Lachlan looks to the Alderwyck bodyguard.‘Can you keep her safe if I lock you down somewhere?’
‘I need to go back for my mom,’ Savannah whispers.‘She needs me.’
‘I’ve got it,’ the other bodyguard says with a decisive nod.
Lachlan heads for one of the few rooms that locks this close to the ballroom.His requests to install safe rooms around the ballroom were, of course, shot down, but he took the time to scope out preexisting ones.Lachlan is meticulous about his corners, knows every inch of this place even in the dark.When he reaches the room, he opens the door and isthis closeto leaving them when Savannah’s bodyguard says, ‘You should leave him with me too.’
‘What?’
‘You’ll cut a better path without him,’ he says, nodding at Jules and then the Sorrenko boys.‘Leave them all with me.I’ve got this.’
Lachlan’s instincts might be dulled from playing babysitter for over a year, but he still trusts the small, hostile part of himself that bristles beneath his skin like a threatened sea urchin.
Jules is almost certainly the target of this attack, and no competent bodyguard broadens their protection detail around an active HVT unless ordered to.
‘Julian stays with me.’
‘I’m just offering—’
Lachlan smashes an elbow into the man’s face, and a fight erupts instantly, fast and savage.Savannah screams.Lachlan snaps at her to shut up as he takes the bodyguard down hard, locks his legs around him and twists until the man’s neck breaks with a loud crack.He fought well enough to break Lachlan’s nose, but it’s over in less than twenty seconds.
Adrenaline keeps the pain distant while Lachlan searches the body fast.Weapons.Spare ammunition.A small handset switched to silent but still active.He motions sharply for the kids to stay quiet, then flicks the handset off silent and listens to the burst of rapid-fire Russian crackling through the speaker, mostly code.Lachlan is proven right, at least.
Savannah is sobbing.‘Oh my God.Oh my God, oh my God, oh myGod.’
‘He’s with the Front.The Moroz Front,’Lachlan says, keeps the radio on low, clips it to his shirt so he can track the stream.Maybe he can hijack the frequency, bounce something to Control.‘They use very specific code.’
The kids are all muttering things,panicking.
‘He wouldn’t… he was my friend,’ Savannah cries, voice breaking.
Lachlan sorely wants to leave all three spare kids in here but without a protector he can’t and Jules won’t allow it.Fuck.
‘All right, listen up,’ he says quietly.‘We need to get the East Wing.I’m taking all of you with me but if you make noise, we’ll be caught and killed.Do you understand?’
‘We understand,’ Jules says, wrapping an arm around Savannah’s shoulders.‘We understand, don’t we, Ana?’
‘He was my friend.He was… he—’
Vasily hugs her, ‘We keep you safe, don’t worry.’
Lachlan looks to Roman, who nods.‘You can trust me.I’ll keep them quiet.’
‘No screaming, no crying, no noise.Eyes on me, understood?’All four mumble agreement.‘Jules, remove your belt.’
‘Why?’
‘That’s your tracker.’
Jules pulls it out, lets it drop on the floor.Lachlan stomps on it and then pulls off his Kevlar threaded jacket and drapes it around Jules’ shoulders, then says to Roman, ‘Give her the bodyguard’s.It’s bulletproof, same as mine.’
Roman gives Savannah her dead bodyguard’s jacket, pulls her arms through it for her too.The poor thing is shaking so much her teeth chatter.
Lachlan gentles his voice.‘It’s gonna be OK, sweetheart.Just stay with me.’
She manages a teary nod.‘A-all right.’
‘Roman, you bring up the rear.Jules behind me, then Savannah, then Vasily.This,’ he says motioning with his hand, makes a raised fist, ‘means stop.’
