Chapter 12 #2
As if in answer, gunfire erupted somewhere in the corridor outside—the sharp crack of pistol shots followed by the heavier boom of a shotgun.
“Walker and James are handling the guards,” Reed said grimly. “We need to move. Now.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the east wall, keeping his body between her and the door. The sounds of combat grew louder—more gunshots, shouting, the unmistakable thud of bodies hitting the floor.
“Reed.” Walker’s voice came through the comm, strained but controlled. “Corridor’s getting hot. Four hostiles down, but reinforcements are coming from the upper levels. You need to extract now.”
“Copy. We’re moving.”
Reed found the access panel and pushed Elena through first, covering her retreat with his weapon trained on the server room door. She scrambled through the narrow opening, and he followed immediately, pulling the panel shut behind them.
“Terrel,” Reed whispered. “We’re in the mechanical room. What’s our exit looking like?”
“Maintenance shaft is still clear, but you’ve got hostiles converging from multiple directions. I’d estimate you have about ninety seconds before they expand their search to your location.”
Ninety seconds. Reed grabbed Elena’s hand and moved.
They reached the shaft in forty-five seconds, and Reed boosted Elena up first, watching her climb with an efficiency that spoke to her years of training. He followed immediately, pulling himself up the metal rungs with arms that burned from exertion.
“Walker, James—fall back to the extraction point,” Reed ordered between breaths. “We’re coming up on the north side.”
“Copy,” Walker replied. “We’re en route. James is mobile, but he’s losing blood. We need to move fast.”
James.
Reed pushed himself harder, climbing faster, ignoring the protest of muscles pushed to their limit. His brother was hurt because of this mission, because Reed had asked him to help rescue a woman James barely knew.
They emerged from the shaft into a storage room on the ground floor. Reed could hear the chaos of the fire alarm still wailing, guests being evacuated, security personnel running in every direction. Perfect cover for their escape.
“This way,” he said, leading Elena toward a service exit that opened onto the north lawn.
They burst into the cool night air, and Reed immediately spotted Walker and James near the tree line, both of them bloodied but upright. Terrel had brought the SUV around, the engine running, the back door already open.
“Go,” Reed urged, pushing Elena toward the vehicle.
She ran, and Reed ran with her, covering their retreat with his weapon drawn. Behind them, someone shouted—a guard had spotted them—and Reed heard the crack of gunfire.
He spun, returning fire, and saw the guard drop. Another appeared behind him, and Reed fired again, the shot catching the man in the shoulder and spinning him around.
“Reed!” Elena screamed.
He turned and ran, sprinting the final distance to the SUV and diving through the open door just as Terrel hit the gas. Elena grabbed his arm and pulled him fully inside, and then they were moving, the estate falling away behind them as they raced down the service road toward freedom.
Reed lay on the floor of the SUV, breathing hard, his heart pounding against his ribs. Elena was beside him, her hand still gripping his arm like she was afraid he might disappear.
“Everyone okay?” Walker asked from the front seat, his voice rough.
“James?” Reed pushed himself up, looking for his youngest brother.
James was slumped against the opposite door, his hand pressed to his shoulder, blood seeping between his fingers. But he was grinning—that infuriating, irrepressible grin that had driven Reed crazy since they were kids.
“Just a scratch,” James said. “You should see the other guys.”
“How many?” Reed asked quietly.
Walker’s expression was grim. “Enough.”
Reed nodded, understanding what his brother wasn’t saying. Lives had been taken tonight—not innocent lives, but lives nonetheless. It was the cost of the mission, the price they’d paid to get Elena out alive.
He looked at Elena, who was staring at James with horror and guilt written across her prosthetic-altered features.
“This is my fault,” she whispered. “James, I’m so sorry—”
“Hey.” James’s voice was surprisingly gentle. “I knew what I was signing up for. We all did. And for the record? Totally worth it.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears, but before she could respond, Reed pulled her against his chest and held her there. Her body melted into his as the adrenaline finally began to fade.
“You’re safe,” he murmured against her hair. “We’re all safe. That’s what matters.”
“The virus is in their system,” Elena said, her voice muffled against his shirt. “WATCHDOG will start corrupting within hours. Webb won’t be able to sell functional access codes—the whole system will be compromised.”
“Then the mission was a success.”
“But Webb got away. And now he knows I’m alive.”
“We’ll deal with Webb,” Reed said firmly. “But not tonight. Tonight, we regroup. We rest. We figure out our next move.”
Elena nodded against his chest, and Reed felt some of the tension leave her body. She was exhausted—they all were—running on fumes and adrenaline and the stubborn refusal to give up.
The SUV raced through the Canadian night, carrying them away from the chaos of the Blackwood Estate. Sirens wailed in the distance, but they were already ghosts, shadows that had struck and vanished before anyone could stop them.
Reed held Elena close and watched the darkness flash past the windows, thinking about the men he’d killed tonight, the brother who’d been wounded, the woman who fit so perfectly in his arms.
The battle for WATCHDOG wasn’t over. Webb was still out there, still dangerous, still hunting them.
But for now, in this moment, they were alive and together. And that was enough.
Reed pressed a kiss to the top of Elena’s head, feeling her relax further into his embrace.
“Rest,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”
And for the first time in five years, he meant it.