We’re still in the centre of the building, far from the entrance we slipped in through. Backup won’t reach us yet. Blaine’s right—this room is a shooting gallery. We wandered straight into the lion’s den.
“We have to move.” I shift in anticipation.
Warner raises a fist, clenched in a clear sign to hold. “Steady.”
“What about Josh?” Hyland’s growl is thick.
“Too late. He’s gone.”
The fury spreading on Hyland’s face is fucking apocalyptic. He spares Josh’s now-still body a long look, face warping and eyes darkening with threatening storm clouds. My heart shatters for him. For Warner. For another loss this represents.
“Hy?” Warner clasps his shoulder. “You need to hold it together.”
“Yeah.” He visibly swallows.
“Ready?”
“Affirmative.”
“Then let’s go.”
Hyland pulls the gun from his side-holster, checking the clip and tensing in preparation to flee. When the speaker high above us crackles again, we all freeze, going stock-still.
“No one else has to get hurt. We only want you, 768.”
Icy prickles nudge the back of my mind.
That voice…
“Shooter is positioned at approximately two o’clock from me based on the direction of the shot,” Blaine murmurs into his earpiece. “Fire three shots, then bail left, ducking behind that pallet there.”
“You’re assuming there’s only one gunman,” Warner rasps.
“Praying.”
“We’ll be shot either way,” Hyland utters grimly.
“Then there’s no other option,” Blaine asserts.
“Agreed.”
Warner shakes his head in consternation. “On my count.”
All hunched in anticipation, we wait for Warner’s cue. He jabs a hand to the left, fingers outstretched, then he rises to fire off three successive shots high into the terminal. Hyland takes the opportunity to dive after us towards the next pallet.
“Go, go, go!”
More shots. A whoosh of displaced air. Boxes exploding behind us as we duck and dive, treating each flimsy stack as an armoured fortress rather than cardboard and shrink-wrap. Between popping off shots, Warner sticks close on our tail.
“There!” Blaine points towards a fire escape.
“Move,” Hyland barks. “Faster!”
I’m half-shoved through the heavy metal door, a shower of dust raining down on us when a shot embeds itself in the wall mere inches above our heads. We tumble outside, emerging into a litter-strewn back alley. Cloying salt in the air tells me the water is close.
“Keep moving!” Warner bellows.
Blaine urges me forwards, a hand at my back. “Go, Ember!”
