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I shrieked, swinging with a wild ferocity that I didn’t know I was capable of. I managed to draw the blade clean across his cheek. He let go of me with a howl. As if in slow motion, I reared a leg back and kicked with all my might, hitting him square in the balls. I was out the door and running for my life before Terrance had even keeled over.
I had no idea where I was or where I was going, but that didn’t stop me. I just kept running.
Adrenaline fueled my every step, and I had no intention of stomping on the brakes. I was so hopelessly lost that I felt like I was spiraling, but I knew that if I stopped, it would certainly mean the end. With Terrance’s knife in hand, I dashed down the hall, taking in what little information I could.
I was in some sort of basement. Tile floors, unfinished paneled ceilings. Was this place abandoned?
I found a stairwell leading upward. With no elevator in sight, I started the perilous climb to God knew where. I supposed it didn’t matter. All I knew was that I had to put as much distance between myself and Terrance as possible.
Loud, angry voices reached my ears. I was being followed, most likely by Terrance’s men. I could see a whole group of them, all clad in black and heavily armed, making their way after me. Even though I was out of breath and in a terrible amount of pain, I kept climbing.
Muscles cramped.
My lungs were on fire.
I was so winded I thought I was going to throw up.
It was when I heard open gunfire that I found my second wind and kept running. Frantic shouts echoed in the stairwell, some sort of disruption occurring on one of the floors below.
“We’re under attack!” one of the masked men hissed. “You three, after the girl. The rest of you, with me.”
Under attack?
I sucked in a sharp breath. It had to be them. Kris, Adam, Liam, and Charlie. I knew even without seeing them that they’d come for me.
“There she is!” someone shouted. “After her!”
I kept running. God, I was so tired of running.
When I finally made it to the last floor, I launched my body through the door. I wheezed, struggling to catch my breath as vertigo overwhelmed me. They’d chased me all the way up to the roof, a good thirty stories high. I shivered violently against the cold wind; the gusts so strong I thought it would knock me right off the edge of the building. The gravel that covered the rooftop pierced the undersides of my feet as I frantically searched for some place to hide.
I squeezed my body between the serpentine ventilation shafts that snaked around the top of the building, clutching the knife close. I held my breath and stuck to the shadows, listening for the footsteps of my pursuers. I couldn’t hear them talking, but I sure as hell could hear them moving around.
I stayed low and quiet. I needed to bide my time.
32
Liam
We moved as a unit, storming the building with a series of flashbangs. There were two men posted at the entrance. We took them both out in under twenty seconds. Charlie swiped their radios. Now we had ears on their operation.
We were met with immediate resistance the second we entered, heavy fire raining down on us. We split into two groups ? Charlie with me, Adam with Kris. We provided cover fire while they advanced, picking off our enemies one by one. They were heavily armed and positioned well, but we had the element of surprise. We picked the floor clean in under two minutes, pressing forward with a high level of urgency.
“Where’s the girl?” Adam hissed, grabbing one of our downed enemies. He’d been shot through the leg and arm. Nothing lethal, but he was no longer a threat.
“B-basement,” he stammered. “He’s keeping her in the basement.”
Kris nodded, signaling with one hand.Move.
There was some sort of commotion in the stairwell.
“We’re under attack!” one of the masked men hissed. “You three, go up, after the girl. The rest of you, with me.”
We mowed them down like bowling pins. None of them saw us coming. We climbed and climbed, the ascent mildly dizzying. But our need of rescuing Sam from her captors spurred us on.
Terrance was going to curse the day he laid a finger on her.
Kris led the formation, moving with determination and speed. By the time we got to the top of the stairwell, it was all quiet. We couldn’t detect any movement on the other side of the door, the thin glass pane supported by chicken wire offering a less than ideal vantage point of the area. We could have been walking into a trap for all we knew.
