CHAPTER 55
The six guards surrounded Kate.
One man said into a radio, “We have her. She was wandering around in corridor two.”
“What are you doing?” Kate protested.
“Come with us,” the man with the radio said.
Two of the guards took her by the arms and began leading her away from the voices at the nurses station.
“Stop!”
Kate turned to see a woman jogging up behind them. She was young, maybe in her twenties. She was dressed so… wrong, so provocatively, like some sort of playboy bunny. She looked very out of place.
“I’ll take her,” she said to the men.
“Who are you?”
“Naomi. I work for Mr. Sloane.”
“Never heard of him.” The guard who was clearly in charge motioned to another man. “We’ll take her in too.”
“You’ll be sorry if you do,” Naomi said. “Call it in. I’ll wait. Ask your boss to call Mr. Sloane.”
The guards looked at each other.
Naomi grabbed one of their radios. “I’ll do it myself.” She clicked the button. “This is Naomi, I need to speak with Mr. Sloane.”
“Standby.”
“Sloane.”
“It’s Naomi, I’m bringing a girl to you, but there’s a pack of guards harassing us.”
“Hold on.” Then, Sloane’s voice said to someone in the background, “Tell your buffoons to quit harassing my people.”
Another voice came on the line. “This is Captain Zhào. Who is this?”
Naomi handed the radio back to the man, but he stepped back, dodging it like a plague blanket. Naomi tossed it to the man who had spoken. “Good luck.” She grabbed Kate by the arm and said under her breath, “Be quiet and follow me.”
Naomi led Kate away from the guards who were desperately trying to apologize to the man on the radio.
They took a right, then a left, down another deserted corridor. She asked Kate for her badge at a set of double doors.
“Who are you?” Kate said.
“It’s not important. I’m here to help you get the children out.”
“Who sent you?”
“The same person who sent you the IDs.”
“Thank you,” was all Kate could think to say.
The woman nodded. She opened a door, and Kate heard Adi and Surya talking inside. Her heart stopped. The door swung open and they were there, sitting at a table in a white-walled room. Kate ran in, knelt down to hug them, and without a word they ran to her and jumped into her arms, bowling her over. They were alive. She could do it. She could save them. Kate felt a firm hand pull her up.
“I’m sorry. We don’t have time. We have to hurry,” Naomi said.