Ava regarded me with solemn blue eyes. “You have a lot of faith in them,” she said. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to trust anyone but myself.”
“Hopefully that’ll change.” I pushed myself off the wall. “But right now, we have to worry about ourselves. Come on, we’re not out of here yet.”
We slipped through the empty corridors, keeping a close ear out for voices or footsteps, until we reached the elevator hall. Ava frowned as I walked up to a pair of metal doors and forced my fingers between the tightly sealed crack. “What are you doing?”
“Forget the stairwell.” I grunted, gritting my teeth as I pried the doors back. They resisted, stubborn with rust and disuse. “The Order probably has them all guarded. Or are using them right now. I don’t want to run into any more soldiers on the stairs, so we’re going the unconventional route.” She watched as I wedged my shoulder between the crack and looked back at her. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you?”
A door slammed somewhere in the maze of corridors, and my blood froze. Claustrophobic or not, we were out of time. With a growl, I shoved the doors as hard as I could, ramming them with my shoulder. They gave a last rusty groan and reluctantly slid back a few inches. A gust of hot, stale air billowed out of the opening, and a long, pitch-black tube plunged down into darkness.
I eyed the distance from the edge to the maintenance ladder on the wall, then looked back at Ava. “After you.”
Flashlight beams scuttled along the wall, and the sound of booted feet echoed through the hallways. Without hesitation, Ava leaped into the shaft and grabbed the ladder’s rungs with easy grace, then started down the tube. I followed, gritting my teeth as the ladder trembled under my weight. If it snapped, we were in trouble; a fall here would kill us as surely as if the soldiers stuck their guns through the opening and filled the shaft with lead.
Let’s hope my luck holds.
Together, we descended into the pitch blackness.
Ember
A hail of bullets erupted behind us as we turned another corner, and Faith screamed.
“Garret!” I panted, as flashlight beams scuttled over the walls ahead of us, and the soldier stopped abruptly in the center of the corridor. I stopped behind him, shivering as harsh voices drew closer from different directions. “They’ve surrounded the floor,” I whispered, feeling my heart pound in my ears. “We’re trapped.”
Garret scanned the hall, his gaze falling on a pair of open doors at the end of the corridor. “This way,” he ordered, and we sprinted through the doors into a large conference-type room. It was only half-finished; scaffolding stood everywhere, and large iron beams marched down the center of an aisle, creating a tangled web of iron and steel. It was very dark in here, and the air was thick with the smell of dust and mold.
Garret pulled us behind a cage of scaffolding and iron beams. “Faith,” he said softly, bringing the girl’s attention to him. “Look at me.” Faith’s eyes were huge and liquid, and tear tracks stained her dusty cheeks as she glanced up. “Listen to me. I want you to climb to the top of the scaffolding tower, lie flat and don’t move. Don’t look up or make a sound, no matter what you hear. Can you do that?”
She stared at him. “What…what are you going do?” she whispered, looking between us fearfully. “You won’t leave me here, will you?”
He shook his head. “We’re not going to leave you,” he said, with that quiet intensity that made my skin prickle. “But you have to get out of sight. I can’t worry about you if I’m going to do this.” She blinked in confusion, but he didn’t explain. “Get up there,” he said gently, nodding toward the scaffolding. “If the worst happens, wait until they’re gone, then get out any way you can. Go.”
With a final sniffle, Faith turned and scuttled up the ladder, vanishing from sight.
Voices echoed outside, and flashlight beams pierced the blackness beyond the doors. The soldiers were converging on the room. Garret took my wrist and pulled me farther back into the shadows.
I stepped close, resting my palms on his chest, feeling his heart race. “What’s the plan?” I whispered, surprised that my own voice was so steady.
He took a deep, furtive breath. “There’ll be two teams,” he murmured, glancing at the entrance and the lights getting closer. “Possibly more, if they called for backup. Six soldiers at the very least, with M-4s, a sidearm and a pair of stun grenades. That’s standard procedure for this type of strike.” His voice was cool, unruffled, as he calmly analyzed our odds of survival. “We should split up,” he said gravely. “I’ll get in close, take one or two out, then you hit the others from a different angle when they respond. Try to surprise them. If they see us coming, it’ll be over.”
I shivered, closing my eyes. “All right,” I muttered, clenching my fists in his shirt. “No problem. It’s just like training back with Scary Talon Lady.” Just with real soldiers, and real guns. No paintball bullets this time, Ember.
Garret gazed down at me, and for the first time, a shadow of fear crossed his face. Not for himself, I realized, but for me. “Ember…”
“Don’t you dare tell me to stay up top and hide, Garret,” I warned, narrowing my eyes at him. “That’s something Riley would say, and I’ll tell you exactly what I’d tell him. I’m not letting you fight them by yourself.”
“I know. I mean… I wasn’t going to.” His hands rose and gripped my arms as he stepped close. “But…be careful, Ember,” he said, his intense gaze searing into me. “They’ll be searching for a dragon. They know how dangerous one is when it’s cornered and trapped. Remember, this is the type of scenario they train for, what we’ve all trained for. Do what you have to do…” One hand pressed to my cheek. “Just stay alive,” he whispered.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “You, too.”
Figures appeared in the doorway, freezing us in place, as six soldiers stepped through the frame, guns held in front of them. Fanning out, they advanced cautiously into the room, sweeping their weapons in tight arcs, the tactical lights on the bottom of their guns piercing the darkness.
Garret drew back. His eyes were hard, that blank soldier’s mask slipping into place as he melted into the shadows and out of sight. I darted behind a scaffold, then hunkered down as thin beams of light swept the opposite wall, making my heart pound.