“They were going to kill me. Kill the baby.”
But he was already looking over his shoulder. “Honey, we’ve got to run. Can you do it?”
The hall seemed to tilt, then her balance leveled. Lily’s knees wobbled, but held. As if reluctant to let her go, Chase glanced toward the door from which they’d emerged. “We’ve got to go,” he said. “Those sons of bitches will be here any second.”
“I can do it,” she heard herself say.
He didn’t look convinced. Snarling something beneath his breath, he darted to a fire emergency box, broke the glass and jammed the large hose nozzle between the door and the handle.
“That’s not going to keep them out,” she said.
“Might buy us a minute or two.”
“Chase, damn it, there’s nowhere to run.”
“Let me worry about that.” He took her hand and squeezed it hard. “I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. You got that?”
She nodded.
Giving her a half smile, he took her down the hall at a controlled sprint. Lily held her protruding abdomen with one hand and struggled to keep up. Behind her, she heard pounding on the door. Fear sent her pulse back into the red zone.
The hall turned and then widened. Beyond, against the dim light of a battery-powered light, Lily saw people milling about in the main hall. Chase led her toward a rear exit door. Without pausing, he hit the push bar with both hands and sent the door flying.
Daylight encompassed her; the air eased the burning in her throat. She had no idea what time it was, only knew she was grateful for the light.
They cut through throngs of people who’d gathered on the sidewalk. Several people protested as Chase shoved them out of the way, but no one tried to stop them.
They hit the sidewalk along Summer Street and headed east toward the Summer Street Bridge. More than anything, Lily wanted this terrible ordeal to end. She desperately needed to stop and rest. She needed to know what was happening and why. But she knew if she stopped now, the men would catch up with them.
The air turned humid and smelled of the harbor as they stepped onto the bridge over the Fort Point Channel. At the apex, Chase finally pulled her to a stop.
For several seconds the only sound came from their labored breathing and the hard thrum of her own heart.
“You okay?” Chase asked.
“That’s a damn silly question at this point,” Lily snapped.
He glanced down where she gripped her belly with her left hand and he grimaced.
“I can’t run anymore,” she said.
He reached out as if to touch her abdomen, but dropped his hand. Lily saw the strain in his face, the worry in his eyes. She knew him well enough to know that worry had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her and the baby.
She followed his gaze as he looked up and down the channel. Twenty yards away, a small boat chugged toward the bridge.
Chase glanced back toward South Station, and a chill ran down Lily’s spine. “Do you think you can make it across the bridge?” he asked.
She nodded.
“I want you to go to the other side. There’s a small pier there with a dock on the left side and a sidewalk in front of the office building. Go to the waterfront sidewalk and wait for me.”
“We’re splitting up?” She hated the alarm in her voice, but she was not equipped to handle this kind of situation alone.
“I’ll be there. I promise. Go.”
The sound of gunfire erupted from the general vicinity of South Station. Chase glanced that way, then turned back to Lily. “That’s your cue, honey. I want you to run as fast as you can to the other side of the bridge. Can you do that?”
Without waiting for an answer, he stepped away from her and gave her a gentle shove in the direction he wanted her to go.
Shocked he would suggest they split up and frightened by the sound of gunfire, Lily turned back to him. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get us some transportation.” Giving her a cavalier grin, he climbed onto the low rail at the edge of the bridge. “Run,” he said. “I’ll be there in two minutes. I promise.”
At that, he looked down at the water and jumped into space.
LILY RAN as she had never run before. Gripping her belly with her right hand, she sprinted toward the far end of the bridge. In the distance, she could see the Boston Convention Center and, beyond, the giant cranes of the waterfront district where container ships were loaded and unloaded.
Her uniform shoes pounded the sidewalk like pistons. Above her labored breaths she heard shouts and a volley of gunshots from behind her. But Lily didn’t slow down. There was no way she was going to let those men with guns get their hands on her again. She ran for her life.