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“Leave that up to me.” With one hand clasping Ry’s forearm and the other on my cheek, she dragged my mouth to hers and kissed me hard and fast, cutting off my comments.
Ry pushed open the door, and Zee stepped out with me close on her tail, making sure no-one caught up to us in the corridor. We made it halfway before we heard voices coming from the direction we needed to go.
I swallowed hard, my heart rate ticking up a notch.
I hadn’t realized I’d stopped walking until Zee grasped my hand and pulled me toward the door Ry was holding open. He closed it silently, the lock only making a soft snick as he engaged it. With a finger to her lips, Zee gestured to the floor.
My legs were jelly when I sank down, relieved that I didn’t have to coordinate holding myself up and walking anymore. I could do this. Fear was my friend. It would keep me on my toes.
If I told myself that rubbish over and over again, I might actually believe it.
The three of us shuffled away from the door, crouching down under the line of windows looking into the corridor. The room was stripped bare of furniture and window coverings, the walls freshly painted and ready for flooring to be laid. It didn’t give us much cover, but at least if we stayed under the windows, we were unlikely to be seen.
I turned my gaze to Zee and couldn’t believe my life. How had I landed myself here? She’d always been my best friend, but now she was so much more. I hated that she was putting herself at so much risk, because even though I was scared out of my mind about getting caught, she was the one I was truly worried about.
I couldn’t let anything happen to her.
“Hey,” Zee soothed, on her knees in front of me, cupping my face as her brow furrowed in concern. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to get out of here, Zee.”
“I’ll protect you. We’ll get out of here. Nothing is going to happen. I promise.”
I shook my head. Again, not what I was worried about. Well, it was, but that wasn’t all I feared. “You can’t make that promise, and anyway, I’m more worried about you.”
She smiled, the expression warm and filled with affection. I was sure my grin matched hers. “You don’t need to protect me, Flynn. I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself.”
“I know, and I love you for it. But I want to protect you. So does Ry.” I held her hands in mine, trying to take the sting from my words. It wouldn’t work, but I had to at least try. “This? This is insane. We’re hiding in a federal building after robbing it.”
“You trust me, right? I’ll get us out of here.”
I nodded and closed my eyes, hoping against hope that she was right. Begging the universe to let her be right.
Being arrested, I could handle. Heck, even jail time would eventually come to an end. But there were some things people couldn’t come back from. Like death. We weren’t armed, but what if the guards were? What if they saw us and started shooting?
I’d never forgive myself if I let anything bad happen to her. Neither would Ry. And if either Ryder or I were hurt, or worse, it would destroy Zee.
Zee inhaled slowly, held the deep breath for a moment, then slowly exhaled. I couldn’t help but follow along, copying her moves and soaking up her calm. My hands stayed wrapped around hers, our grip on each other gentle but strong at the same time.
Meeting her gaze once more, I sank into those deep blue eyes. Usually, they were filled with a spark of something uniquely Zee—a little bit of mischief, a little bit of daring—but now they were dull. Whether it was fear or the unacknowledged pain of this afternoon’s breakup, I’d likely never know. But her confidence never wavered, nor did the rock-solid belief that we’d be okay. It was comforting, even though I knew that we only had so much control over what would happen in the next few minutes.
“Nothing is going to happen,” she reiterated. I think it was for her own sake too.
I looked over at Ry, but his expression was unreadable. He was wearing his usual frown, his lips a straight line. He looked like he should have been an action hero, the guy who saves the world when it’s falling to pieces. He would have looked at home with a gun in his hand and his finger on the trigger, ready to bob up and fire off at the people standing in our way.
Instead, he raised himself up to take a quick peek over the window in both directions. “Coast is clear,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
Ry went first, unlocking and opening the door, then creeping out into the corridor. Zee and I were hot on his tail. For the first time, hope swelled inside me. We could do this. We could get out of here without anyone knowing we had ever even been there. All we had to do was get to the lifts. Once we rode one down, we’d be able to walk straight out the front door.
Simple steps.
Silently we moved, stopping a few times to listen for voices. This level was relatively quiet, but there were people hanging around.
The steel doors of the lift, together with the call button, were only a few short metres away. In the middle of the corridor, there was nowhere to hide if someone rounded the corner. This was it. This was the test. If we could get onto the lift after the ding without anyone seeing us, we’d be almost there.
Zee pushed the button, and I held my breath, waiting for the chime to sound. It was likely that none of the tradies on site would even register it had dinged.
Ry and I flanked Zee, each of our heads on a swivel, checking the progress of the countdown and looking over our shoulders for surprises. We couldn’t do much. We weren’t armed, and we didn’t have anything we could throw at them. But hell would freeze over before I’d go down without a fight if it meant keeping Zee safe.
