Alexei moves to the window and lets out a Russian curse when he see what’s going on outside.
I already know even before I look out and see it for myself. Dust clouds fill the road, kicked up by a convoy of SUVs.
“Well, I guess now we know why they changed their minds and let us in,” I say.
“Yes. And why they insisted that we wait so long,” Alexei says, but he’s not waiting anymore.
He grabs my hand, tugging me toward the door. “We must leave. Now!”
“But, Alexei—” I turn back to his mother, who is running her hand along the cinder-block wall.
“‘Hush, little princess …’”
“We must leave her,” he says.
“But …”
I don’t get to argue. There’s no time to fight. Because just as I open my mouth to speak, a blast shakes the room, throwing me off of my feet and into Alexei, who grabs me and then presses me to the floor, shielding me with his body as dust and debris cloud the air. I’m choking, gagging, as I hear a familiar voice say, “I told you there were explosives.”
Rosie looks larger than usual as she stands silhouetted against the gray sky, surrounded by a cloud of dust. She’s a conquering hero. And she’s not taking any prisoners.
“What are you two waiting for? We’ve got to go. Now!”
The caravan of SUVs is at the gates, but the guards are nowhere to be seen. The gates are wide-open and they’re coming in fast.
“Now!” Rosie shouts again, and then jumps. I run to the hole in the wall only to notice for the first time that there’s a roof not far below. There must be a single-story section of the hospital because Rosie is running across the roof, then climbing down a ladder that leads to the back of the facility.
“Go, Gracie. Now.” Alexei is trying to push me outside, but I look back at the woman who is still behind us, singing and swaying in the dust.
There’s no time to argue. Alexei just spins and walks toward his mother, sweeps her up into his arms, and runs in my direction, climbing through the hole in the wall that Rosie left in her wake.
As they pass I hear Karina say, “Your boy really is handsome.”
And then I climb through the hole in the wall and join them.
There are shouts from the hired guns that fill the courtyard. Echoing cries fill the halls, and I know that some of the men are already inside, racing up the stairs.
They’ll reach us soon, see the room is empty and follow, so I run faster. Alexei is guiding Karina down the ladder when I see the huge SUV that is waiting for us.
“We borrowed it,” Rosie says, and I don’t ask any questions. We all just run toward the doors that are already open. The engine is running and Megan is behind the wheel.
“Hold on,” she says once we’re all inside. If they’re surprised by Karina’s presence, no one says so.
The SUV spins out, kicking up rocks and dirt and gravel, then fishtails as it pulls around the side of the compound.
The guardhouse is empty. The yard is abandoned. Four huge SUVs surround the tiny car that brought Alexei and me here, blocking us in. The men must all be inside, and a clock in my head is counting down the seconds until they realize that we’re gone.
We’re going to have to go fast.
We’re going to have to go far.
We’re going to have to keep running until we run out of earth. That’s the only way.
“They’ll find us,” I say, the words spilling from my mouth. “They’ll chase us and they’ll find us and—”
“They’re not going to chase us,” Noah tells me.
“Of course they are!” I shout. “They will never stop chasing me. You guys have got to leave. It’s too dangerous. I’m too dangerous. You’ve got to—”
“We have a Plan B,” Megan says.
“What’s Plan B?” I ask just as, behind us, a huge boom rings out. When I turn, I see black smoke filling the air. The little car that Alexei and I arrived in is now an inferno. Flaming debris fills the yard. Windshields are smashed. Tires are flattened. The smoke is blinding anyone who might be running out the front door. Even the roof of the little guard shack is starting to burn.
I’m almost numb as I turn to Rosie.
“That’s Plan B,” she says, and Megan keeps driving.
Sometime after midnight we cross the Adrian border, or so Megan’s super secret spy phone tells us. I can also tell because that’s when I start shaking.
We’re still hours from Valancia, and the countryside around us is vast and empty. We should be safe here. There’s no Internet, no cameras. No nosy innkeepers or customs officials asking us for papers. I swear none of us will ever use our real names ever again if we survive this.
I don’t stop to think about how big that if really is.
There’s a big barn up ahead, but no farmhouse. No town. There’s not a single telephone pole in sight. Bright headlights slice across an empty field when Noah steers the SUV off the road and pulls up to the barn’s big double doors.
“Wait. What are you doing?” I ask, leaning up between the two front seats.
“We’re stopping,” Noah says.