Carrigan takes out the rest in equally fast fashion, joining his side, but by the time they swing their aim at Monroe, she already has Mimi in her arms, kneeling on the floor, blade pressed to the kid’s neck.
Mimi is clinging to Monroe for dear life, crying.
‘Give him to me,’ Monroe instructs with deadly calm.‘Now.’
Jules is trying to get to Mimi.Carrigan keeps him where he is.
‘Don’t hurt her,please,please!Mimi let go, baby, let—!’
‘NO!’
The poor kid is clearly terrified and won’t let go of her childminder, doesn’t seem to realise she’s bad.Every second that passes, the likelihood of her survival is dropping.
Lachlan makes a snap decision.
He lowers his gun, all movements telegraphed.
‘Jules, go to her,’ he instructs calmly.‘We’ll trade.’
Jules looks surprised but he doesn’t hesitate to crawl across the floor.Monroe tries to pull Mimi off to honour the trade, but she’s gripping like a little koala, wailing loudly.
‘Mimi, let go,’ Jules begs.‘It’s me, please let go!’
‘NO!YOU GONNA GIVE ME TO THE BAD MAN!’
‘Mimi, come on!He-he’ll keep you safe,please!’
Monroe and Lachlan are in a staring contest.
He’s just waiting for his moment.
‘Remove her,’ she snaps at him, drawing Jules closer so she can press the scalpel over his skin in regained threat, ‘and then we can—’
Lachlan’s knife strikes dead centre between her eyes, thrown with cold tactical precision.It’s small, heavy for its size, and he’s been hiding it in his palm for the past minute.
Monroe falls backwards, dead.
Mimi screams louder than ever.
It’s so loud he feels his own eardrums recoiling, so pitched with abject horror that Lachlan physically winces, his own vision faltering briefly, makes it seem like the flashlights are flickering.
‘Secure the wing,’ Lachlan tells Carrigan, moving to the distressed kids and the now dead childminder.‘Jules, get inside your room.’
‘Mimi, please,’ the boy yells, trying to pull his little sister off the dead body.‘Please, baby.Please, it’s me, it’s OK now, it’s gonna be OK!’
Lachlan’s patience frays because their safety has to be priority, so he pulls Mimi roughly off the dead woman and holds her tight while she screams and beats him with tiny fists.A violent migraine spreads thickly behind his eyes, and nausea roils in his guts for reasons he can’t fathom.It’s hardly his first kill.
He drags them both inside Jules’ bedroom.
Once inside, he locks it securely and then hands Mimi over to Jules, but she won’t stay with him.She scurries under the bed, sobbing in the dark.
Jules follows her, crawls underneath too.He’s trying to explain it’s OK, that they’re safe now, but she won’t listen.
The backup frequency comes in with reports of the intruders being taken care of.He gives the OK for missile launch to take out the chopper that was circling for extraction.
One is kept alive for questioning.
The whole time, he can hear Mimi crying that thebad man bodygardenkilled herMorning Momma,and it feels like lightning in his chest.
