Ellie slammed the emergency panel closed. She knew the security center had to be getting the signal by now about what she’d done. That system ran on a wireless connection with the cameras. It was a safety backup in case the phones weren’t working and the electricity went down so they could still monitor the emergency systems. It reassured her, thinking security had to know she’d just put in the last protocol of protection, which meant the dorm had been breached. They’d come faster to save her.
I hope. Please get us some help right now.
* * * * *
Rage gripped Justice. He found himself locked inside the main security control room watching the screens filled with images around Homeland. Fifteen trucks had driven inside after they’d car bombed the front gate. Shots were being fired, people were dying and he was trapped inside a steel box to watch it go down. His people were in danger and he wanted to help them.
“Calm down,” Darren Artino demanded. “The SWAT team and local law enforcement are on their way. The buildings have been locked down, everyone is aware there’s a problem, and your council has been secured inside a safe bunker. You’ve been watching everything just the way we have. It’s only my security force being killed out there. Your people are safe.”
“Sir,” a woman yelled. “Uh, there’s a big problem.”
“What,” Darren Artino snapped. “We have a hundred of them right now.”
“It’s the woman at the women’s dorm. She stopped trying to wave us down and she just put in the last protocol code. She’s triggered the Hail Mary doors.”
“The what?” Justice growled the words. He wondered if steam came from his ears. He’d never wanted to feel helpless again after he started his new life but he did at that moment. It infuriated him.
“Get me cameras on that building,” Darren Artino shouted. “The woman is too green and I bet she’s just panicking. I’m going to fire her ass when this is over.”
“I’ve got the East Street camera on line,” a man called out. “Screen fourteen.”
Darren Artino pointed to the right screen and knew Justice breathing down his neck. Both men focused their attention on the screen. They watched a truck accelerate toward the front entrance of the women’s dorm.
“Son of a bitch,” Darren spat.
“What are Hail Mary doors?” Justice grabbed Darren by the arm and spun him around.
Darren took a deep breath when he met a pissed-off pair of cat eyes. “Hail Mary is a prayer. It’s, ‘oh hell, it’s bad’. Reinforced doors have been activated inside the dorm and they cut off entire sections of the building.” He jerked his arm to break free of Justice’s grip. “Get every camera we have inside the dorm on screen and I want heat signatures being tracked on every floor, right now! Priority one to all frontal screens.”
Justice reached for his cell phone to place a call. “The women’s dorm is under heavy attack.” He hung up.
“Thirty-four heat signatures are on the third floor. The Hail Mary doors are down and secure,” a woman shouted out. “One heat signature is on the first floor and its moving fast.”
“There are thirty-five women living inside the dorms, according to our records,” a man called out. “All accounted for.”
Cameras normally inactive inside the dorm clicked on. One screen displayed women who sat or leaned against walls inside the hallway of the third floor.
“Those are my women.” Justice tensed. “Are they safe where they are?”
Darren nodded. “Very. Nothing can get to them. The steel doors are almost a foot thick. Not even a bomb could dent them. I told you they would be safe.”
“We have the front doors on screen ten,” a man yelled.
Justice and Darren looked at that camera view and Darren cursed. The glass doors were down on the floor. The damage along the top of the wall where they’d been anchored had been twisted inward.
“Son of a bitch! The glass held but the building didn’t.” Someone stated the obvious.
“We have movement with four new heat signatures,” a woman called out. “We are tracking the original single heat signature. It’s inside the kitchen. I’ve got all cameras on line now.”
* * * * *
Ellie ran into the kitchen. She’d heard the doors come down with a loud crash and knew she was trapped. She could either hide while she prayed help reached her before those men found her or she could fight. Her odds of facing off and winning against the four armed men weren’t good. Her main concern had been the New Species women and it comforted her, knowing they were safe. She’d understood it would be a dangerous job when she’d taken it but she never thought something this bad could happen.
She yanked open the knife drawer and grabbed the largest one she could find while she watched the open doorway over her shoulder. A she tried to quell her panic, knowing she needed a clear head. I need a place to hide.
Her focus immediately landed on the island and she moved to it, ducked down and got out of sight. She cracked open one of the cabinets and started shifting items inside, doing it as quietly as possible.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” a male voice yelled.
Are you kidding me? Ellie shook her head. They can’t even tell the difference between a human and a New Species. The idiots don’t even know what to shoot at. Hunters, my ass, she fumed, remembering that word painted on the side of their truck.
“Come out, kitty cat.”
The voice sounded closer. Ellie’s heart raced while she eased into the small space. There wasn’t much room but she managed to wiggle under the counter and get the cupboard door closed. She had her knees pressed to her body and her head bent in a balled position in the darkness. She tried to control her breathing to prevent them from hearing it. Her ears strained for the slightest noise. All she could do at that point was pray they didn’t find her until help arrived.
“I’m not going to kill you. I just want to talk.”
Ellie clenched her teeth. The guy obviously believed her to be a complete moron if he thought she’d believe him for a second. There was no way she’d attempt to talk to those insane jerks without bulletproof glass separating them. To allow them get close to her would be the fastest way to die and she wanted to live.
* * * * *
Justice continued to glance at different screens to watch what took place inside the women’s dorm. He flipped his phone out and hit speed dial. He’d just seen Ellie Brower hide inside a cabinet under the island in the kitchen. His gaze tracked the four intruders who searched the lower section of the house. They’d realized the elevators were out and they were blocked access to the second floor by a large steel door that cut off the stairs. The men split up and moved room to room on the first floor of the dorm, searching for Ellie.
“Our women are secure on the third floor but the human female is hiding inside the kitchen. It’s just a matter of time before they find her. She’s trapped. There are four heavily armed males inside and they gained entry by breaking down the front doors.” He hung up.
Darren Artino spun to frown at Justice. “Who were you talking to?”
“My security team is on their way.”
Darren’s mouth dropped opened and then slammed shut. “Security is my job. Communications are still down. I can’t exactly call my security guards and order them to give anyone permission to enter Homeland. They blocked off the front gates by using employee cars to barricade it to prevent anyone else from coming inside.”
“They are already here,” Justice growled. “They are my men, my people.”
Darren’s face reddened with anger. “My job is to protect New Species, not have them leave the safety of where they are to confront these crazy bastards. We almost have it contained. Call them back and order them to return to safety.”
“‘Almost’ won’t save that female.” Justice jerked his chin toward the screen showing the kitchen. He softly cursed. One of the intruders had just stepped into the kitchen.
Chapter Seven
“Kitty, kitty,
kitty,” a male voice called out, as if she were a cat. He started yanking open cupboards on the other side of the kitchen.
Ellie’s entire body trembled and her hand clutched the knife hard enough for the wood handle to dig into her palm. She closed her eyes and listened as he slammed things. Suddenly something hit the counter above her. She bit back a moan of terror. Maybe he won’t think to look inside the lower cabinets, she feverishly prayed.
Her luck ran out as the cabinet door jerked open next to her. He reached inside and grabbed her left arm. A brutal grasp dragged her out of her hiding spot with one hard yank.
“Got you, you little cat bitch.”
“I’m not a cat,” she informed him in a shaky voice. “I’m as human as you are.”
He jerked her painfully to her feet and glared down at her. He appeared to be in his mid twenties, stood about five foot eight, with a stocky build. A tattoo peeked out from his T-shirt collar.
“I don’t care what you are, bitch. Now you’re dead. This is our country and you damn two-legged animals need to die.” He reached behind him to the waist of his jeans to withdraw a handgun.
Ellie saw the weapon and understood he planned to just shoot her. Pure terror flashed through her as she plunged the knife at his chest. She stared into his eyes when the blade struck him, slid through the shirt, into skin, and watched his green gaze widen with shock. He stumbled back, dragged her by the arm, and she tore her hand from the knife handle imbedded deep in his chest. Blood poured down the front of him and onto her. His arm with the gun rose as he tried to make a last-ditch effort to shoot her. Ellie grabbed his wrist with both hands and struggled to keep him from pointing it at her.
His hold on her arm tightened, caused her pain, but then it eased as he weakened. His knees gave out and he collapsed onto them to the tiled kitchen floor. A horrible moan, along with bright red blood, poured from his mouth. Ellie moaned in horrified distress as the man’s gaze locked with hers, his pain, terror and rage clearly displayed there. He lost his hold on her arm. He also released the gun, which crashed to the floor a second before he slumped backward.
Ellie stared down at him mutely. He sprawled on his back with his calves twisted under his thighs in that awkward bent position. His eyes were open wide, blood pooled on the white tile and he took a few more ragged gasps. A slight bubbling noise reached her ears. His hands jerked, twitched, and he blinked before he took his last breath. The knife handle protruded from his chest by his heart where she’d stabbed him. She swallowed the bile that rose up just as glass broke nearby. The sound had come from another room, forcing her attention from the dead guy at her feet.
Instinct took over. She dived for the gun on the floor. She grabbed it with both hands, the weapon cold and heavy, and struggled to her knees behind the island, peering over the counter at the only entries into the kitchen. The open archway to one of the living spaces and the archway to the dining area were her only escape routes. She used the island to shield her body and pointed the gun between those two openings. She planned to shoot anything that moved.
She didn’t have long to wait before someone made a noise from the dining area when they knocked over a chair. She trained the gun in that direction, made sure her body remained behind the island, and used the top of the counter to hold her hands steady in the double grip she had on the weapon. She trembled, scared, and she’d just stabbed a man to death. She pushed those facts from her mind, knowing she’d fall apart if she dwelled on it. She didn’t have time to face repercussions of what she’d had to do to survive.
The guy with the shotgun stepped into the kitchen, just waltzed inside as if he didn’t have a care in the world. That changed instantly when he saw her with the gun trained on him. His mouth opened, his eyes widened and then he reacted. He seemed to move in slow motion when he started to lower the muzzle of the shotgun toward her. His mouth compressed into a tight line of determination to shoot but Ellie pulled the trigger first. The sound deafened her when the weapon fired.
He threw himself back into the dining room and disappeared from sight. The shotgun poked around the wall and he fired it but it ended up hitting the ceiling somewhere behind Ellie. Something soft that reminded her of snow rained down over her head. She screamed in reaction and fired at the wall he hid behind, next to the arch.
She wasn’t sure if she’d hit the bastard or not but she hoped so. She realized she must not have hurt him when the shotgun barrel extended again. He blindly pointed it her way as he pulled the trigger. The cabinet near Ellie blew to pieces. She threw her body to the floor, almost right on top of the dead guy.
She slipped on thick, wet blood when she tried to push up from the tile. Her knees skated in the slick substance, she gasped, and her hands shot out from under her. She slammed down onto her stomach with a grunt. She had to roll to get away from the blood staining the floor.
She saw movement from the corner of her eye and twisted toward the motion. The guy with the shotgun rushed her, ran right at the island. She pointed the gun and fired while lying on her side. He ducked behind the other side of the counter and slammed into the cabinets with a loud crack as the thin wood took the impact of his body.
“Drop the gun, you bitch,” he demanded. “And I won’t torture you before I blow your fucking head off.”
Ellie’s terrified stare fixed on the cabinet he’d hit with his last gunshot blast, proof of its destructive force. The wood had a fist-sized hole in it and bits of it had exploded on impact to scatter across the tile floor. She took a deep breath, realized she had to get away and find somewhere new to hide. What she really needed, she decided, was for the son of a bitch with the shotgun to shoot himself.
“Ellie? We hear gunfire on the coms. Are you all right?”
Shit. She had forgotten to turn off the com system. Breeze’s voice sounded worried but Ellie couldn’t answer her. She took comfort in knowing Breeze and the other woman were safely locked two floors above. Only the head of security and the director knew the codes to open those steel doors once they’d been activated. Ellie didn’t even have that kind of access once the Hail Mary doors were triggered. The men could torture her, but she didn’t have the information they needed to reach the women.
“Ellie?” He snickered behind the island but he’d given away his location. “What kind of stupid name is that for an animal to get?”
Ellie eased open the cabinet door. He had to be right behind it on the other side. She peered inside and took aim.
“I’m going to fucking kill you slow for what you did to Eddie.”
Ellie pulled the trigger and fired in his general direction until the gun clicked, empty after a few bullets tore through the wood. Ellie spun away in case he returned fire and crawled to the far left. The gun would be useless except as something to pitch at him.
Silence met her ears while she strained to hear anything. She hesitated at the corner to peek around the island, her heart pounding. A groan sounded from the other side of the island.
Had she hit him? She couldn’t be that lucky. She crawled forward on her hands and knees. The dead man’s sticky blood covered her hands, making it a slippery action. She inched forward, terrified, but knew there were two other men who could show up at any time, drawn by the gunfire. If she stayed put they’d definitely kill her.
The guy with the shotgun had to be messing with her, perhaps playing hurt to get her to stick her head out so he could shoot her. She had a bad feeling until she saw blood flowing across the floor along the grout line.
Ellie held her breath and then took the chance to stick her head out and glance at the side of the island. His body sat leaning against it. The shotgun rested on the floor next to his legs while he stared straight ahead toward the dining room. He blinked. Blood covered his chest and ran down his left arm, revealing that she’d hit him at least once. She continued to watch him.
“Buck?” A man’s voice called from the living room. “Eddie?”
She sprang to her feet and sprinte
d for the dining room. If Buck was the guy with the shotgun, she prayed he wouldn’t have the time or the ability, with his injuries, to grab his weapon to shoot her as she dashed away. She made it out of the kitchen without getting shot in the back.
The safest place would be the library. If she could make it there without getting caught she had a chance to barricade herself inside. Heavy furniture filled the large room. She could shove it into place to block the double doors. With that new plan in mind, she made a mad dash for it. A man swore as she darted past an open doorway to one of the rooms. She knew he’d seen her and ran faster. All the other downstairs rooms were too open or had limited ways to seal off sections.
Ellie made it to the library and slammed the door closed. She leaned against the wood, heard the guy following right on her heels. She had no time to grab furniture after all. She panted, totally out of breath, looked down and grimaced at the sight of her hands, arms, and her shirt covered with blood.
“This way,” a man yelled. “She’s in here.”
“Buck and Eddie are dead,” a man screamed. “She fucking killed them. That animal bitch killed them both.”
One of the men tried to open the door. Ellie screamed and shoved back with all the strength she had. She heard a vicious curse and then someone slammed hard enough into it that the impact shoved her a few inches from the hard surface her back pressed so tightly. She frantically searched for something she could reach with her foot to drag over to help block the door but she had no such luck.
I need a weapon. The large room contained a few couches, some tables, and comfortable chairs. The fireplace sat across the room. Books lined all the shelves surrounding the room. Her desperate attention flew back to the fireplace and the tool set next to it. Her focus zoomed in on the poker.
Both men slammed their combined weight against the door. The force was hard enough to send Ellie flying away from it. She hit one of the couches, slid over the side of it and tumbled to the floor behind it. She clawed frantically at the carpet to find purchase to get back to her feet.
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