He drew me in, folding me into an embrace. The strength and security of the caress had me melting into him and gripping him around the torso with all the strength I had left. A lifetime passed, but he didn’t let me go until a loud bang outside the room called our attention away from our reunion.
“Are you okay,” he asked, easing back to get a look into my eyes.
“I’m fine. They drugged me, but it’s wearing off.”
He backed a pace away and instead of turning to get us out of there he began checking me for injuries.
“I’m okay,” I assured him, but he continued his inspection, noting all the bruises and the bloody area on my back where they had started cutting into my tattoo.
“You’re not okay. Your eyes are unfocused. Can you walk?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation, knowing he’d carry me if I couldn’t.
When he had seen enough, he took off his thick long-sleeve security uniform button-up and his body armor and helped me into it. I supposed I was a pitiful sight in the tethered hospital gown. He was left in the uniformed short-sleeve top that matched the top he’d given me. Based on the feel of the material, I was sure the top was also body armor. Once I was buttoned into his shirt that hit me mid-thigh, he reached behind him, extracted a black Colt 1911, and handed it and an extra clip of ammo to me.
“The explosion was in the stairwell, level ten, their attempt to stop our guards. Unfortunately, were going to have to take the stairs. We had to disable all the elevators except for one. They are being used as traps for a number of guards. Khane and Arjen are clearing us a way out, but added that there’s a possibility we may encounter a few guards on the way to the roof. Local law enforcement and nosey onlookers are gathering outside, so we are going up.”
I cocked the pistol, weak but feeling like my old self again. “I’m ready,” I responded and had no doubt my face was set in stone. Although weak and damaged, I didn’t care if I had to mimic a penguin and slide out on my stomach. I was getting out of this building one way or another.
* * *
The vault dooropening caused two adversaries to pause, turn around, and aim their attention at me and Tywin. They started moving forward, lifting their weapons as they did.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
The men appeared to be performing a ritualistic dance routine at the powerful impact of the bullets striking their bodies from the chest up. I lost count of how many silenced taps came from Tywin’s pistol, but I had let off three from mine. The men were pumped so full of lead-piercing holes, they could have doubled as honeycombs for a nest of bees.
We took up a quick pace and the quiet taps of our feet mingled with our rapid breaths and bounced off the sterile white walls. I couldn’t move as fast I would have liked to and knew I was slowing Tywin down, but he didn’t complain. Although his head was aimed straight forward, I sensed his eye on me the entire time.
The faint sound of voices below traveled up to us when Tywin shoved the stairwell doors open. Soon after, a few rounds came at us, pinging off the metal stairwell railing. We didn’t bother returning fire. The men were at least five levels below us with enough distance that they wouldn’t have a clear shot.
The cadence of their heavy feet pounding the stairs increased, alerting us that they were giving chase. We started our climb up to the next level and the worried expression on Tywin’s face hinted that he was one reach away from picking me up.
When the door leading into the stairwell above us opened, there was not one or two guards brandishing weapons, but three, and they were massive. I was stopped dead in my tracks by Tywin’s heavy hand keeping my weak body in place.
The barrels of the black high-powered weapons being held by the men above us were nearly blended into the black of their uniforms since their bodies were blocking out the light shining in behind them.
We took slow steps back down the stairs, backing into the sharp turn to put a barrier between us and their bullets. We were trapped, three in our path a level up and a group marching up below us.
“They haven’t noticed us yet,” he pointed at the men above us.
It explained why they hadn’t shot at us yet. They must have been waiting on the buddies who hadn’t stopped their climb below us.
“Stay here. Stay low. Cover our backs,” Tywin instructed, pointing down, before he took off in a mad dash up the stairs.
He took the steps two by two and didn’t stop until he was face to face with the men and their weapons. He was nuts. Was it his ongoing momentum that caused the men to pause and not fire on him? Or had they mistaken him for one of their men since he was dressed to mimic their uniforms?
Before I was able to yell out to stop him, he gripped and jerked one of the men’s weapons, snatching the man from the doorway. He placed the man’s body between him and the other men. One of the men’s automatic rifles went flying across the railing and fell down the opening of the stairwell, clanging against metal on the way down.
When I made an attempt to join Tywin, a shot went off a few feet in front of my head, stopping me from proceeding up. I fired a few rounds at the ones trailing below. Based on the sound of their steps, they were closing the gap of distance between us. Trapped, I was unable to move up or back down.
How the hell?How had they gotten the jump on my position in the stairwell enough to stop me from going up? It meant they had a sniper. I was pinned down, shooting at the ones making an impressive attempt to close in on us below and unable to go up without chancing a gunshot.
The daring part of my brain told me to take the risk since I was wearing body armor, but my good sense spoke up. “Do you want to get your damn head blown off? You can’t grow another one.”
I stayed in place. Staying as low as I could, I peeked around the bend of the stairs, positioning myself to take a shot at the men Tywin had decided to take on. A series of wildly-shot bullets pinged off the metal railing and nearly took my arm off. I remained in my low crouch, peeked down, and fired off three more rounds that stopped the movements below. I dropped my empty magazine, reloaded, and aimed.
One among the group below, a sniper, had to be positioned along the stairwell in a place that gave him a direct line of sight to the area I needed to cross to climb to the next level. Apparently, this group had some tactical moves up their sleeves that we hadn’t been prepared for.