by A. M. Pierre
Ezio began, and Daisuke grinned. Everything was going perfectly. A little too perfectly? No, it was fine. Ezio would soon have the bomb in pieces, Kaia was getting him some sweet photographic intel, and Alizée was sitting behind a bush with an annoyed look on her face. Perfect. Absolutely per—
Wait a second.
“Um, guys, we have a problem. There’s a guard we hadn’t accounted for.”
Alizée’s voice was a hiss. “What do you mean?”
“Well, Tinker Bell, it’s kind of complicated, but I’ll see if I can explain. There’s a guard, and we hadn’t accounted for him.”
Ezio was next. “How is that possible? I thought we double-checked everything.”
“We did—or I did, anyway. Problem is, there’s one place in this ‘compound’ that doesn’t have cameras, and our rogue guard has been there this whole time.”
Alizée figured it out first. “The bathroom? He’s been in a stall since before we got here?! Do you realize how long we’ve been here?!”
“Perhaps you could send him an e-mail, Tink—‘Dear Mr. Brutish Thug, Please consider adding more fiber to your diet so our breaking and entering goes off without a hitch next time.’” Motion on the monitor interrupted Daisuke’s train of thought. “Aw, man, I got bad news, guys. Fiber Boy spoke with Cigarette Break. Looks like Fiber’s going on Cigarette Break’s rounds for him.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, Tink, he’s going to walk into Dorothy’s room in about, oh, thirty seconds.”
* * *
Kaia froze mid-snapshot. A guard. In here. In thirty seconds.
Ezio’s voice broke through the rising panic. “Dorothy! Listen to me—I cannot get to you unseen. Look around the room, find some cover, and stay there. And then—”
Dice interrupted. “Make sure to run your Swipe Card through your camera before he gets there!”
“—yes, that, too. Stay put, and I will come for you as soon as he passes. Now go!”
She took in the starkly furnished room in a glance. Great. I would get trapped in the most boring office known to man. She dove into the only hiding place she saw—the space underneath the desk. Gotta swipe the card. Seven seconds left maybe. The card, the card, where’s the card? Five seconds. Got it, swiped it, now hide it. Three. Pull in my legs as far as they’ll go. Two. They fit! They actually fit! One of the few times I’m glad I’m so short. One.
The guard stood motionless in the doorway. She could see his reflection—his huge reflection—in the TV hanging on the wall. If you can see him, he can see you. Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Don’t do anything to draw his attention. It won’t be more than a second or two . . . Yep, he should be done any minute now . . . Seriously, how long does it take to look in a room?! Move on!
The door closed softly behind him. Kaia let her breath out in a raggedy gasp.
“Good job, Dorothy,” Ezio said softly in her ear. “Battousai will let us know when it is clear.”
Kaia nodded, forgetting Ezio couldn’t see her. Another bullet dodged, and it looked like her first mission was going to be a success.
Crack.
It took a second for her to recognize the sound. When she did, it felt like someone had stabbed her in the gut with a shard of ice. She knew that sound all right.
It was the sound of someone stepping on broken glass.
Kaia couldn’t hear what the guard muttered as he inspected the pile of broken glass in the shadows. She barely heard his sharp intake of air as he discovered where the broken glass had come from. She did, however, hear what he said to the other guards in the building.
“Bravo Leader, reporting from Section 2. Intruder on the premises. All units, respond.”
“Well, that’s peachy-freakin’-keen, ain’t it?” Dice muttered in her ear. He cleared his throat. “All right, guys,” he said, his usual (more optimistic) tone reemerging, “we’re gonna get you all out of there. Tinker Bell, your path is clear, so I need you to run for the van now.”
“If you think for one second I’m going to turn tail while they are still in there—”
“Get out of there, Ali.” Kaia couldn’t quite identify the emotion in Ezio’s voice. “That’s an order . . . Dorothy, are you still with me?”
“Yes, I’m here,” Kaia whispered.
“Good. I am going to create a distraction. When I do, I need you to run, and I need Battousai to guide you out.”
But that would mean . . . “You can’t do that. You just can’t. I know you didn’t finish taking the bomb apart, and you’re the one with the chemicals. If you stay behind, you’ll be captured, maybe killed, and they’ll have their bomb back. You can’t—” Something clicked deep inside, and Kaia felt a strange sense of peace. “I can’t let that happen. If anyone’s going to be the distraction, it’s going to be me.” This wasn’t her. She wasn’t the one who said things like this, who did things like this. But, for this one incredible moment, she was. And it felt kind of great.
“Dorothy, listen to me. I am ordering you to run.”
“I won’t!” Not a whisper. Crud. Maybe the guard didn’t . . .
The door to her room opened with a creak. Same guard, same reflection in the TV. The only difference was this time he held a gun. His shadow fell across the floor, his huge bulk almost more intimidating than his weapon. “Come on out. I know you’re in here.” He shut the door behind him. “I promise I won’t hurt you. Don’t make this any harder than it has to—”
Kaia moved out from under the desk, her hands over her head.
“What the . . . a kid? And a girl, too.”
“Run,” she muttered under her breath.
“Stop mumbling. Walk over here.”
Time seemed to stretch out as her feet moved forward in slow motion. She dragged her eyes away from the gun he had pointed at her heart and peered instead through the small window behind him. No movement in the hallway. Maybe Ezio was already out. Or maybe he was crawling out below the window.
. . . the window.
Even at gunpoint, Kaia didn’t think she could deliberately hurt or kill someone, but a distraction? She closed her eyes and listened for the music. Silence reigned for one terrible heartbeat, then the gentle tones of a flute wafted through the air. Gotcha.
“Don’t think about trying anything, girl,” the guard said. “Kid or not—you’re still an intruder.”
Kaia barely registered his voice. She had more important things to listen to. The flute’s melody grew louder. Push it higher, faster, into the heavens. Let it fly. Now!
There was a small sound, like the first tinkling crack when you step on thin ice. Then the window blew. Razor-sharp slivers of glass showered the guard, and he threw his arm up to protect himself.
His gun arm.
Kaia didn’t hesitate. She ran for the door, pouring every drop of adrenaline, every ounce of strength, into every step of that five-yard sprint.
It wasn’t enough.
Strong hands grabbed her hoodie from behind and pulled back hard. Her feet flew out from under her, and her body slammed to the ground. Pain exploded up her spine as her breath escaped in a whoosh of air. Gasping, Kaia threw herself to the side, wrenching herself free and scrambling on her hands and knees to get away. The door was only 5 feet away. Two. One.
She was yanked up this time, pulled upward by her hood and hair in one swift stroke, until she dangled in midair beneath the guard’s meaty fist. Kaia’s feet kicked uselessly underneath her. White hot pain raced across her scalp. Her fingers grasped frantically at her throat as the front of her jacket gouged into her windpipe.
The mountain of a guard spun her in midair to face him. A small trickle of blood coursed down his cheek where a shard must have grazed him. “I don’t know how you did that, little mouse, but it was a very bad move.”
Kaia could only gasp in reply.
“Normally I’d bring you in for questioning, but I think I’m going to tell them I shot you while you were trying to run for it.” The world blurred as the guard spun her back away from him. “Of course, if I say you were running, I can’t shoot you in the front, can I?” A metallic click came from behind her head. Kaia kicked backward with all her remaining strength, but her feet caught only air. She listened for music, any music, but all she could hear was the blood pounding in her ears. Gray spots appeared at the edge of her vision. This is it. I’m dead.
The door to the room crashed inward, swinging violently on its hinges and slamming into the wall behind it. Kaia’s captor hurled her sideways, and she slid across the tile floor before smashing into a bookcase. A series of strikes and blows sounded behind her, but Kaia had to focus on struggling for air before she could turn and see what was happening.
The guard lay on the floor, his lip split and bleeding. Ezio knelt over him. His knees pinned the larger man to the ground while he held the guard’s gun hand in an iron vise, slamming it repeatedly into the floor. The guard’s hold broke, and the gun skittered across the floor and under the desk. Ezio glared at the fallen man from a few inches away. And then the guard laughed. Slowly, maliciously, like a child taking glee in killing an insect under its thumb. “You haven’t won, punk. Backup’s already on its way. You and your little friend—you’re both dead.” His smile broadened. “And I’m going to make sure they kill her first. All your heroics, and you still won’t be able to save her.”
An ear-piercing shriek of rending metal came from behind her, and Kaia turned in time to see an exposed length of pipe rip away from the opposite wall and fly into Ezio’s outstretched hand. She caught the briefest glimpse of Ezio’s face, contorted with rage and grief, before he brought the pipe crashing down on the big man’s skull. The guard’s hands went limp, and Ezio staggered to his feet.
Kaia pulled herself to her feet, her breathing still painful and ragged, and walked tentatively toward Ezio. The guard lay still on the floor. Wait . . . he’s really still . . . Kaia looked closer. The man’s chest rose and fell, ever so slightly. Kaia felt a trickle of relief. “Do you think he’ll be all right?”
“Don’t know.” Ezio turned and limped toward the door. “Don’t care.”
* * *
Whoa. Daisuke had seen Ezio angry before, but that was . . . whoa.
Re-watch later. Right now, more pressing matters at hand. Such as Ezio limping more than he should be. “All right, guys, before you go any farther, I think Dorothy’s going to need her first aid kit.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I’m pretty sure Stony just ripped out the stitches in his leg.”
* * *
He did WHAT?
Now that she really looked, Kaia saw the catch in his stride. And those spots on the floor . . . A heartbeat later she was frantically digging through her backpack for the kit. She could hear Ezio shuffling further away from her down the hall. “You have to stop!” she hissed under her breath.
His voice was distant, strained. “No, we have to keep moving.”
“Yeah, I know. But somehow I think leaving a blood trail is going to hurt our chances too.”
Ezio blinked, nodded, and shuffled back.
“Guys? I don’t want to freak you out or anything,” Dice said, “but you might have ten heavily-armed human tanks bearing down on you as we speak. If you can make it to the end of the hallway, I think I can find you some cover.”
“Find us cover? Don’t you mean ‘find us a way out’?” Kaia said as she tore open the sterile wrapping on a gauze bandage.
“Wish I did, but there’s no clear path at the moment. They’ve gone into high-alert crazy-pants mode, so they’re calling every available man, woman, dog, cat, or hedgehog into service. Not that they actually have them, but they should. Have you seen how prickly they are? I know I’d be scared if a herd of rampaging attack hedgehogs came after me.”
“Dice!” Kaia grunted with the strain as she helped Ezio stand. “We’re ready to go. Show us the way.”
* * *
Daisuke flicked away a bead of sweat from his forehead. Just have to find a hiding place within hobbling distance that’s inconspicuous yet big enough for two people in order to protect them from a bunch of very angry people who will kill them on sight. No pressure.
The van door opened, but Daisuke didn’t move. He’d already seen who it was on his monitors, and he didn’t have the time to waste on something as pointless as looking at her again. Alizée leaned over him. “So how are they?”
Daisuke held his finger to his lips. “Shhhhhhhh.”
“Don’t you shush me! Just because you have all your computers you think you’re the only one who needs to know everything—well, you’re not! I need to know what I can do to help, so I demand—”
Daisuke turned and clamped his hand over her mouth. “I don’t have time to explain. We can have this talk later, but right now I need to save their lives. Have a seat, keep quiet for a few minutes, and you will have done what you can to help.”
For a few terrifying seconds, she didn’t move. And then she actually did it. Amazing. Okay, so she didn’t look happy about it, and their conversation later would be mind-shatteringly horrific, but for now, this was good. “All right, guys, I think I’ve found your sanctuary.”
* * *
The storage area wasn’t much to look at. It actually seemed bigger than a few of the houses Kaia had lived in, but its covering of dirt accented with rust wasn’t doing it any favors. The security keypad to the right of the door glowed green. Dice must have already done his magic.
Good. Ezio had been leaning on her more and more with every step, and Kaia’s knees were buckling. Even though the slightly roundabout route Dice had taken them through hadn’t actually been all that long, Ezio still stood a foot taller than her, with a broader frame and a lot more muscle. And, apparently, muscle weighs a ton.
The door slid open with a muffled swoosh then back again as soon as they hobbled inside. It was a dingy room filled with large metal containers, probably for shipping in illegal bomb components or whatever else a maniacally evil organization might need on a regular basis. Food, probably. And definitely toilet paper. She shook her head. The adrenaline and stress (and lugging around an insanely heavy hottie) were getting to her. “All right, we’re here. What do we do next?”
“Well, you hide, silly.” Dice sounded infuriatingly calm. “They’re heading your way, and I’m sure they won’t forget to check the biggest, most obvious hidey-place on the lot.”
But there isn’t . . . Kaia surveyed the room again. Nope. “There isn’t anywhere to hide in here.” Fatigue was replaced by frustration. “You’ve led us into a dead-end.” Frustration turned into anger. “All your fancy cameras and fancy computers and bragging about how you’re so awesome—and now we’re trapped because of you. And me getting strangled and almost getting shot and Ezio ripping his leg up and all of us stopping a bomb won’t have mattered at all because you can’t tell the difference between an exit and a dead end!”
“. . . Are you done?”
Kaia deflated slightly. “I think so, yeah.”
“Good. Because I need you to help Stony over to the crate marked ‘5719.’ It’s one of the larger ones, and their computer network says it’s completely empty.”
* * *
They shuffled across the floor, and Daisuke took the momentary break to gulp down some water and wipe his forehead on his sleeve. At the guards’ current rate of progression, they should be arriving in 54 to 56 seconds. At Kaia and Ezio’s current rate of painfully dragging themselves across the floor, they should reach the crate in 10 to 11 seconds, leaving 43 to 46 seconds for them to hide. No pressure, no pressure. He took another swig of water.
“Okay, we’re at the crate. Now what?” Kaia sounded even more out of breath than bef
ore. Not good.
“Is Stony up to using his powers?” He better be.
“Yes, I am, Battousai. What do you need me to do?”
“The door has a mechanical counter that shows when it’s been opened, so you can’t go in that way. However, the container is made of steel, so I need you—”
“I understand.”
Daisuke watched on the monitor as the whole left side of the container split down the middle and swung open like it was on hinges. On the monitor next to it, he watched two guards approach the door to the shed. Did I re-lock the door? A quick panic, a quick check. Yes, I did. Okay, quick panic over, back to watching Monitor # 1. Only watching. Watching Kaia drag Ezio into the container. Watching the guards at the door. Watching them punch in the keycode. Maybe they’ll have the wrong code. Ezio’s impromptu steel doors began swinging closed. So slow. Must move faster. The security door went green. The code was right. Great. The fake steel doors closed. Finally. The guards walked into the room as the last hint of a seam on the steel container vanished without a trace.
Daisuke let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “You did it, guys,” he whispered. “Now don’t say anything.”
He turned off the voice pick-up on his headset and stood up to stretch. The first part was over. Now came the hard part. At least he had a nice quiet space to work in.
“She was right, you know,” a curt voice said from behind him.
Daisuke sighed. So much for quiet. “Who was right?”
“That girl, about you leading them into a dead end. You’ve sealed them inside a box in the middle of enemy territory. Oh, and one of them’s injured and the other’s incompetent. Great job, Dice. Absolutely amazing work. At this rate, I’m guessing the most we can hope for is to retrieve their bodies once those lunatics are done with them.”
Daisuke knew Alizée was stressed. He knew she was worried. He knew she was venting all of that stress and worry out on him. And, at the moment, he couldn’t care less. “Get out of my face.”