Chapter Fifty - Elise #2
We share a quick nod and round the last corner, prepared to face the two soldiers who greet us there. I vaguely recognize one of them as someone I’ve seen around the L.A. base, and I assume from Joshua’s muttered curse that he recognizes the man, too.
It’s like we’re on autopilot as we raise our guns and fire. I barely even process that they fired back until I hear Joshua’s hiss beside me.
The blood drains from my face at the sound. When I turn to look at him, he holds one hand against his leg and gives me a pained grimace. “It’s okay, it only grazed me.”
“Don’t scare me like that!”
“You think I meant for that bullet to hit me?” He limps toward me, and I watch blood steadily pour from his thigh.
“Can you walk?” I ask, and he nods, letting me wrap my arm around his waist as we make our way to the door that’s only a few yards away now.
“Elise!” a voice I haven’t heard in weeks calls from behind us. I turn and take in the sight of a panicked Kaitlyn running down the hall.
“Kaitlyn? What are you doing here?”
Her dirty blonde hair is pulled back in a tight ponytail, and her gun is at her side. I can’t believe I didn’t notice her when she got out of the cars with the rest of my dad’s men, but my focus had been solely on my family.
“I’ve been looking for you! I didn’t see where you went when the shooting started, and I needed to make sure you were okay.”
Joshua turns with me, watching my friend come toward us with a calculating glint in his eye.
He glances down at his watch and whispers, “Elise, we need to get out of here right now. We only have five minutes.”
“Five minutes until what?”
His eyes never leave Kaitlyn’s approaching form when he hisses. “Until this whole building explodes.”
Did I hit my head at some point? Because I know there’s no way that I just heard Joshua correctly.
“Excuse me?”
“Goliath,” he says in explanation.
“Then Kaitlyn needs to come with us!”
Before he can oppose my request, I close the distance and meet Kaitlyn in a hug, and damn, it feels good to have an old friend around. If it weren’t for the fact that we’re minutes from being blown to bits, I’d let myself enjoy this moment.
“Come on, we need to get out of here before my brother finds us.”
I step back into Joshua’s body, and his arm wraps around my waist.
It’s too late when I realize that his arm isn’t holding me for comfort but restraining me from interfering as he lifts his gun to my friend’s head and shoots.
My scream fills the entryway, and Joshua’s hand clamps over my mouth to muffle the sound. Tears are running down my cheek as he limps toward the exit, pulling me with him.
“She was with your brother, Elise,” he murmurs.
I shake my head until his hand falls away. “She was my friend!”
“No, she wasn’t.”
Joshua and I whip around to face the exit, guns at the ready, and come face to face with my brother and three of his soldiers. Four guns face our two, and I’m not feeling nearly as confident about our odds as I had been only minutes ago.
Mason looks horrific. Blood is splattered across his face, his clothes are torn, his hair is disheveled, and there’s a manic gleam in his eyes that makes my skin crawl.
“Dad only hired Kaitlyn because I recommended her after a special screening. I mean, really, Elise, your ability to still be surprised is admirable.”
“Go to hell, bastard,” I snap, and Joshua’s arm gently tugs me back so I’m tucked into his side.
Mason laughs. “You two really are quite the pair, but personally, I think there’s more chemistry between you and Ryder.”
I feel Joshua’s chest rumble, and Mason’s eyes light up at the reaction.
“Three minutes,” Joshua practically breathes the words, too quiet for the others to hear.
If we don’t get out of here right now, we’re all dead.
“Now,” Mason purrs, “put the guns down.”
Neither of us moves.
“What are you waiting for, Mason? You have us, now what?” Joshua sneers, and I’m forever grateful that I’m not on the receiving end of his wrath.
Mason takes a leisurely step forward, ignoring Joshua and fixing his cool stare on me. “You ruined everything. Years of work and planning—all wasted because of you. Well, now you’ll know what it’s like to lose everything.”
Only a few feet away from us, Mason lifts his gun to Joshua.
Most people with a gun in their hand would think to shoot it when they’re in danger.
Not me.
I chuck the gun at Mason’s wrist before it’s fully positioned. My brother grunts as the force knocks his gun to the ground.
That’s when the shooting starts.
Joshua is quick to pull me to the floor and cover my body with his own. I don’t see how that could help us very much when Mason’s men still have a clear shot, but when I look up, their guns aren’t aimed at Joshua and me.
Their focus is over our heads, and I watch in disbelief as each soldier falls limply to the floor.
“What the hell were you doing?” a deep voice asks from behind us.
Donovan and Kade jog over to where Joshua and I lay on the floor, their guns poised in case of another attack.
I nearly cry with relief. “You’re okay!”
Joshua pulls the two of us to our feet. “None of us will be okay if we don’t get out of here now. Sixty seconds until Goliath,” he explains, and judging by their wide eyes, I gather they know what that means.
We jog to the door as fast as we can with our various injuries, and I think I hear the hum of an airplane growing louder and louder.
I can’t help but throw a last look over my shoulder—and wish I hadn’t.
Mason lies on the floor, clutching helplessly at his side, which, I can see from here, is gushing blood. What’s worse is that his eyes plead with me not to leave him. It’s a glimpse of the brother I grew up with. The brother I so desperately love.
The brother that I need to leave behind.
It takes the last bit of strength that I have left to look away and let Joshua lead me through the door.
We run into the pitch-black night, and the whirring of the aircraft is almost deafening. When I glance upward, I see the outline of a helicopter hovering over the building.
Joshua picks up the speed toward the woods, and I barely manage to keep up with him.
Suddenly, he yanks me behind a large tree, and I’m shocked that his voice still carries over the noise when he calls to the others, “Take cover!”
There’s a flash so bright that I can almost imagine it’s daytime. When the earsplitting blast follows, my body finally decides it’s reached its limit, and I fall into the darkness.