Breath whooshing past her lips, Doyle dropped. She lay, unmoving.
Heart pounding like a jackhammer, Gwen looked at the downed agents. They lay stretched on their backs, eyes closed. By the goddess, they looked so fragile.
“Did I . . . ?” The rest of her question stuck in her suddenly dry throat.
Blake quickly checked their vital stats. “They’re still breathing,” he panted, fishing their weapons and badges out of their pockets. “You did good.” He tucked the extra guns in the waistband of his slacks. “Let’s go get your sisters. We’ve got only a few more minutes before all hell breaks loose.”
Chapter 23
I
t was going to be touch and go as they bolted toward the exit of the prisoners’ station. Driven by sheer determination, Blake waved for everyone to follow him. He’d taken them out the back ways, intending to lead them toward a part of the parking area hidden behind the north wing of the building.
Now that the breach had been detected, agents were beginning to swarm the area. Outside, two security agents ran toward them with guns drawn. A burst of bullets riddled the air around their bodies. Clearly the agents had their instructions: Shoot to kill.
Blake raised his own weapon, returning their volley with a few shots of his own. He wasn’t intending to do more than wound, aiming for legs and vulnerable knee-caps. One agent fell, and then another.
He pulled the trigger again. It clicked uselessly. Damn. Out of ammo. He tossed his service weapon aside and reached for one of the guns he’d stolen.
Addison Lonike eyed his puny stash. “That all you got?” she demanded.
Blake shot a glance her way. “Can’t say I really thought this thing through,” he admitted as they skidded around a corner only to be greeted by another fast burst of gunfire.
Kenneth gave him a look. “Shit, toss me one of those and I’ll help you out.”
Blake eyed him. “You know how to use one of these?”
Tessa peeked around the corner. A single shot caused her to pull back. “Geez, I could sure use my Ri’kah about now,” she grumbled. “Nice of you guys to take everything away from us.”
Pressed against the wall, Gwen reached for the pendant hanging around her neck. “We’re not totally without resources.”
Addison nodded. “We can throw up a shield.”
Blake gauged the distance to the parking lot. When he’d rolled up to the facility, he’d had only the vaguest plan in mind. He wasn’t even sure he’d have the nerve to go through with the idea of busting out of the complex.
One look at Gwen’s face had made the decision for him. Right now they were running on a wing and a prayer. There was no way he could walk out of that cell and leave her behind. It just wasn’t going to happen.
Another burst of gunfire filled the air around them. Clouds looming overhead had sank to the ground after dusk, wrapping everything in a fine, misty cloak. The cold drizzle chilled.
Blake clenched his teeth. To get to the vehicle, they’d have to break from cover and make a dash across open pavement.
He ducked back behind cover. The dampness on his brow wasn’t just from the rain. His underarms were hot and wet. He hoped he hadn’t just led these people to their own executions.
“We’re going to have to make a run for it.” He glanced from face to face. “It looks like they’ve pretty much got us surrounded. Now would be the time to surrender.”
Reaching for Tessa’s hand, Kenneth was the first to shake his head. “I’m not going back in that fucking cell and neither is my wife.”
Tessa nodded her concurrence. “We’ve fought our way out of worse places than this.”
Addison squared her shoulders. “I’m good to go.”
Blake looked to Gwen. He wondered if there would ever be a time when he could hold her in his arms again.
He hoped so.
His gaze locked with hers. “You in?”
Pale faced, she nodded. A glimmer of hope lit her sparkling green eyes. “I have been from the beginning,” she reminded him through a wry smile.
He nodded. “Good.” In for a penny, in for a pound.
Another burst of gunfire interrupted the lull. A couple of bullets whizzed past Blake’s head, close enough to split the air by his left ear. He winced. Another inch and his brains would be splattered all over.
Blake eyed one of the dark sedans, then Kenneth. “Ready to run?”
Gwen stepped up. “If we pull together, we can shield you and Ken.”
Blake didn’t relish the idea of letting a few women shield him. Not that he had any choice. “You sure you can do it?”
Tessa nodded. “We can do this.”
“Piece of cake,” Addison chimed in.
The sisters linked hands.
“Let’s go,” Tessa said.
Breath catching in his throat, Blake silently prayed the sisters could handle it. If it didn’t work, they were finished.
From out of nowhere, darkness swept around him, cocooning him in an airless void.
At first Blake wasn’t sure what surrounded him. It was a blur of light, rapidly shifting shape and brightening as it settled into place. He could no longer see the parking lot, or even the ground beneath his own feet. The manifestation of pure glimmering light dominated his vision.
The sisters stood in the heart of the luminance.
Gwen smiled. “Follow us.”
Terrified by the inexplicable illumination, agents responded with a barrage of shots. The bullets simply bounced harmlessly off the light.
Without quite knowing how his feet were carrying his weight, Blake scuttled toward the vehicle. Relief gripped him as he slid behind the wheel.
Kenneth barreled in beside him as the three women took the backseat. They collapsed in a heap, almost totally drained. “Drive,” he shouted. “Put the pedal to the metal.”
“Hurry,” Tessa urged, her voice sounding strained to the max. “We can’t hold them off much longer.” As if to second her words, a bullet pinged the windshield. It cracked, but didn’t break.
Blake glanced over his shoulder. A vein pulsed at Gwen’s left temple. She winced as if in pain.
“You okay?”
Lifting a hand toward her head, she stopped short of making contact. “Drive,” she mumbled, eyes going half-mast.
No doubt about it. The sisters were fading.
He had to get them out of here.
Now.
Shoving the key in the ignition, Blake stomped down on the clutch and shifted into drive. The vehicle shot forward, clipping the bumper of a neighboring car as he sped out of the parking lot and hit the asphalt.
A cadre of agents claimed their own vehicles, taking off behind him. The escape was turning into a highspeed chase. It wouldn’t last long unless he could get them off the compound.
Not really sure what he’d do next, he turned a sharp corner and headed toward the runways.
Blake tried to come up with a plan. His heart was pounding so fiercely he could barely think. Fingers clutching the wheel in a death grip, he quickly combed through his memories to bring up everything he’d learned about the compound since his arrival. The A51 facility was less than two miles from the beach. All he had to do was get Tessa and her sisters to the water and they’d be okay.
Easier said than done.
Panic tightened his chest when a couple of cars zoomed in ahead of him, intending to cut him off.
Kenneth’s mouth worked but no words came out.
“Look out!” Addison screeched at the last second.
Cursing under his breath, Blake twisted the wheel hard. The sedan made a sharp right, barely missing the other two vehicles.
More cars moved in behind them, speeding perilously close.
Blake considered his options—they were rapidly going from slim to none. However, pulling over and surrendering wasn’t an option at this point. Not only had he thrown his entire career away with this one impulsive act, he was probably looking at a very long stretch behind bars.
If they let me live,
came the grim thought.
Damn it all to hell.
As if to second his thought, thunder boomed, its crashing bass symphony shaking the ground. Lightning cracked and clawed the sky with electric fingers. The rain was making for slippery, treacherous driving. The runway would be coming to an end at any moment. At the end lay a long stretch of nothing . . .
Blake made a quick decision. Whipping the car around, he headed straight for the hot-wire chain-link fence surrounding the A51 compound. Anyone trying to climb the thing would get one hell of a shock.
However, a car going through it at over one hundred miles an hour had a much better chance of success.
Even though he was strapped in, Kenneth threw his hands against the dashboard and braced for impact. “Holy shit!”
“Do it,” Gwen urged from behind.
“Anything to get us out of here,” Addison chimed in.
Without taking a moment to second-guess himself, Blake floored the accelerator. His mind vaguely processed that this might be a bad idea.
No time to think about it.
Speeding ahead full throttle, the sedan crashed through the fence like a sledgehammer hitting concrete. Metal screeched against metal. Sparks flew all around.
The sedan hit a low embankment, skidding on damp, muddy ground. For one heart-stopping moment he feared the mud would get the best of the spinning tires.
“Everyone okay?” he called.
“Yeah,” a chorus of voices answered.
The roar of vehicles closing in from behind warned him he wasn’t the only one who was going to risk the treacherous terrain. Three vehicles—two black unmarked cars and an SUV—sped through the hole he’d left in the fence. A chopper closed in from overhead.
Blake’s heart rate climbed dramatically. Somehow he managed to spin free of the boggy marsh, regaining his traction. A stretch of rain-soaked asphalt appeared in his headlights. He steered onto it, glad to be back on solid road. In less than a mile, there would be a sharp curve and the highway would run parallel to the beach.
His plan had to work. They were running out of time and there was still a chance the pursuing agents could cut them off before he could get Gwen and her sisters to the water.
Close. They were so close.
Seconds ticked with the length of hours as the car ate up the highway. The rain pelted the windshield harder.
One of the drivers pursuing them tried a daring maneuver, speeding ahead and zipping in front of them in an attempt to cut them off. Seeing the chance to take him off the road, the chopper’s pilot swooped in low. Its landing gear scraped the roof.
Blake hit the brakes to keep from slamming head-on into the obstacle. The sedan hydroplaned across the slick two-lane highway, sending them into a long skid.
Blake’s heart leaped into his throat. He fought the impulse to jerk the wheel and slam on the brakes, which would have sent the car rolling. The engine ground, a sound of tearing metal that made his hair stand on end. A bank of red lights flashed on across the dashboard.
The car came to an abrupt and immediate halt.
The other cars pursuing ground to a halt. Several agents jumped out, guns raised. A stray bullet zinged off the bumper.
“Shit.” He cranked the key and prayed.
The engine roared back to life. Thank God the car was American made. Designed for high speeds and performance, this model could take a beating and keep on going.
“We need a little diversion,” he called toward the backseat.
Gwen answered, “I’ve got it.” Pressing her hands against the window, she sent out a quick burst of psienergy. One of the advancing men toppled, slapped to the ground by an invisible rush of blistering heat.
Addison offered a high five. “Good going.”
Shifting into second, Blake mashed the accelerator. Laying down burning rubber, the sedan took off like a bat out of hell.
The chase resumed.
Blake shot a worried look toward the fuel gauge. The needle hovered toward empty. Oh, terrific. It would be a crying shame to get this close to freedom only to run out of gas.
He silently cursed himself for his lack of preparation.
Stupid!
What he’d done hadn’t only been impulsive, it had been totally unplanned. These people were trusting him to keep them safe, and he was flying by the seat of his pants.
His foot pressed the accelerator. When in doubt, go faster. He had to take it all the way, even if it led nowhere. At this point nobody was in the mood to turn back and surrender.
If they went out in a blaze of glory, so be it.
Kenneth was the first to spot the distant shoreline. “There’s the beach.”
Blake cranked his head to the left. Over the edge of a precipitous drop, he caught a glimpse of white sand. In the distance a shimmering mist danced atop the choppy water, lending it an elusive and unreal quality.
There was no place to pull over.
The only way to reach the water was to go over the edge. The incline was steep and rocky, but they just might make it.
The sedan crashed over boulders and gravel alike, tires crunching against the rocky unstable terrain. The halt was sudden and abrupt. He’d driven the car straight onto the beach. The heavy vehicle sank to the bumper, pulled under by the damp sand.
Everybody abandoned the car, making toward the nearby shoreline. The women splashed into the water.
“Come on!” Addison shouted at her sisters. “We haven’t got much time.” She stopped, shimmying out of the prisoner’s jumpsuit like a snake shedding its skin. A second later she dived, disappearing beneath the waves.
Tasting the strong bite of salt on his lips, Blake stopped at the edge. The wind was sharp and strong, fierce enough to push him another step toward the water.
But he could go no farther. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn’t force himself into the churning sea. As his weight sank into the sand and the cold water closed around his ankles, he knew it was the end of the line for him. He’d have to stay behind.