Apex grabbed his arm. “Get them out. That’s all that matters.Please.”
Kane didn’t wait for them to sort things out. He started running again, Nadya catching the door as they were the first across the threshold into the hallway. As she glanced around his arm, gunfire wasexchanged, but she couldn’t track who was shooting first, Apex and his friend or the males in uniform.
Did it matter, though. They were out-gunned, outmaneuvered, and dawn was coming fast.
There was no way this ended well for them.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kane was all adrenaline as he burst out onto the first floor of the central building. After a quick orientation, he went to an open doorway on the left and prayed he was facing the rear parking area. And that there was a window. And that the guards were new recruits with bad aim. And…
Therewasa window at the far end of the narrow room, and he quickly surmounted an obstacle course of broken office furniture and ceiling debris. When he got to the intact panes of glass, he considered how to keep a hold of Nadya and get the sash up—
A body streaked by him, went airborne, and solved the problem by crashing through the frame and shattering everything. As a waft of fresh air broke through the moldy stink of rot, Kane leaned out of the hole.
Down below, the wolven sprang up from a crouch and spun around. Holding his arms out, he yelled, “I’ll catch her. Come on—drop her to me.”
As gunfire continued to echo around in the stairwell, Kane looked at the female in his arms.
“It’s the only way,” he said.
“You can just save yourself,” Nadya said. “Really, you can.”
The hellfire chaos of bullets began to come down the hall, suggesting Apex had changed position—or been killed and the guards were trampling his dead body to finish their job.
Tilting out of the hole the wolven had made with his body, Kane extended his arms. On the ground, the other male sank into his thighs, bracing for the catch.
“Get ready,” Kane said. And wondered who he was trying to prepare.
His heart was in his throat as he let her go. And time halted as she dropped. She was so fragile, she wouldn’t survive a—
The wolven made a new friend for life as he snatched Nadya out of the free fall, swinging her around so that the landing against his chest was as gentle as possible. And after Kane logged a permanent memory at the flop of her thin arms and emaciated legs, he hopped up on the sill and free-fell himself.
Landing in a crouch, he didn’t have to ask the other male for what he needed. The slight load was transferred, and then the wolven took off for the lineup of vehicles. For a split second, Kane glanced up at the building. In the darkness, the discharges from the guns were brilliant flashes, and the sounds of gunfire were a staccato snare drum.
He set off running after the wolven.
When they got to the car, the other male knew what to do with whatever small device was in his hand, lights flashing at the four corners of the vehicle as all the locks were disengaged. While Kane piled into the rear with Nadya, he had a thought that this was what Apex had done for him, stuffing his broken body into a lifeboat that had four wheels.
The wolven didn’t waste a second. He started the engine, slammed the gear shift back, and then they were off, exploding into reverse. The squeal of the tires was followed by a lurch that was so violent, Kane rebounded off the door he’d shut, and he did what he could to keep Nadya from flying loose and getting knocked out.
“Take this. It’s fully loaded.”
As a gun was tossed into the back seat, Kane caught it just as another screeching sound screamed in his ears and they shot forward. The lane ahead was illuminated by the headlights, and he measured the distance and direction. There were no meaningful conclusions to be drawn, however. He didn’t know where they were going. Where they could go.
“I have a place,” the wolven said. “Five miles from here.”
“Go faster.”
There was a corresponding increase in the engine roar, and soon enough, they were off the property and on a road that was better maintained.
Shifting Nadya around in his arms, he breathed in to see if she was bleeding.
“Are you all right?” he asked hoarsely.
“I think so. But Apex—”
The rumble on the roof was like something dropping out of the sky and landing on top of the vehicle, and immediately the wolven started wrenching the wheel back and forth like he was trying to lose whoever or whatever had attached themselves up there.