“Clear,” I say, turning and walking out.
Bill’s in the room next door, and Grace goes into the one beyond that. Four more rooms to go, and then we’ll head to the office to raid it.
Suddenly, Zeus howls. The hair on my neck stands straight up.
I hear it. There’s no mistaking the sound of a gun banging away. I sprint down the hallway, trying to find where it’s coming from. Then I hear more shots, and my throat constricts. Bruno stumbles backward into the hallway with a man on top of him. In the guard’s hand is a knife.
“No!” I scream.
But Cole comes to his aid, shooting the guy in the torso. His body jerks, and his hands slip, so Bruno shoves him off. More guards pile into the hallway from another room.
Oh my God, it’s an ambush.
Hell rains down in the form of bullets. Zeus barks, snarls, and rips at the guard lying on the floor. Drywall from the ceiling begins collapsing in chunks around me. The clatter of quick rounds sounding off deafens my ears. Pop, pop, pop! Bang! Bang!
My ears ring. My heart sprints. I dive into the doorway of a previously cleared room and fire from there. I can barely see the white tiles of the floor anymore as men go down.
Zeus and Cole hop into the room with me. I squat so Cole can fire off more rounds from above me. He empties a mag and slams in another. We can’t keep firing at this rate, or we’ll run out of ammo.
As Roméo and Bruno sprint by, I grab Roméo. The melee is so loud that I have to scream in his face.
“Find Sutton’s office now!” He gives me a blank look. “Sutton’s office!”
Bruno grabs Roméo’s shoulder and drags him down the hallway, past the elevators and in the direction of the office. A few guards close in, but we give cover fire, pushing them back down the hall. Pretty soon, they’re imbedded in rooms, trying to take shots at our heads. I’d throw a grenade, but I don’t think it’d go off fast enough before they’d toss it back at us.
The inside of the hallway’s gutted and smells of sulfur. Dust peppers the air, making visibility almost zero. I cough and then shoot, cough more, and then shoot. Pretty soon, no one fires back. All I hear is the crunch of boots on debris and coughing from the other side. Hurry up, Roméo.
At this point, I’m not sure how we’re going to get out now that the guards know we’re here. We could be surrounded, for all we know. I slide back into the room and watch as Cole slams in another mag. He glances at me, puts his hand on my knee, and beckons me with his eyes.
“I’m okay,” I mouth. He nods, strokes my cheek, and then his dark eyes move back to the doorway.
Sunlight filters in, magnifying the thick, white cloud in the hallway. Adrenaline explodes through me, despite the fact I’ve slept only four hours in the past two days. I’m keyed up, waiting in the doorway.
Someone stumbles over a pile of crumbling tiles. He curses as he falls forward, landing on his hands about five feet from our room. He wrangles himself up and into position faster than I expect. Suddenly, he points his gun in my direction, and I wonder why Cole hasn’t yet taken this guy down. Fear ripples through me.
“Don’t move,” I think he says. But a flash of dark fur knocks him sideways.
Thank you, Zeus.
I take aim and shoot the man in the side. Blood bubbles out in a slow trickle at first, but I don’t have time to stop. I flick my head around as another guard charges Cole with a knife. Pure panic erupts in me like a volcano. I grit my teeth. Before I even think of the consequences, I throw myself in front of him.
“No!” I say.
The figure screeches to a halt. He squints at me. His knife’s leveled at my chest. Another inch closer, and it’d be through my sternum.
“Go ahead!” I scream at him.
“Wish I could,” he says with slanted eyes. He pulls the knife away from my chest and tries to slash my face.
I sidestep him, using his own arm’s momentum to shove him off balance as Cole plows bullets into his torso. Zeus tears into him, and when he’s sure he’s dead, he looks up. Blood stains his muzzle.
I suck in oxygen, trying to catch my breath. The air is thick with dust and death. Despite my muffled hearing, I think I hear my name being called. I glance at Cole. He points with two fingers down the hallway and fires off some rounds to discourage more guards from sneaking up on him.
“Go,” he mouths. “Stay, Zeus,” he says aloud. Zeus parks himself next to Cole like a good watchdog. Then I turn on my heel and run down the hallway.
“Lusty!”
Bill calls me, and this time I know I’m not imagining it. Where is that coming from? I hop over debris, steadying myself along the wall, and look around for familiar faces.
“Lusty!” He sounds desperate.