Page 57 of Traitor
I turned around as another explosion sounded much too closely. “I don’t know. But, I know you can’t get caught up in it.”
She kept hold of my hand. “What about us being equals?”
My forehead fell against hers. “You will always be more important, Char. Always.”
When I felt her body stiffen, I shoved her back into my office. I watched her collapse against my office desk before I slammed the door, listening as it hissed. I heard her banging on the other side. I heard her muffled shrieks of anger and pain as the pressure-tight door closed her away from me.
Then, I gazed into the small camera off to the side so she could see my face.
“I need you to survive and finish my work if I don’t make it out, okay? That’s why you’ll always be more important. Don’t open this door for anyone unless it’s me, and I’m counting on you to keep that promise.”
Then, I turned my back toward the door and stormed into Char’s office.
Because in a hidden wall safe behind the massive portrait that backdropped her old desk was my gun safe.
And I’d need all the guns I could get my hands on for this fight.
* * *
My heart broke with Teo’s words because of the sincerity in his eyes. He honestly didn’t know if he was going to make it out of this, and the thought made me sick to my stomach. Nevertheless, I forced myself to do what he asked. I forced myself to stay put.
But, as I focused on the closed door in front of me, I hadn’t considered what was happening behind me.
I heard metal panels whooshing and moving around. I slowly turned and found multiple color televisions staring me in the face behind a false wall behind Teo’s desk. My jaw dropped open as I scanned the insanity unfolding in front of me. Some of the television screens were staring into smoke-filled rooms with men crying out for help. A couple of the screens showed familiar men discharging their guns before hiding themselves behind the inner walls of the house.
Then, I found Teo.
Coming out of my old office armed to the teeth with guns.
“Come on, baby. You got this,” I murmured.
I perched myself on the edge of his desk as my heartrate skyrocketed. I watched Teo run straight down the hallway, and I kept him clocked on every television screen afforded to me. He slid on his knees until he slammed against the wall, then he scrambled to his head of security.
I watched them exchange ammunition and guns before a bullet whizzed by his head.
“No!” I exclaimed.
Without missing a beat, Teo aimed over his shoulder and pulled the trigger. I searched the television for the aftermath of that bullet, but there was too much carnage for me to figure out where the fuck that television was. There was a camera trained on the roof and I saw Teo’s two bodyguards up there struggling with men clad in black climbing gear. Two other televisions kept fading in and out, and I saw men in black with sunglasses aiming the sights of their guns directly at the camera.
And when they pulled the trigger, I jumped as the screen went fuzzy.
“Oh, boy. This isn’t good,” I murmured.
I chewed on the beds of my nails as my eyes found Teo once more. He pulled his head of security up from the floor and they raced into the kitchen before opening a door I didn’t realize existed. They disappeared behind it and didn’t emerge, and I searched the working televisions frantically trying to figure out where the hell they’d gone.
Then, I found them.
Bursting through the dead end wall of the hallway on the second floor.
“What kind of crazy maze is behind these walls?” I whispered.
With every bullet Teo fired off, a body dropped. He worked with precision and ease, and I got a firsthand glimpse as to just how good he was at what he did. Him and his head of security walked face-to-face, Teo marching forward while his head of security marched backward. They kept their eyes trained behind one another, literally watching each other’s backs.
Then, I saw Teo mouth something before he whipped around and his head of security fired off shots I heard above me.
Before something dropped against the floor hard.
Holy shit.
