Page 75 of Palace of Betrayal

Then he bent and picked up what looked like two World War II gas masks from the floor and handed them to Leo. “Wait ten minutes before you leave.”

With that, he left, closing the front door as he and the men he was with jumped into a van.

Glancing at the mask in his hand a horrid realisation came to him. “They’re going to kill them all.”

Bebe had clearly come to the same conclusion and gave Roz the details. The sounds of people screaming and shouting hit their ears.

“Get out of there,” Roz yelled through the comms, and she sounded like she was running.

Bebe shook her head. “We can’t just let them all die.”

“You have one minute to see if you can help and then I’m coming for you,” Roz yelled into the comms.

Leo was torn, his first instinct was to protect the woman he loved. Right on top of that came the urge to help people. They might be criminals, but they were still human beings.

Bebe looked at him waiting for his reaction. Grabbing her face, he positioned the mask and hoped like hell the seals weren’t compromised.

“One minute.”

He put his mask on, ignoring the foul smell and headed back down the hallway where the sounds of furniture hitting walls echoed into the night. A yellow, green aura inside the common room was the first sign of what they were dealing with. He peered inside and saw more than half the people they’d been sitting with not minutes ago rolling on the floor fighting for breath.

“We need to get these doors open.”

Bebe had lifted a fire extinguisher off the wall and began hitting the metal chain to try and break the lock.

A whiff of chlorine hit his nose burning his eyes and his fear that the masks were compromised came true. The sounds were growing less and less as he took over hitting the lock with everything he had.

“Hurry, they’re dying.”

As the lock gave, Bebe quickly began unwinding the chain from the doors and ripping the seal away. He grasped her hand, stopping her from opening the door. “You won’t be able to save them all. We don’t have time.”

“I can try. Please.” Her need to save people, even those not worthy, was part of what he loved about her and also part of her deep-seated need to make up for something she’d never been to blame for.

“Is your mask secure?”

Bebe nodded and he wished he had time to tell her he loved her before he followed her into hell. “Let’s go.”

Yellow gas erupted as he pulled the door open. He grabbed the arms of the closest person, dragging them to the exit, as Bebe did the same in front of him. They found Kanan, Roz, Alex, Evelyn, and Brody at the main door waiting to help.

His lungs burned, eyes running with tears as he began to cough, passing Bebe as she handed off a second victim to Alex and ran back inside. With at least a dozen more inside he knew they’d never get them all out before the fumes overtook them both.

“Bebe, we need to go.”

“One more.” She rushed back in, and he followed even as his vision became blurred, his legs growing weak from lack of oxygen.

“Everyone out. We have a missile incoming.”

Bebe glanced at him as his legs gave way, a hacking cough consuming his body. “Leo.”

Anguish covered her face as he tried to wave her away, but his vision was almost black now, the sting from the chlorine gas burning his skin.

An arm came around him and then another and he was hauled to his feet and dragged until the cold night air slapped his skin.

His mask was wrenched off and he took his first deep pull of fresh air as the building behind them exploded into the quiet of the night, sending him and his saviours to their knees.

Flames and smoke hit the night sky as the ringing in his ears muffled the sound of the nightmare around him. Looking around desperately, he found Bebe a few feet from him, probably blown by the blast. Her wig had fallen off in the melee, her hair dark around her shoulders as she ran to him.

He caught her as she fell into him taking them both to the ground.