Chapter 33
thirty-three
“What was that?”
Elliot opened his eyes and looked across the room at Mia, who had startled awake, her blanket pulled up to her chin, her eyes wide as she stared at the door.
“I-I think something’s happening.”
Elliot straightened, his shoulder and back protesting from sleeping half-propped against the wall with Rue tucked in his arms.
As he moved, Rue stirred. “What?—?”
Bang!
The explosion shook the whole building, rattling every piece of equipment in the room. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the lights flickered.
Moretti groaned from his cot, clutching his bandaged head as the building shook. He tried to sit up, but Irina pressed a hand to his shoulder, murmuring for him to stay down.
More pops sounded in quick succession. Gunfire.
Elliot’s mind snapped into tactical mode, adrenaline flooding his system as he gently but quickly shifted Rue off his chest. His shoulder screamed in protest, but he ignored it. Whatever Praetorian was up to, they needed to be ready.
“What the fuck?” Noah jumped to his feet, all but vibrating with the need to act, fight, do… something.
Elliot got that. The same need coursed through his veins, but they couldn’t do anything except stand there and shield the others from whatever might come through that door.
Then he heard it—a long, rolling “Whooooo-eeeey!”—and every coiled muscle in him relaxed. Sabin. No mistaking that Cajun battle cry. He should’ve realized it sooner—that explosion had Dom written all over it.
He turned to Rue and grinned. “It’s my family.”
“Yes!” She punched a fist in the air. “About time!”
Mia stared at them both. “Your family blows up buildings?”
“When necessary.” He winced. “And sometimes when not.”
Noah grunted. “Some family you got, Wilde.”
The door to their makeshift prison burst open, and Jess appeared, weapon drawn. “Get against the wall! Now!”
Nobody moved.
She discharged the weapon into the wall behind a groggy Camille’s head.
Noah dove for Camille, folding her into his arms as she screamed.
“You bitch,” he snarled.
“Yeah, yeah,” Jess said. “I’ve been called worse. Against the wall. Now! Or next time, I don’t miss.”
Noah pulled Camille to her feet and guided her to the wall. Koos rose languidly to his feet and helped Mia scramble off her cot, then used his big body to shield her. Irina backed up, too, but stayed close to Tyler.
Elliot stepped in front of Rue and held up his hands as Jess swung the gun toward them.
“You’re going to lose,” he said. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that it was true, especially now that he knew his family was here.
“Maybe this fight, but not the war.” She jerked her chin, and Keene slid in behind her, a satchel already slung over his shoulder. He didn’t spare them a glance, his eyes locked on the quarantine corner where Tyler lay gasping for breath.
“Make them stay back,” Keene snapped. “I need a sample before your little fortress falls.”
Jess swept the weapon across the room, forcing everyone to obey, while Keene snapped on gloves and dug into his kit. Glass vials clinked against one another as he prepped a syringe, his movements fast but precise.
“You’re not taking him anywhere,” Irina spat.
Keene didn’t even look at her. “I don’t need him. Just his blood. Enough to start the test over somewhere else.” He bent over Tyler and slid a large-bore needle into his neck, where the largest black vein pulsed. Tyler didn’t make a sound.
Elliot caught Noah’s eye across the room. The geologist nodded slightly, understanding immediately, and shifted his weight to the balls of her feet.
Jess noticed the movement and swung toward him. “I said against the wall!”
That split second of divided attention was all Elliot needed. He lunged forward, driving his shoulder into the middle of her back just as Noah grabbed her gun. The weapon discharged, the bullet embedding itself in the ceiling as they crashed to the floor in a tangle of limbs.
“Koos! The door!” Elliot shouted as he wrestled with Jess, trying to pin her arms.
Koos sprang into action, wedging himself against the door to prevent reinforcements from entering.
Jess fought like a cornered animal, all elbows and knees and teeth. She managed to get a hand free and clawed at Elliot’s face, her nails raking hot lines of pain across his cheek.
“Little help here?” he grunted as her knee connected with his already-injured ribs.
Rue appeared beside him, grabbing Jess’s flailing arm and wrenching it back with a nasty twist. “Got her. Shit, no, don’t got her.”
Jess bucked violently, sending Rue sprawling backward. Jess twisted like a snake, her elbow catching Elliot’s jaw with a crack that rattled his teeth. Stars exploded behind his eyes. She slipped from his grasp, rolling away and coming up in a crouch.
“You’re all dead anyway,” she hissed, blood trickling from her split lip. “Praetorian always wins.”
She lunged for the fallen weapon, fingers stretching toward the grip. Elliot dove after her, but his injured shoulder betrayed him, sending a white-hot lance of pain down his arm that momentarily paralyzed him.
A gunshot cracked through the room.
Jess jerked backward, a look of surprise crossing her face as a red stain bloomed across her chest. She looked down at it, almost confused, then collapsed to the floor.
Elliot whipped around to see Camille standing with the gun clutched in both hands, her normally perfect composure shattered. Her hands trembled, and her eyes were wide with shock.
“I—” she started, then stopped, swallowing hard. “She was going to kill us.”
Noah stared at her, mouth agape. “Holy shit, Cami.” He crossed to her, gently pried the gun from her shaking grasp, and handed it to Rue. Then he clasped Camille’s face in his hands and kissed her hard.
“Dr. Keene,” Mia gasped, her wide eyes fixed on the empty space where the scientist had been moments before. “He’s gone.”
Elliot spun around, scanning the room. In the chaos of the fight with Jess, Keene had escaped. If he had the pathogen…
“Moretti, too,” Koos pointed out, and Elliot scanned again. Sure enough, Moretti was missing, too.
“Fuck. Keene took a hostage.” Made sense. Other than Tyler, Moretti was the weakest of them all, thanks to his concussion.
The sounds of combat grew closer—shouted orders, the staccato burst of gunfire, and the unmistakable sound of Dom’s voice bellowing commands. His family was fighting their way through Praetorian’s defenses, but they’d be too late to stop Keene if he reached an extraction point.
“Go,” Irina said, and grabbed some fresh gloves and a mask from the table by the quarantine. Her normally icy demeanor had softened, her pale eyes showing genuine concern. “Stop Keene. Rescue Moretti. I’ll stay with Tyler.”
“No way I’m leaving him,” Mia said. “He’s my best friend. He’s not dying here alone.”
Camille lovingly touched Noah’s cheek, then stepped out of his arms. “I’ll stay too. I’m... I’m not cut out for chasing armed men.”
Elliot hesitated, torn between ensuring everyone’s safety and pursuing Keene. The samples he took could doom countless others if Praetorian weaponized them. But leaving half their group vulnerable...
“Go,” Irina insisted, meeting his gaze with steely determination as she strapped on a mask. “We’ll barricade ourselves in here until your family arrives.”
That decided it. Elliot nodded sharply and turned to the others. “Rue, Noah, Koos—with me. Keene will head for the snowcats in the east garage, closest to the airstrip. If Praetorian’s plane isn’t ready, they’ll try to take ours.”
And he hoped to God his family had left it guarded.
“How do you know that?” Noah asked.
“Because I know Praetorian’s playbook,” Elliot replied, already moving toward the door. He paused at the threshold, looking back at the three women huddled protectively around Tyler.
The young scientist’s breathing had gone shallow, his skin ashen beneath the black veins. There was a good chance the kid wouldn’t make it, but they had to try.
“Stay alive,” he told them as he locked them in. “We’ll be back with help.”
Then he was running, Rue at his side with Jess’s weapon in hand.
Noah and Koos were close behind. The corridor was chaos—emergency lights flashing, alarms blaring, the distant pop of gunfire echoing through the metal hallways.
The floor vibrated beneath his feet with each explosion, and the acrid smell of smoke and cordite filled his lungs.
His mind raced ahead, mapping the route to the east garage. They needed to move fast—Keene had a head start, and if he got away with those samples...
The thought of what Praetorian could do with the pathogen made his blood run cold. This wasn’t just about saving their own lives anymore. This was about preventing a global catastrophe.
They rounded the corner and nearly collided with two Praetorian operatives in tactical gear.
Elliot didn’t hesitate. He drove his shoulder into the first man’s sternum, using the momentum to slam him against the wall.
The impact sent a jolt of pain through his injured shoulder, but adrenaline dulled it to a distant throb.
Rue darted past him, dropping low to sweep the legs out from under the second operative. The man went down hard, his rifle clattering across the floor. Rue scooped it up, reversed her grip, and brought the butt down on the man’s temple with a sickening crack.
“Nice,” Elliot said, breathing hard as he relieved the soldiers of their weapons. He kept a rifle for himself, gave one to Noah, and handed one of the sidearms to Koos before tucking the other into his waistband.
“Rock climbing builds upper body strength,” she replied with a grim smile.
They pressed on, moving in a tight formation down the corridor. Elliot took point, the borrowed rifle a reassuring weight against his shoulder. Each intersection, each doorway was a potential ambush, and he cleared them methodically, muscle memory from years of training taking over.