Aiden darted in low, grabbed the handle, andslammed the door shut, but not before a bullet struck his arm. Thebullets hammered the closed steel door but didn’t pierce it. Theguards fired for a good thirty seconds more before they finallyrealized no one was coming after them.
“Shit,” Aiden hissed as his blood spilleddown his arm and dripped onto the floor.
“Let me see,” Maggie said as she tenderlygrasped his arm.
“It’s fine,” he assured her.
“Which one of us has medical training?”
“That would be you, dear.”
When she scowled at him, he smiled ather.
“Be nice to me,” he said. “I’ve beenshot.”
“Hmm,” Maggie grunted, but her eyes werefilled with love as she inspected his arm. “The bullet wentstraight through. With some blood, you’ll be okay.”
Aiden kissed her forehead before shifting hisattention to the others. “We’ll guard this door to make sure noneof these assholes try to escape. How many more rooms are there?” heasked Lucy.
“The next hall just has the control room,”she answered.
“We’re almost to the end,” Nathan said. “Howmany more guards do you think are at the control room?”
Lucy stared at the closed door as shepondered this and the arrogance of the people running this place.“I think we might have seen all of them. There could still be more,but I don’t think they believed we’d make it this far and wouldhave put their main concentration of guards in this hall.”
“I hope you’re right,” Nathan said. “Let’sgo.”
Lucy led the way to the end of the hall. Shehesitated at the corner before cautiously poking her head aroundit. She truly believed Melanie’s dad and her mother never wouldhave expected them to make it this far, but that didn’t mean shewanted to get shot either.
Nothing moved in the hall. At the far end,the elevator doors remained closed. The control room, the onlyother door on this floor, was also closed, and she was prettycertain she knew who was inside.
***
“We have to get to them,” Brian said as heeyed the guards standing by the elevator.
The guards scattered throughout the cagesretreated to the elevator and the other stairwell. One of theguards hit a button on the elevator while speaking into themouthpiece he wore. The woman next to him said something, and theypushed back toward the elevator.
“We can’t let them leave here. They’ll ambushthe others if they do,” Kyle said.
“We’ll stop them,” Julian responded. “We’llsplit up and rush at them. If we can keep them divided, we have achance of reaching them.”
“Then let’s go,” Aida said.
“Hold on,” Julian said.
Julian pulled Aida into his arms and kissedher. Trying to give them a little bit of privacy, Kyle looked overto where Melanie stood staring at him. He would give anything tohold her right now.
He shifted his attention to his parents. Theyremained safely ensconced behind one of the cells. There were nomore guards out on the main floor, and the ones by the stairwelllooked as if they were getting ready to retreat too. Willow and theothers were edging closer to them.
When Julian and Aida broke apart, he tenderlykissed her forehead before releasing her. “Stay behind me,” he toldher.
“Julian—”
“Aida, please stay behind me.”
She hesitated before resting her hand on hisarm. “I will.”
“Let’s go,” Brian said.
