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“Security room.” Dominic’s voice stopped me, and in seconds, I’d redirected.
Finding Mari unharmed curbed the initial impulse to start shooting. I took one step inside the door and stopped. It was like I was unable to move farther as I watched the chaos unfold.
One of the walls had a twenty-four-hour feed to the compound just outside of Seattle, where we’d sent the Marcosa families. It was essentially a few neighborhoods locked inside a guarded gate line. The whole area was well-maintained and touted as one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the suburbs, but no outsiders could get in, regardless of how desperate they were.
Normally, it was just a single screen on the wall, something I checked twice a day to make sure everything was going well. I had daily chats with the men stationed there, and true to their word, they’d fortified the security and added more watch shifts so every square inch was covered. Nothing strange had ever happened on the feed.
Not until now.
“Enlarge the picture and end it here,” I rasped, pointing to the largest single screen I had. Since he was behind the desk, Nate’s fingers flew to do what I asked. Finally, the picture pulled up where I wanted it, and we watched the loop of all the cameras on the property.
Mari stood behind him, one hand clutching her throat and the other shaking over her mouth. Her eyes were wide and darting everywhere.
“What’s happening?” I asked, but I knew.
There was no way to look at the footage and not understand what was taking place.
The first camera in the loop was the front gate, which was nothing more than a pile of rubble with arms and legs askew underneath. Mari made a noise in the back of her throat, and I crept closer even though I didn’t want to.
The next camera was the road leading into the compound. Usually it was empty, with a few cars passing here and there as they went to nearby towns for supplies. Now, there was an entire convoy lined up, every door wide open, leaving no doubt they were empty.
The third, fourth, and fifth cameras showed the main streets of the compound, the barracks, and the medical center. All of which were smoldering husks.
Cash had taken out the strongest members of the compound first—the soldiers—so there was no one left to defend the others.
He was going to slaughter our most defenseless people while we watched.
“The kids,” Mari croaked. “We have to go get the kids.”
“There are escape tunnels,” Dominic promised. “Ones they can automatically detonate once they get to the other side. It’ll be impossible for Cash to follow.”
If they made it to the tunnels at all.
I rushed to one of the other computers and raced through my systems to find what I needed. “Looks like the hatches opened twenty minutes ago.” Typing some more, I heaved out a breath. “That gave them ten minutes before the Aces hit.”
It wasn’t a lot of time, but our men promised they practiced their drills daily. In all likelihood, as long as they were close to a tunnel, most of our people would survive. It was the ones who weren’t that were the problem.
We watched as a team kicked in the door of a house and stormed inside in an uncoordinated jumble. I could practically hear the yelling, cheering, and taunts through the screens, even though there was no audio. I’d never been more grateful for that oversight. The last thing Mari needed was to hear these people scream in her dreams every night.
Even now, she was pacing again, pulling at her hair.
“We have to go. We have to save them.” Her eyes were wild as she looked at us, and I could see her pulse thundering in her neck.
The compound was an hour away by car on a good day. With the weather, it would be double, even if we drove like maniacs. We could’ve gone by helicopter, but flying in the storm would put us in more danger.
“Mari—”
“I know.” She swallowed. “I know.”
There was nothing we could do.
“Well, I don’t. We can’t just sit here.” Nate growled.
“I already called in every reinforcement I had close by, but they won’t make it in time,” Mari said softly, her voice catching in the end. She was trying so hard to keep herself level, but this was too much for any of us. “If we can’t be there to help or join them, the least we can do is bear witness.”
Nate looked so fucking lost that I wasn’t surprised when Mari slipped a hand over his shoulder. He grabbed it immediately, clinging to it like a life raft.
Finally, I stepped all the way into the room. Dominic’s body was so tense, his knuckles were white, and I could see the imprint of his teeth on the outside of his cheek. Nate seemed like he was barely breathing. Mari looked like she was torn between having a breakdown and breaking the world.
