A hollow boom echoed from an adjacent hallway, followed by a gruff “Clear!” The soldiers behind us were kicking in doors, systematically checking each room before moving on. Riley winced.
“Stairwell it is,” he whispered, beckoning Ava to the front with him. “Let’s go.”
We raced for the end of the hall, Riley and Ava leading this time, me bringing up the rear. I didn’t know if the soldiers heard us and were giving chase, and I didn’t pause to look back. We fled down narrow concrete hallways, ducking beams and scrambling over rubble, praying we wouldn’t turn a corner and find the way blocked by soldiers and guns.
As we approached an intersection where two hallways crossed, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Four armored, masked men rounded the corner at the far end of the corridor we’d been moving down. Hissing a warning to Riley, I grabbed the two closest bodies—Ember and Faith—and yanked them into the cross section of hall, just as the scream of M-4s filled the corridor.
Faith wailed, hands flying up to cover her ears, as the roar of gunfire tore through the air and bullets ripped chunks of wood and plaster from the walls. Pulling her back from the edge, I looked up to see Ava and Riley on the other side of the corridor of death, streams of bullets zipping between us. The soldiers were advancing, firing short, continuous bursts as they marched forward in unison. From the sound of the guns, they would reach our position in a few seconds.
I met Riley’s gaze, and he gestured at us frantically. “Split up!” he shouted over the howl of carbines. “Take them and get out of here, St. George. We’ll meet back at the hotel. Go!”
I nodded and turned to the girls. “Come on,” I said, and Ember stepped toward Faith, still huddled against the wall.
“Faith.” She pried the girl’s arms away from her head. “Hey, we have to go.”
“No!” Faith looked up, gaze frantically searching for the other hatchling. “What about Ava? We can’t leave them.”
“We can’t help them now!” Ember growled and pulled the other girl off the wall. The chatter of gunfire was getting closer, as were the footsteps of the squad. “She’s with Riley, she’ll be fine. But we have to get out of here, right now.” Faith took a breath to argue, and Ember snarled at her with the fury of a fire-breathing dragon. “Move!”
Faith gave a desperate sob and stumbled past me down the hall. I started after her but Ember paused, shooting one final glance at Riley and Ava, who were already sprinting in the opposite direction.
“Be careful, Riley,” she whispered, before spinning and catching up to me and Faith. We rounded a corner just as the squad reached the intersection, sending a storm of bullets after us, and whatever feelings I had about Ember and the rogue were quickly replaced by thoughts of survival.
Riley
I might not get out of this one.
Angrily, I banished the thought as I led Ava through the maze of corridors, the echo of gunfire and soldiers’ voices ringing behind us. I couldn’t start thinking like that. I’d survived worse than this, and besides, I had too many who counted on me; I couldn’t die now.
“Riley, wait,” Ava said, bringing me to a halt in the middle of the hall. The pale-haired hatchling shot a quick look around, blue eyes searching, then jerked her head at an open doorway. “This way,” she announced, and darted into the room. Frowning, I followed, hearing the soldiers close behind us, wondering what she was planning. We couldn’t afford to be trapped.
“What are we doing?” I hissed, as the hatchling hurried to a pair of balcony doors. “We can’t fly, Ava. They’ve got snipers out there—”
“We’re not going to fly.” Ava unlocked the frame and pried back the glass doors, glancing over her shoulder at me. “I know what I’m doing,” she said to my dubious look. “Trust me, Cobalt.”
Shouts echoed from the hallway, making my skin crawl. “Looks like I don’t have a choice,” I growled, and followed her onto the balcony. She didn’t launch herself into the air but hurried to the railing and swung over, making my heart jump to my throat. For a half second, she dangled over a lethal drop, feet swinging out over nothing. Then she pumped her legs twice and let go of the rails. My heart gave another violent lurch as I leaned over and watched her drop onto the balcony directly below us, landing in a graceful crouch.
Straightening, she looked up at me, as I told my heart it could start beating again. “Hurry!” she urged, just as the glass behind me shattered. Bullets sparked off the railing, and I scrambled over the edge, taking a half second to swing my legs forward as I released my grip.
I hit the concrete and rolled, distributing some of the impact, though it still clacked my teeth together and sent a flare of pain up my arm. Ava pulled me to my feet and dragged me away from the balcony railing just as the soldiers stuck their guns over the edge and fired down on us. We fled the room into another series of darkened corridors. This one without the swarms of soldiers, at least for now.
I leaned against a wall to catch my breath, and Ava did the same. Panting, I looked at her, at the slender body and the calm, young face. “How many times have you done this before?” I asked. She shrugged, pushing long pale hair behind her shoulder.
“I was trained for this,” she said as I wondered what Talon had her pegged for before she ran. Basilisk, Gila and Viper were the operatives that received special combat training. “My final exam was supposed to be this month,” Ava went on, staring at the wall, her eyes dark with memory. “But I knew I couldn’t do what they asked. The new management was especially unbearable.” An unexpected look of disgust broke through her composure. “Hiding what I felt was getting harder and harder. I’d been planning to leave for a long time, ever since I heard about you.” Her gaze flicked to mine, then away just as quickly. “I’m not usually this disorganized,” she admitted, hunching her shoulders as if embarrassed. “I was going to run when my test came around, but then I heard about Faith and…things happened a little faster than I originally planned.” She sighed, squeezing her eyes shut. “I hope she’s all right,” she whispered. “I promised I’d keep her safe.”
I brushed her arm. “She’ll be okay,” I said, allowing a small grin to tug at my mouth. “You don’t know Ember. She’ll burn the building down before she’ll let anyone hurt her. And the soldier…is a bastard, but he knows what he’s doing. Trust me, she’ll be fine.”