we have to go. Harris is downstairs and doing his thing, Jerry and Matt are home ... we will go hide and wait for Daddy."

David looked unconvinced, peering out the door with a frown, then he stepped towards the staircase.

"David!" she hissed "Don't you dare leave us! We need you. You are the man of the family until Daddy is home, come protect us!"

Dirty pool but it worked, Bunny relieved she was in her full garb and able to pull off a feminine pout. David nodded and headed for the attic stairs, both kids clambering up into the area they also played in a lot.

"Right, good kids. Stay up there, stay quiet. No matter what, you hear? Only me or Daddy will get you down. Do not come down for anyone else!" she demanded and David's face changed as he realised he had been played.

"You're not coming up?" he whined.

"No, I will go wait for Daddy" she lied, "I love you, be brave and remember you are Harkness-Jones'. No tears until it's all over."

"Yes mama" Micha nodded sadly, "You come back."

"I love you munchkin bum … David, my big strong man I love you to the moon and back, I am so proud of you both." Bunny smiled as David hit the switch then she watched the stairs move up and close to become invisible. Once she was sure they were safe she slid back down, the shogun no longer hidden in her shirts as she snapped it shut and took a deep breath, moving towards the raised voices in the kitchen.

She looked around the corner to find to men there with Jerry in their sights, one with a gun raised as the other pulled out drawers.

"Just tell us what you are looking for" Mathew demanded as he tried to get closer to his father, "We will give you whatever you want if you just leave."

"If ya don't shut your pie hole I'll shut it for ya!" the man with the gun snarled.

"Not here!" the Drawer Opener declared, "Must be somewhere else."

"Move to the living room, might be there!" the gun waver said.

Bunny considered and let the shot gun slide back into the fold of her skirts ruffling them until the gun and her hand disappeared, then she called out softly, "Mama?"

"Oh god" Gloria gasped as Bunny entered the room and looked at the men with shock.

"Oh my, what's going on here?" she asked with wide eyes and her body turned so the skirts hid her weapon, "Mama?"

"It's alright love, they will leave soon" Jerry said unsteadily and Bunny noted the trickle of blood down the side of his face. They had struck him.

Wait a minute.

Three doors.

Two men.

She stepped back to the wall, controlling her space so no one could come behind her and made out like she was shocked, her hand to her mouth as she watched the men talk, argue and then motion everyone to the living room.

Number three was there, the place upended and books everywhere.

"Did ya find it?" Gun Waver asked.

"Nah, but I found that!" the man pointed and everyone looked at the book with confusion.

"The old stock ledgers?" Jerry frowned with confusion, "what the hell do you want that for?"

"To your left. All the old ledgers and files are in that cabinet" Mathew pointed, "Whatever you need."

The Drawer Opener headed over and started pulling things out then gave a bark of excitement, "Got it. Right? This is?"

He held up something that looked like a trophy and Jerry sighed softly, "Really? The old Rodeo Trophies? You are doing all this for that? Gods alive. You're Barnaby Kent's boys aren't you. This is about his feud with the bloody Rodeo Authorities that stripped him of his buckles. Come on … Sergeant happily bowed to him, even argued for him to have the buckle when it was handed to him as runner up. Your father wouldn't accept it. You are really doing all this for him?"

"Dad won those fair and square!" Drawer Opener snarled.

"And Kent and Victoria Dale?" Jerry snarled back "They deserved to die for this?"

Drawer Opener and Gun Waver looked at him like he was mad but Book Thrower continued to hunt like nothing was wrong.

"Connor?" Gun Waver said angrily, "what the hell does he mean by that?"

"He had a gun, I was defending us" Connor snapped.

"Really? We were gone, you said you left your hat behind … shit. We never heard gun shots. You used the silencer? Ahhhh shit. Dad didn't want that. What the hell!" Gun Waver let his weapon drop as he gaped at his older brother and Drawer Opener joined in.

"Dad's gonna kill us"

"Not unless I do first" Jack snarled from the doorway, his Webley trained on the youngest one who was still holding the trophy.

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Those of you asking about the extra security please remember this is all happenig that same day they heard about the deaths. As securtiy was flying in .. they are not yet here. It was too little too late.