Page 8 of When Kings Fall

A little didn’t even begin to cover it.

It hurt so bad that I had to use every ounce of the limited energy I had left to stagger to my feet, even with Levi grasping my arm and assisting.

I cursed and shoved my hand through my hair, trying to get my bearings and make sense of what was going on.

“How… how are we free of those cuffs?”

“I did it.”

“You what?”

“I got a hold of your pick set and I managed to figure it out. You were unconscious on the floor and bleeding, I couldn’t fail.”

Oh my God. “Thank you.”

“No worries. Now, we’ve gotta get out of here. Malcolm and Royce aren’t here right now. I overheard them saying they had to get to a meeting. That other one, Kyle, is here, and their muscle, but with Malcolm not here their guard will be down. I even heard them saying something about drinking. This is our best chance.”

I took his words in. “Very good intel gathering. All right, with being dragged around this hellhole a lot, I’ve been able to map it out pretty well. I can lead us out.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

We made our way toward the door at the far end of the space.

“I’ll need a few moments to pick the lock,” I told him as we reached it.

I reached out my hand for my picks and grabbed the door handle with my other.

And it gave way.

“It’s not locked,” Levi spoke.

“It could be a trap.”

“Whatever they do to us can’t be worse than what they’ve already done,” he pointed out.

“You’re right. Let’s do this.”

I took the pick set from him and pulled out the torsion wrench and the rake, handing them to him, and pulling out the ball pick and snake for myself, then shoving the rest into my dress. “Not the best weapons, but it’s all we have.”

He nodded and readied them as I did the same.

Then I opened the door carefully, peering outside into the corridor.

When I’d determined it was all clear, we stepped outside. One path led straight ahead, the other to the right.

“Right,” I told him. “It leads to the east exit. We only have to dart from the building a few feet before we’ll be camouflaged by the surrounding forest.”

“Okay,” he said, looking all around and trying so hard to hide his fear, his hands shaking with adrenaline.

“We’re here together. You’re not alone,” I told him.

He smiled out at me. “Couldn’t have asked for anybody better to be in this nightmare with.”

“Right back at you.”

As we were making our way down the corridor, one of the doors to the left opened, and a guard wearing one of those awful ski masks stepped out.

“What the fuck are you doing free?”