“Unless you’re certain you can hit the target every time, we’d be better off conserving the ammo right now. We might need it later.”
At some point while we’d been hiding, our attackers must have found the control panel for the bunkers artificial light and switched it from daytime mode to nighttime. The painted ceiling now resembled a sky of stars, and everything was covered in the cool shadows of midnight. It was the perfect cover for our attackers to sneak up on us. In the distance, I could see the vague shape of people moving around, but nothing distinct enough that I could shoot with a hundred percent accuracy.
I reluctantly had to admit my own limitations.
Two minutes on the dot later, Sebastian returned from the kitchen, carrying what looked like several aerosol cans that had been tampered with. He handed most of them to Logan, though he also gave me one as well.
“These should work like smoke bombs to give you some cover. Just twist off the spray nozzle and throw it. If you toss a couple into the stairwell, it should confuse whoever is guarding it enough for you to make up back up to the surface.”
Crude, but simple.
I’d have preferred something a bit more sophisticated, but we weren’t in a position to be picky.
“Okay,” I said as I stored my rigged can in the inner pocket of my suit jacket. “But that doesn’t explain how we’re going to get to the stairwell in the first place. Jordy and I nearly lost our heads just trying to run ten feet, and the stairwell is at least fifty feet from here.”
It didn’t escape my notice that Sebastian hadn’t kept any of the rigged cans for himself, nor did he take back his gun from Logan.
Instead, he merely picked up the cane that he always carried and tapped the handle resolutely against his palm.
“Leave that to me. Logan, when you see your opportunity, you lead everyone out of here. Don’t wait for me.”
“Maybe, I should,” Logan started to argue, but Sebastian cut him off.
“No. You’re faster and better suited for taking point. I’ll only slow you down. You get them out of here while I buy you time. Don’t wait for me. Got it?”
He didn’t wait for an answer. Before anyone could say a word, or try to argue again, he slipped out the door and into the darkness of the fake night.
Logan and I both waited by the window, holding our breath in anticipation of what would happen.
I couldn’t get the image of Sebastian’s cane out of my mind. The man had been a skilled fighter and investigator before his injuries, but he walked with a permanent limp. I would never call the man helpless. His skills were certainly still sharp, but his handicap must slow him down.
Could we really leave him to take on an entire attack force on his own?
A gunshot echoed through the bunker, accompanied by the muzzle flash from a gun, but no bullet hit the side of our shelter. Someone screamed into the dark, and I was relieved to recognize that it wasn’t Sebastian’s voice.
I still couldn’t tell what the man was doing, but whatever it was, it seemed to be working. The gunfire had stopped for now.
Logan grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the window.
“Get everyone rounded up and ready to run.”
My first instinct was to check on Jordy, but I had to leave him alone. He was actually the most stable of all the witnesses and needed my attention the least. Clay was a mess of nerves worrying over every bullet that came a little too close to Logan, and the injured girl needed her sister’s support to walk. Her injury had stopped bleeding, but it still pained her and slowed her down.
I felt like a mother duck herding ducklings as I gathered them all near the door. These were grown adults. People who were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. Yet, there was also an air of vulnerability to them that triggered my protective instincts and made me want to shelter them under my metaphorical wings.
When I returned to the window, I cursed at what I saw.
Sebastian stood in the middle of the plastic lawn, surrounded by three masked assailants. None of his attackers had their gunsanymore, but even in hand to hand it was still three against one, and he was leaning heavily on his cane.
“Can you take any of them out?” I asked.
Logan aimed his gun and scowled.
“Possibly, but with how close together they are I could accidentally shoot Sebastian instead.”
It was too late for us to do anything anyway. One of the attackers lunged at Sebastian, and in the glint of moonlight, I could see that they’d pulled a knife. For a moment, it seemed certain that we were about to witness Sebastian’s death, but at the last second, he spun on his good leg, circling around behind his attacker with a surprisingly amount of agility. He brought his cane up across his attacker’s throat, using it to lock the masked man into a painful looking chokehold.
“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted as he struggled to keep his grip against the man’s thrashing. “Get going.”
