Kyle braced himself for the pain to come ashe broke away from the others and sprinted toward the elevator. Theguards gawked at him before opening fire.
CHAPTER 49
When they stoppedoutside the door to the control room, Nathan waved them back andpointed to the sides of the door. Lucy held her breath and waitedwhile Nathan raised his foot and delivered a solid kick to thedoor. The steel barrier rattled but didn’t break.
He kicked it again and again; it heldfirm.
“Hold on,” David said.
The two of them stood side by side and raisedtheir feet to deliver some solid blows to the door. On their thirdkick, the frame bent and twisted. Vicky tried to join in to help,but there wasn’t enough room for the three of them to worktogether. It took ten more kicks from David and Nathan before thedoor broke open.
The door abruptly giving way caused them tolean forward as shots erupted. One of the bullets hit David in thegut and threw him backward. He crashed into the wall behind them.Nathan managed to hit the ground in time to avoid someone shootinghim.
Nathan wiggled toward David as Vicky graspedhis arm. A bullet hit the wall less than an inch from her head.Nathan grabbed David’s boot, and the two of them dragged him awayfrom the door.
Standing beside the door, Lucy pressed herback against the wall and waited for the shots to end; it didn’ttake long. Her mother and Arthur weren’t fighters, and they neverwould have expected for them to make it this far or for the door togive way.
They wouldnotbe prepared for this orher. She took a deep breath and braced herself before stepping intothe doorway.
She wouldn’t allow anyone else to get hurt;she would take the next bullets. Standing there, with her shouldersback and her chin raised, she waited for bullets to pummel her.
Nothing happened.
She didn’t realize she’d closed her eyesuntil bullets didn’t riddle her body. Cracking one eye open, shesaw her mother and Arthur standing across from her. They had theirguns pointed at her chest. She waited for one of them to fire—itwould most likely be her mother—but neither did.
They must be out of bullets because shedoubted her mother would hold back. The woman had the soul of ashark. She didn’t care that Lucy was her daughter; she neverhad.
“Mother,” Lucy greeted.
Delilah kept the gun leveled at her heart.Was there one bullet left in the weapon; a bullet meant especiallyforher?
“Lucy,” she replied coldly.
Lucy’s gaze flitted past her to the windowoverlooking the cells below. Arthur lowered his gun. He lookedresigned to his fate, and Lucy wondered what that fate was. Whatwould happen to him and Delilah after this?
But, it didn’t matter. As long as they allgot out of this place, with Melanie, none of it mattered. They’dmade their choices, and she was making hers.
Maybe she should care more, Delilah was hermother after all, but she’d never been a mother to her. She’dalways been this cold, impersonal automaton who had done nothingmore than keep Lucy alive. However, there were many times over theyears when Lucy questioned why Delilah kept her alive.
Despite his distance from her, Arthur lovedMelanie; he didn’t know how to deal with her after her mom’s murderor his own emotions, and he definitely didn’t know how to deal withher relationship with Kyle.
That was never the case with Delilah.
“I’m coming in,” Lucy said.
Her mother’s gun didn’t waver.
Lucy stepped through the broken doorway andapproached the control panel.
“You led them in here,” Delilah said. “You’vesigned our death certificates.”
“No,youdid that,” Lucy said as shereached the control panel and leaned forward to peer at the prisonbelow.
She restrained a gasp when she saw the bloodcoating the floor and walls. Kyle’s mom and dad were behind one ofthe cages. There was so much blood around them, and he wasn’tmoving. Kyle and some of the others were charging toward the guardsby the elevator as the doors slid open.
Shit!
Kyle made it to the elevator and took downtwo guards, but some of the others were turning their guns towardhim.
