I look back toward Clay.
And something cold settles into place inside me.
Not fear anymore.
Resolve.
“We end this.”
His expression darkens instantly.
“Yes.”
Another explosion rocks the nursery entrance.
The remaining barricade finally collapses inward.
Black-armored operatives push through the smoke.
“MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”
Russ and Lucas unload automatic fire down the corridor while Mason’s surviving men start evacuating children through the rear maintenance tunnel.
Gabriel drags the doctor forward at gunpoint.
“You’re coming with us.”
Her smile finally falters.
Good.
Maybe she’s realizing this isn’t going her way anymore.
I scoop the little girl fully into my arms and force myself to move despite the lingering dizziness clawing through my skull.
Clay stays tight beside me as we run.
The rear maintenance corridor narrows quickly into old drainage tunnels beneath Bucharest.
Concrete walls.
Floodwater around our boots.
Ancient pipes overhead.
The lullaby finally fades behind us.
Thank God.
But the silence afterward somehow feels worse.
The giant blast door continues closing ahead.
Too fast now.
The opening already shrinking.
Russ looks back sharply.
