“Is he lucid?” she asked. She ran her hands down Daniel’s arms and legs, searching for any other wounds.
“Jules?” Carston rasped weakly.
“Kevin, bring the operating table over here. We’ve got to get Daniel up to the car.” She took a deep breath. “Lowell, it’s okay. I never poisoned Livvy. Of course not. She’s only sedated. She’ll be with her mother by morning, whether I come home or not.”
While she reassured Carston—her eyes never leaving Daniel—she heard Kevin leave and then return. There was a heavy metal groan as he shoved the table through the window and a moist thud when it hit the bodies on the floor. She bit her lip as she continued to work on Daniel, pulling the rubber pieces of his disguise out of his mouth so he couldn’t choke on them, carefully wiping the contacts from his eyes. How long till Kevin collapsed? He still had a good fifty minutes to enjoy the drugs in his system, but that wouldn’t affect how much his body could actually endure. She needed to try to remember that he wasn’t the same Kevin, the one who could do anything. She had to go easier on him. But how? Daniel needed speed. If she could just get him to the car…
“Proud of you, Jules,” Lowell Carston wheezed quietly. “You managed to hold on to your soul. Impressive…” The last word trailed off with a low, rattling exhalation. She listened for more, but it was silent behind her now.
She’d outlived Carston, a feat she never would have put money on. Instead of feeling the triumph she’d always expected, she was ambivalent. Perhaps the triumph would come later, when the panic gripping her was gone.
“Is it safe to lift him?” Kevin asked.
“Carefully. Try to keep his chest as immobile as possible. I’ll get his legs.”
Together they hefted Daniel carefully onto the silver tabletop. She took his wrist again, willing his pulse to stay discernible.
“Give me two seconds, Ollie,” Kevin said as he began stripping the soldier who’d fallen over Daniel’s legs, the one with the least blood on him. “How many more are upstairs?”
She glanced at the faces on the floor. She thought she recognized the shorter guard from the metal detector.
“At least one isn’t here, for sure. He was at the door. It seemed empty up there, but I didn’t see most of these guys beforehand.”
He was already in the pants, pulling socks over his mangled feet and then trying the shoes. They were too small. He yanked another pair off the other poisoned soldier. Those looked a little big, but Kevin tied the laces tight.
“You’re going to have to cut those off,” she said.
He buttoned the white shirt, then threw the dark navy coat over the top, not bothering with the tie. “I’ll do what I have to do when we live through this. Lose the lab coat, it’s covered in blood.”
“Right,” she agreed, awkwardly shoving the guns into the elastic band at the back of her leggings. It was barely strong enough to hold them both in place. She shrugged out of the coat and let it drop to the floor.
“Okay, let’s get this table past all the bodies, then you should be able to handle it in the hall. I’ll sweep ahead and take out anybody who’s left.”
In seconds she was rolling Daniel down the hall, half running while Kevin disappeared into the darkness, somehow at a full sprint. Then she was in the metal-detector room, and Kevin was waiting, holding the elevator for her. The room was empty; everyone must have rushed to the observation room when the shooting started. She darted into the elevator.
Kevin reached out to hit the button as the doors shut silently behind her. She stared at his right hand on the button, his dominant hand, and a sudden burst of understanding had her coughing out one half-delirious laugh.
Kevin eyed her sharply. “Keep it together, Ollie.”
“No, no, see, it’s his heart, Kev. It’s on the wrong side—the right side. That’s why the shooter missed.” She choked out another laugh. “He’s alive because he’s your opposite.”
“Lock it up,” he ordered.
She nodded once, taking a deep breath to steady herself.
The elevator stopped and the door opened to the supply closet. The outer door was closed. Kevin lifted the edge of the table over the lip of the elevator, then went to the door.
She expected him to ease it open, but instead he threw it wide with a loud bang.
“Help!” he yelled. “We need help down here!”
Then he was racing forward silently. She could hear louder footsteps coming for them from the other room—just one set, she was sure. She pushed Daniel forward as quietly as she could.