AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"He's always right." Weber cast a nervous glance around. "He said it's not safe here. He said you'd take me someplace safe."
My gaze shot to Lucas, trying to gauge his reaction, but he gave none.
"That's right," Lucas said. "Just let me call our driver."
Lucas reached into his breast pocket for his cell phone, to call the extraction team. Obviously Weber wouldn't be comfortable talking here, so there was no use trying. Time to skip to the next phase and take him in for questioning.
Lucas only had time to press the first button when a sharp crack rang out, followed by a tremendous crash. A metal canister hit the floor between us. Lucas lunged, grabbing me by the shoulders and throwing us both to the ground. The canister began to smoke.
"Cover your--" Lucas began, but the sound of breaking wood drowned him out.
I turned to see the front door slam open and three men dressed in black barrel through. All three turned their guns on us, then disappeared as smoke filled the room.
They Always Grab the Girl
SOMEONE STARTED SHOUTING ORDERS, BUT I WAS DOUBLED over, hacking my lungs up, unable to hear anything but my own coughing. I pulled my shirt over my nose, but it didn't help. My eyes teared up from the gas; between that and the smoke, I was blinded. Fingers grabbed my arm and tugged me forward. Trust Lucas to keep his calm, whatever the situation.
I stumbled behind Lucas's dark shape. A doorway loomed before us. As we moved through it, the smoke lessened, but my eyes still streamed tears. I wiped my free arm across them. Lucas kept pulling me, presumably toward the back door and clean air.
"Paige!" Adam's voice. Through the smoke I could make out his outline running toward us.
"Get outside," I rasped. "It's--"
He charged. The hand on my arm wrenched me backward. I tripped and spun to see that it wasn't Lucas holding me. It was Weber.
I punched at Weber, but my fist glanced off his shoulder. His other hand sheared down. I felt something hit me between the ribs. Heard Adam's bellow of rage. Lucaslunged through the door and cut Adam off in mid-charge. The stink of sulfur and burned flesh overwhelmed the fading smell of the gas. Lucas gasped in pain. I tried to wrench myself from Weber's grip, but he held me fast.
"Nobody move!" Weber screeched, his voice shrill with panic. "I've got the girl."
A split second of clear, if near-hysterical, thought. Of course he'd grab the girl. They always grabbed the girl. But why did I have to be the girl?
Then cool steel pressed against my throat, and I stopped thinking. The blade pressed into my throat, and blood trickled down my neck. In that moment, it seemed that even to breathe might be fatal, that with the slightest movement some vital artery would be severed. As I held my breath, I became aware of another pain, sharper and lower. My rib cage. I pressed the spot. Blood seeped through my fingers. I'd been stabbed. The thought hit me so hard I rocked, and in rocking felt the knife nick my throat again. I closed my eyes and began to count, fighting against panic.
"Move the knife away from her throat," Lucas said, his voice even but strained.
"She--she's my hostage."
"Yes, I know," Lucas said slowly. "But if you wish her to remain a viable hostage, you cannot take the chance of accidentally wounding her, so please lower that--"
A loud scuffle cut him off, as the men from the other room barreled into the kitchen. I didn't dare look to confirm that, could only stare at the empty space in front of me. Weber tensed, and the blade dug into my throat again.
"Stand down!" Lucas shouted over the clamor. "He has a hostage. Put your weapons down!"
"Everyone against the wall," a man barked.
"Don't pretend you don't know who I am," Lucas barked back. "I gave you an order. Lower your weapons!"
"I take my orders from the Nast--"
"You'll take your goddamned orders from me or you'll be regretting it into the next life! Now stand down."
A moment of silence, then the pressure on my throat lessened.
"I want a helicopter," Weber said. "I want--"
"You want to get out of here alive," Lucas said, his voice returned to its usual soft, reasonable tones. "The house is surrounded by professional snipers. The moment you step into their line of sigh
t, they will shoot."
