Page 5 of Fall Before Her Throne

She had to be. We would not lose her again.

Once hers was on, I strapped mine to my chest. The rest of my brothers had also secured their vests. I inhaled through my nose, letting the exhale calm my heartbeat.

The Camorra were here. My plans did not account for this. So our only move was to escape and regroup when we were safe.

“Ciel.” I watched the security feeds on the TV. “Any other movement?”

“The camera sh—the camera short-circuited because of the blast, but the elevator and stairwell cameras are still empty,” he responded. “That might be all of them.”

I shook my head solemnly. “The Camorra do not act in half-measures. There will be more men.”

Leona’s jaw clenched as she stared up at me from her place beside Volpe. He’d already passed back out and would be dead weight. Caspian would need to carry him. That left me, Wynn, Ciel, Ryu, and Leona to fight back.

“How many are left?”

“Four.”

I nodded, my jaw set in a grim line. Five versus four, until more showed up. More than doable. We just had to get to our vehicles before their reinforcements arrived.

“We need to reach the garage,” I said, visualizing the plan in my head. “We’ll move as a unit through the hallway to eliminate the men there. Then we’ll make our way down the stairs. Stick together. Keep Leona protected.”

“We’re so high up,” Wynn said, glancing at our woman and the Kevlar vest wearing her down. “Can we cut across one of the lower levels to the elevator?”

“Ciel, can you restore power while we’re on the move?” I asked.

“I should be able to.” He clipped his tablet to his normal cross-body strap. He’d packed a bag full of equipment from his room, but we were leaving most of his technology, and I doubted we’d have time to come back for it later. “Not sure—not sure about the cameras yet.”

“What about your computers here?” Leona asked. “That we’re leaving behind?”

“I can wipe them remotely,” he said. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat. His words came out slower. “Once we’re safe. I’ll have backdoor access to save anything I need, but they’re locked up tight. Not a risk to leave them. We’d always considered an attack and evacuation as possible.”

“Genius,” Leona said with a smile, drawing a blush from his cheeks.

“All right,” I said. “Ryuji and I will be up front. Caspian, you carry Max. Wynn, I want your eyes on Leona. Stay by her; keep her safe. Ciel, you bring up the rear. Understood?”

Everyone nodded their agreement.

Volpe groaned in pain as Caspian slung one of his arms over his shoulder and pulled him to his feet. “Cas?”

“We’re leaving,” Caspian answered. “Try to walk.”

Volpe’s head bobbed back and forth, but he leaned against Caspian’s side and got his feet underneath him.

Next, we each grabbed a backpack. Even Leona slung one across her shoulders and tightened the straps. I pressed another quick kiss to her brow.

“You look like a turtle, little vixen,” Ryuji said with a laugh. She pouted for a moment before he corrected himself. “A very…sexy, powerful turtle.”

“Focus,” I said, but even I couldn’t help the small smile on my face. “Let’s go.”

I stepped first through the hallway, my gun pointed at the ground while I kept my eyes on the blast door, and I signaled to keep quiet. Sure enough, voices echoed from the other side.

Wynn placed a flashbang grenade into my outstretched hand. Then I held up my fingers to count down from three. On the last count, Ciel raised the blast door wide enough for me to chuck the flashbang into the hallway. We all turned our backs and covered our ears as it exploded. Surprised shouts immediately followed.

With practiced control, I ducked under the wedge of the blast door and fired two bullets at the closest two intruders. They dropped dead before they even realized what had happened.

“The stairwell,” Ciel said from behind me. My head snapped up to see the remaining two disappearing inside.

“We can’t let them get away.” I rushed forward and shoved the door to the stairwell open with my forearm. The sound of a gunshot echoed through the confined space, and I barely had enough time to push Ryu backwards before the bullet whizzed past us both.