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“Christ.” Jeb rushed toward the door and jabbed numbers on the pad. When he yanked the door open, Malone was immediately behind him, hearing a commotion down the hallway, urgent footsteps, frantic voices.
“- in back!”
“Breached the -”
Outside, a burst from an assault rifle was followed by a scream and another explosion. Jeb ran along the corridor, yelling to Malone, “Stay here!”
Like hell, Malone thought, then charged after him. In the foyer, the two guards he had struggled with earlier had drawn their pistols, aiming toward the front entrance. Other guards raced along corridors.
Louder gunfire, a third explosion.
I have to find Sie
In the foyer, he turned toward the middle corridor, where he saw Laster and his two assistants rush from a room halfway along on the left. Laster’s face was pale as he slammed the door shut behind him, grabbed a guard ru
Malone whirled toward the guard he had earlier struck in the stomach. “Give me a pistol.”
Sweat beading his forehead, the guard stared toward the front entrance and didn’t seem to hear him.
“Listen, damn it, I need a pistol!”
“Go back to your room!” Laster shouted, reaching him.
“Where’s Sie
An explosion shook the front doors. Smoke appeared at the end of the middle corridor. Although the exterior of the house was made of metal and glass, reinforced to withstand an attack, the interior’s wooden walls and beams had caught on fire. Outside, the shots intensified. Then suddenly the shooting wasn’t outside any longer. Malone heard an ear-torturing burst from an assault rifle. Rapid single shots from pistols followed. The smoke worsened.
“Go back to your -” Laster started to repeat. Gunfire interrupted him.
“Tell me where Sie
“I don’t understand how they -” Laster spun toward an assistant. “Get the woman.”
The assistant stared at the smoke churning toward him and backed away.
“Get her!” Laster repeated.
“Where is she?” Malone demanded. “In the room you just left?”
Laster whirled toward the sound of an explosion outside.
“Damn you.” Malone took a deep breath and shoved past. As the smoke enveloped him, it stung his eyes and blurred his vision. For all he knew, it was poison gas, but he didn’t allow himself to think about it. He had to find Sie
He reached a door, turned the knob, and thrust inside. “Sie
In the last of the unfouled air, he took another deep breath and lunged back into the smoke-filled corridor, rushing farther. “Sie
From down the hallway, he thought he heard a muffled cry. “Chase!” Was he imagining it? Was he making himself hear what he wanted to hear? He ran to the next door, and this time when he charged in, she was there before him, rushing toward him. Coughing, he wanted to slam the door behind him to prevent the smoke from spilling in, but he realized that he’d be locking them in, that he had to keep the door open. He grabbed a chair and braced it between the door and the jamb.
They held each other. He wanted to keep his arms around her forever, but as nearby gunfire made her flinch, the smoke began to fill the room.
“Help me,” he said. “We need wet towels.”
In the bathroom, he filled the sink with cold water. Sie
The gunfire was closer. Smoke reached the bathroom.
Coughing, Malone pressed a dripping towel against his face. Although it was hard to breathe through, the moisture filtered some of the smoke. But that wouldn’t last long, he knew. As Sie
He shoved the chair aside, grasped Sie
Unable to see the floor, Malone almost tripped over something. A body. Sie
The moment he shoved the wallet into his jeans, he urged Sie
He kept his shoulder against the wall. Then suddenly the wall was gone. He’d reached the foyer. But the area seemed abandoned. The shots, screams, and footsteps became eerily silent, the only noise the growing whoosh of the flames behind him. Is everybody dead? he wondered.
“Chase!” someone called.
Malone spun.
“Chase!”
The hoarse voice was Jeb’s. To the right.
Worried that someone might be forcing Jeb, Malone took the towel from his mouth long enough to whisper to Sie
“Chase!” Jeb sounded closer. At once he appeared amid the smoke, his face red from coughing, startled by the weapon Malone pointed at him.
As smoke seared Malone’s throat, he could barely say, “Get us out of here!”
Jeb tugged his arm, leading him to the right. Outside, two shots made Sie
But this is a trap, Malone thought. How are we going to leave the building? Immediately he noticed concrete steps leading downward.
“There’s a utility tu
Malone didn’t need to hear any more. He and Sie
As Malone ran, his labored breathing echoed. He and Sie
The corridor turned sharply to the left, bringing them to an unlit segment of the tu
At the far end, footsteps clattered down the stairs. Four men rushed into view. They held assault rifles, one of them shouting, “Check every room!”
As the men split up, Malone held his fire. There were too many men. They were too far away. He glanced toward Jeb, whose strained eyes seemed to be reading his thoughts. Jeb cocked his head toward the continuation of the tu
Hoping that the sounds the men made would prevent them from hearing other sounds, Malone, Sie