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“I know,” Wit said calmly. “You can’t breathe until you see her. You can’t think until you have them. I need you to hear me when I say she’s safe right now, and you have time to get to her. You’re almost there. Get it together. You take her and the babies straight to your place. The rest of the building is locked down, and a team is guarding your floor, ready to shut it down. You’ll get your family out of there safe, okay? I need you to trust me.”
“I-I…” Killion walked back and forth in the small space, focused on his breathing with his eyes closed, trying to take it down a notch. Wit was right. He would only frighten her and make his job getting them out of there harder. Killion wiped his face with his shirt and ran his hands like a comb through his disheveled hair. “I got this. I’ll get them there.”
“Good. I’m counting on you, brother,” Wit said and paused briefly. “Hold on. There’s someone in there with her now. It’s…”
The comms went dead before Wit could finish. Who was in there with Rainy? A friendly or an enemy? That fire roared again deep inside him, and he tried to contain it, but it took all he had to do so. Just when he felt like he would lose control again, the doors opened, and he saw the stroller in the distance.
Killion stepped off the elevator, gun at the ready, and moved quickly and stealthily to his family. He still couldn’t see Rainy or whoever was in there with her, but he did see the bastards on the other side of the glass lining it with explosives. If he fired at them now, he risked triggering the explosives and harming his family. All he could do was get to them and rush them to safety and hope like hell it was before those explosives detonated.
Rounding the corner, using trees for cover, he had a clear view of Rainy huddled in a corner with the stroller, Relay in front of her with her weapon out. Fury rushed through him. Had he miscalculated her as a threat? He shook his head and took in the scene again only this time with clearer eyes and mind. Relay had her sights on the glass wall, not Rainy. She was protecting them. Why she was even there with them was a conversation for another day.
“I’m not a threat,” Relay yelled without looking Killion’s way. “We have trouble on the other side of that glass.”
“Killion?” Rainy’s voice shook with fear, but when he looked at her, he realized it wasn’t because she was fearful of the bastards on the other side of the atrium trying to get in. It was him.
Never did he want to be a source of fear or confusion for her, so he instantly softened like she was the anecdote to all his problems.
“It’s okay, darlin’,” he said, moving closer. “I’m okay too. I’m going to get you out of here.”
He looked down in the stroller as he approached, noting the babies were sleeping peacefully, and his shoulders dropped with relief. They were all safe for the moment, and all he had to do was get them the hell out of there.
Relay looked at him with a furrowed brow. “Get them out of here. Comms are down. I don’t know the state of the rest of the building, but I’ll hold this down here.”
Killion nodded and tucked Rainy behind him and pushed the stroller with one hand while his gun was extended in the other, placing himself between the breachers and his family and moved them to the elevator as quickly as Rainy could move.
“They’re using a jammer, only first floor or two,” he hollered. “We have breachers at the front entrance and garage too. We have teams on all of it. One headed here too.”
She nodded. “Get out of here, O’Reilly. Get to your place and shut down your floor. Shut it down from there in case I don’t make it back to the Lair.”
Just as the elevator doors opened, there was an explosion behind them. Killion shoved the stroller inside and pressed his back against Rainy, shielding her from the debris and gunfire that followed.
“Go!” Relay yelled from a distance, hidden from Killion’s view as she fired on the two men who entered the atrium.
Killion fired, giving them cover until the doors closed.
“Relay?” Rainy cried out, looking at Killion. “We can’t leave her.”
Killion reached for Rainy as the gunfire increased just as they began to move. “It’s okay. She’s tough, and there’s help coming.”
He holstered his weapon and pulled her into his arms, stroking the back of her head while looking down at the babies, who had begun to stir. “It’s okay. You’re okay now.”
Unlike before, she was calm. No tremble. No inconsolable sobbing. Only a tight grip as if she was comforting him. That was when he realized it wasn’t Rainy who needed consoling, it was him. He was the one trembling with tears racing down his face.
He kissed the top of her head repeatedly and whispered. “Thank God you’re all right.”
She looked up and swiped away the tears. “We all are. Thanks to you.”
He nodded quickly and leaned against the elevator wall, unwilling to let her go as he took a moment to let the adrenaline pass, fear tamper down, and that anxious feeling finally leave him. Killion understood now what it was like for Rainy the first night they were attacked while attempting to bring her home from the rehab facility. He understood the stakes and quality of the threat and what it felt like to have it looming like she had for years. He also understood why she was still afraid but not petrified like she was that night, and it was because of him. She had faith in him and knew he’d protect their family. If only he had the same confidence in himself.
21
As they approached his floor, the elevator car shook as another massive explosion consumed the building. It was all happening so quickly, and with comms down, he didn’t know the extent of the damage or injuries. For all he knew, the entire building was now under siege, and they were trapped inside. Killion quickly tucked Rainy and the stroller behind him and pulled out his weapon once more. He held it out in front of him in anticipation of what might be waiting for them on the other side of the doors.
As they opened, he braced himself, sensing they weren’t alone, wondering if they’d be met by friend or foe. Just as the two doors slid, Killion heard a familiar voice.
“Floor’s secure,” Gannon called out. “Don’t shoot me, O’Reilly.”
Relief rolled over him at the sound of a friend. The team had managed to secure the floor before Killion had even arrived. Though met with friendlies, he didn’t holster his weapon, only tilted it down until he could see with his own eyes what he’d been told.
