Alik heard it before he saw it.
Looking up, he saw the aircraft lifting off through one of the tall panes of glass in the front of the foyer. Looking down at him with unrecognizing eyes was his sister, Meg. Her face was waxen and expressionless. His eyes were burning and watering painfully from the tear gas, and he only got a glimpse, but Alik was absolutely sure of it: His sister was leaving with Williams.
Trying to put that image aside, Alik hurriedly led everyone in a crouched position along the wall and through the front door he’d kicked down not thirty minutes ago.
Once outside, the effects of the tear gas, though still strong, wasn’t as severe.
Alik ran as fast as his legs would carry him, glancing over his shoulder to be sure everyone was present and accounted for. Next to him was Farrow—she never missed a step though one of Alik’s running strides was the same as nearly two of hers because of their height difference. Directly behind them was Evan, then spaced seven feet behind him ran Sloan. Seven more feet found Cole running and taking up the rear was Creed. He had positioned himself last intentionally, in case a battle needed to happen. Creed was going to make sure it was with him and no one else. The five ran the length of the gothic, tree-lined driveway and back to the fence where everyone spaced out wide and managed to climb over despite their exhaustion.
Alik waited until the last person was over before he carefully laid Maze down in the grass and walked up to the wrought-iron fence.
“We can’t leave Maze, Alik!” Evan cried, terrified that they’d lose Meg’s best friend.
“We’re not leaving him, Ev. We don’t leave family, ever.” His heart squeezed tightly in his chest—the image of his sister’s oblivious facial expression as she left with their enemy was seared into his perfect memory forever.
He huffed his breath several times, pumping himself up with oxygen and forced himself to stare at Maze’s blood smeared all over his hands and shirt. His fury wasn’t hard to tap in to. It was right there ready to burst.
With a roar of anger, Alik pulled one of the bars until it groaned in his hands. He kept pulling until the soldering that held it to the horizontal bars snapped. “Farrow, help me get Maze through here.” He turned and carefully picked up the dying coyote only to pass him through the opening to Farrow, the only other person who didn’t have a nanoweapon in her heart. Once Maze was through, Alik jump through the opening himself. Farrow passed the coyote back to Alik and they ran toward the parked SUV.
“Ev? If you had a plan for this part, now would be a great time to whip it out.”
“Right,” Evan said and set the case he’d carried from the lab down on the ground and kneeled beside it. He flipped the latches with practiced hands and pushed a lever to turn it on.
“Evan? What are you doing?”
“The electric current from the paddles should be enough to render the nanoweapons disabled.”
“Should be?” Cole asked, brows rose in the perfect, oh-shit expression.
“If my calculations are correct, yes. I am guessing on a lot of this. It’s not like Arkdone gave me a nanodevice to investigate while we were in the lab.”
“What happens if you’re wrong?” Creed asked the question everyone was thinking.
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
“How?” Sloan asked, very sure she knew, but too afraid to say it.
“We have to test it,” he said, matter-of-factly.
Just then, the machine beeped. The portable defibrillator was charged and ready for use.
Evan ripped his shirt off, grabbed the paddles, and called, “Clear!”
He put the paddles on his own chest, strategically surrounding his heart, and pushed the buttons on the handles.
“NO!”
“Evan!”
“Oh, dear God!”
“Evan, wake up!”
Alik laid the coyote down in the grass and ran to his brother who had just shocked himself. The older brother was screaming and crying, but didn’t care. All his mind could think about was the moment he saw his brother’s body jolt rigid and fall back to the ground.
“Evan, wake up! God, please, help us. Evan, you dumb ass! What the hell were you thinking? I can’t do this without you! I can’t lose my brother and my sister in one day!” Alik was shaking his little brother’s wiry shoulders, desperately trying to revive him.
“Feel for a pulse,” Sloan yelled across a safe distance.
“Right,” Alik muttered, “a pulse.” His large hands held his brother’s wrist and carefully felt around for a pulse.
“I can’t find one,” his voice caught.
“Try his carotid artery in his neck,” Sloan called.
Alik touched his brother’s Adam’s apple then let his fingers slip to the side of it. He felt a faint pulse right away.
Leaning down with his forehead resting on his arm, Alik called. “Yeah, I feel it. It’s faint, but it’s there.”
“Oh thank God,” Cole breathed.