Raging Sea (Undertow, #2)

We hurry down the hall, pounding on cell doors and telling everyone they are free. Along the way, my new sidekick tells me his name is Charles and he’s married to a Sirena named Melissa. They’ve got a daughter named Georgie, and he hasn’t seen either of them in two years.

When all the doors are unlocked, we shove Amy through the double doors, and as she said, a soldier is on the other side. He’s sitting in front of a bank of video screens eating a bologna sandwich. He couldn’t be more unprepared for us. He fumbles for his rifle leaning against a file cabinet, but I’ve got my pistol in his face.

“My friend needs to borrow your gun,” I say.

The guard frowns.

Charles pricks the side of Amy’s neck, and she sobs.

“Darren, just give it to him!” she shrieks.

Darren reaches over and timidly picks up his weapon, then hands it to Charles. Wild Eyes tosses his hypodermic needles into the corner, then swings the rifle around and aims it at Darren. I’m sure he’s going to shoot him, but instead he snatches the bologna sandwich and swallows the whole thing in three bites.

“Darren, we’re not going to kill you,” my father explains, eyeballing Charles as he talks. “We’re not going to kill anyone. We need to open all the doors. You’ll be able to go home afterward, you’ll be able to get another sandwich. But if you don’t help us, I’m going to give my daughter permission to shoot you and we’ll just figure it out on our own. I’ve seen this kind of security before. I know there’s a master lock that releases everything. Where is it?”

Darren gets up from his chair and crosses the room. There’s a metal box mounted on the wall. He opens it, inserts a key, then turns it with a click. Suddenly the air is alive with a piercing wail. Darren has sounded the alarm.

Charles slams the butt of the rifle against Darren’s head and knocks him out. Amy lets out a little yelp and then starts to whimper.

“Unlock the doors!” I shout at her.

“I don’t know how! I swear. I’m just a nurse!”

I have no idea if she’s being honest or not, but the alarm is freaking me out. We need to get away from here.

“All right, take me to my friend and then my mother!”

“I want my wife and daughter now!” Charles screams.

I lean down and snatch Darren’s keycard off his chain, then hand it to Charles.

“Find your kid,” I tell him. “Get her and all the children out of here. We’ll find your wife and meet you outside.”

He nods eagerly, then runs to the elevator, swiping the keycard to activate it. When the doors slide open, he lets out a disappointed groan. I turn just in time to hear a gunshot and see him fall backwards.

“Run!” I scream, and the three of us bolt through the doorway, only to find another flight of stairs. We climb them one by one, my father struggling but doing his personal best. Amy is really what’s slowing us down, with all her whimpering and shrieks.

“Prisoners have escaped their rooms on Level Three. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill,” a voice booms through speakers on the walls. “All unarmed associates are to fall back to their secure locations. Security associates, please load your sidearms and turn your radios to channel eight for further instructions.”

We’re almost up the steps when I hear a gunshot. The bullet ricochets off a wall, sending dust into my eyes. I howl, sure that the next one will hit me. There’s another shot, then another.

We duck through a door onto a floor that looks much like the one below, more cells lining both sides of the hall. I hear men shouting in the stairwell and have to make a terrible choice. I can’t open them all in time.

“Which one has my friend?” I demand, shoving the keycard into Amy’s trembling hands. She looks at it for a moment, then helps me take my father from her. She walks down the hall, and we follow closely until she stops at a door. She swipes the sensor, and the door opens. Standing in her own little yellow circle is my friend. When she sees me, her eyes fill with tears.

“You are so kick-ass, Lyric Walker,” she says.

“We have to hurry,” I beg. She lets my father wrap his arm around her shoulders, and together they do their best as they stagger down the hall. At the end is a door with an emergency alarm bar. Its alarm adds to the already piercing sirens. Still, we push through and slam the door behind us.

“Lock it, Amy,” my father demands.

Amy frowns but reaches into her pocket. She takes out her own set of keys, inserts one into the lock, and gives it a turn just as I hear banging on the other side.

“They’re going to try to shoot their way in here,” my father says, and no sooner does he warn us than we hear a loud bang. “This door is steel, so it will buy us a little time. We can’t waste it. We have to find your mother. You should leave me here.”

“We tried that once,” I say, and drag him down another hallway. There’s a turn, then another. It’s a maze.

“Where?” I demand, putting the gun to Amy’s head. I know she could help without me asking. I suppose it’s dumb of me to be irritated that she won’t take the initiative.

She points forward, and we run through another set of doors and find an elevator.