“Good boy. Now, stay behind me.”
We carefully skirted around Thomas’s body as we made our way back through the bedroom, Kitt keeping one hand on my shoulder the entire time. I couldn’t bear to look at what had become of Thomas, but morbid curiosity wouldn’t let me completely look away, either. The only compromise was to keep the other man’s body in my peripheral, turning the bloody scene into an impressionist’s painting. What stood out the most were the colors. A pool of bright red stood out starkly against the pale beige carpet, offset by Thomas’s darker skin and white shirt. Theharsh contrasts grated against each other and set my teeth on edge.
After checking with me one last time to make sure I was okay, Kitt leaned his ear against the door, listening to whatever was on the other side. The cottages were mostly soundproofed—another luxury feature that wasn’t doing us any good—so I wasn’t sure what he could possibly be listening for.
Gripping the briefcase closer, I held my breath and waited for the final verdict. The press of cold metal against my skin reminded me of my state of dress. I wasn’t naked, but my boxers and tank top left a lot more skin exposed than I was comfortable with in such a situation. I wasn’t even wearing shoes, but there was no time to stop and find any. I’d just have to go bare foot, for now, and hope we didn’t end up running over any rough terrain.
A moment later, Kitt removed his ear from the door and shook his head. He couldn’t hear anything, but that meant nothing against a soundproofed door.
With no other options left, Kitt wrapped his hand around the doorknob.
We opened the door to the sound of gunfire.
CHAPTER 16
Kitt
My body reactedbefore my brain finished processing the sound of the gunshots. I pulled Jordy down with me, ducking to the side to hide around the corner of the cottage on the opposite side that the gunfire was coming from. He didn’t make a sound as he let me manhandle him into cover, but I could see the fear in his eyes as he clutched my briefcase to his chest.
“Damn,” I muttered as I peered around the corner of the cottage. “There’s even more than I feared.”
From the moment I saw Thomas take his last breath on the floor of my cottage, my first assumption was that the new witness was behind the attack. It was too coincidental that Thomas was attacked on the same day that Sam—if that even was the man’s name—appeared in the safe house. My hope was that Sam acted alone. A single assassin we could probably handle. With both Sebastian and Logan here, we had a decent amount of firepower, and I wasn’t helpless in a fight, either. However, judging by the amount of gunfire I was hearing, Sam obviously wasn’t alone.
My cottage was near the heart of the bunker, just beside the main lounge area. I’d chosen it not only for its extra room that could act as an office, but also because it was equidistant from each of the witnesses. From here, I could see all the cottages where they’d been staying. Several had their doors kicked in, including Jordy’s cottage, and a chilling thought crossed my mind.
If Jordy hadn’t visited me tonight, would he be lying dead on the floor instead of Thomas?
Looking back over my shoulder to ensure that Jordy was still there, I hated that I felt relieved. This was supposed to be a safe place. No one was supposed to end up dead. I shouldn’t have a preference over who lived and who died, but I did. I couldn’t deny it. If I had to make the choice, I’d choose Jordy’s life a thousand times.
Maybe that was selfish of me, but I’d seen enough of the world to know that there was a little bit of selfishness buried in every human heart, and I wasn’t ashamed of mine.
“Hey, over here,” someone shouted.
I risked leaning a little farther around the corner to see Sebastian waving at me from the window of the main lounge area.
It wasn’t far away. Just the next building over. The distance would probably only take us about ten seconds to cross. Yet, even as I calculated the time, another gunshot rang out and a hole appeared in the fake lawn between us.
Even just ten seconds was too long. There was no way Jordy and I would make that distance without getting shot. Judging from the direction the bullet had come from, our attackers were using the pool’s decorative cave as cover. I couldn’t see them, and had no idea how many there even were, but they could obviously see us.
I shook my head, trying to signal to Sebastian that we wouldn’t be able to make it, but Sebastian waved us over again.
“It’ll be all right. Logan’s here, too. We’ll cover you. Just get over here.”
Sebastian and Logan each posted up at one of the lounge’s windows like it was a saloon in an old western movie, bracing their arms against the windowsills as they fired a round of bullets toward the enemies hidden in the fake cave.
They were right. We wouldn’t be able to do much while we were spread out. We needed to coordinate, and to do that, we needed to regroup.
“Keep hold of that briefcase,” I whispered to Jordy as I tucked him under my arm, making sure to place my body between him and the shooters.
With a serious expression, he nodded and gripped the briefcase tighter.
Our evidence for the case was important, but it wasn’t the first thought on my mind. As we stepped out from our cover and started running for the main building where Sebastian and Logan were waiting, I just hoped the briefcase’s metal material could shield Jordy if worst came to worst.
Half a dozen steps.
That was all that stood between us and relative safety.
We ran without even looking toward the people shooting at us. It would only slow us down. Even when we reached the lounge area, we didn’t stop, and tumbled right through the doorway.
