Oh, right. That was our signal. The shooting had stopped, and we were clear to make a break for the stairs.
Yet, it felt wrong to just take off running and leave Sebastian behind while the man was still under attack.
Logan led the way, with all the witnesses following him in a rough single-file fashion while I brought up the rear. Because of that, I had a perfect view of Sebastian’s fight.
His cane slid free from its position across his attacker’s neck, and he spun again to face the man directly. Then, grasping the handle of his cane, he twisted it to pull it apart, revealing a long thin sword that had been hidden inside. His attacker didn’t even have time to react to the sudden appearance of the new weapon before it was slicing across his neck.
The man’s body dropped, and Sebastian stepped over it with surprisingly sturdy steps as he approached the next nearest attacker.
A sword cane.
Of course, Sebastian was secretly carrying something like that and obviously trained to handle it. I felt bad for ever doubting the man.
When the rest of us reached the staircase, Logan paused just long enough to activate one of the makeshift smoke bombs and toss it into the stairwell. With the hiss of an angry snake, the stairwell filled with opaque vapor that smelled suspiciously of cooking spray. Logan fired a few shots blindly into the cloud, just to clear out anyone that might be lying in wait for us, but if he hit anything it was impossible to tell.
I knew exactly how long the staircase was. If I thought about it for a moment, I could probably recall exactly how many steps stretched between the bunker and the surface. Yet, as we ran through the thick cloud, bouncing off the narrow walls in our haste, it felt like the staircase lasted for miles. At one point, I tripped over something that might have been a body lying motionless on the steps, but I didn’t stop to check. It wasn’t Jordy or any of the witnesses, and that was all that mattered.
Once above the surface, we headed for the house’s garage. The refurbished bunker wasn’t the only part of the house that was over the top. Even the garage was an example of luxury. It was massive, but most importantly, it was well lit. There were no shadows here for someone to lurk in and ambush us from. With the garage door closed behind us, we were able to stop and catch our breath for a moment.
Maria’s injury had started bleeding again while we ran, and her sister helped her sit down on a bench near the door. Clay and Logan naturally gravitated to each other, and I couldn’t help wrapping an arm around Jordy’s shoulders.
Huddled together, we waited in silence for Sebastian to catch up with us.
Yet he never came through the door.
“We can’t wait around much longer,” I reminded Logan. “More people could be coming.”
“I know. I know.” Growling in frustration, Logan slammed his fist against the wall. “Damn it, Sebastian. You better be okay. I’m not telling your brother or Newt that you didn’t make it. They’ll kill me.”
The garage could easily hold over a dozen vehicles, but at the moment most of its parking spots were empty. Only the van that we’d originally brought the witnesses in, along with a couple of old sedans, waited for us. We decided to take the van so that the injured girl could have space to lie down, along with one of the cars, while leaving one car behind for Sebastian to use when he caught up.
We were so close to being free. My hand was on the door handle to the van when I noticed movement inside the open window.
“Get down!” I shouted, diving for Jordy, who was standing next to me, just as a gunshot rang out.
We both hit the pavement, pain shooting up my arm, while above us the door to the van opened.
Sam, the rat that had pretended to be a fellow victim, stepped out of the van, with a gun in his hand and a smile on his face.
The bell ringers really had chosen their infiltrator well. Sam looked like he could have been cast off the same mold as Jordy. So, it was even more terrifying to watch this man pointing a gun at me with such lethal efficiency. There was no hesitation. No uncertainty. He had a job to do, and he was determined to do it.
Metal echoed against metal as a bullet from Logan’s gun ricocheted off the van.
“Get away from them, you bastard.”
Sam didn’t seem the least bit scared despite being in Logan’s crosshairs, though he at least had enough sense to raise his hands in the air in surrender.
“Are you really going to hurt a poor little victim like me,” he said, pouting as he put on an over-exaggerated baby voice.
Logan just scoffed. “Please. We may have fallen for your act before, but you’re no victim. You’re a monster, just like the people you work for. But you’re also not a strong enough fighter to take us all on by yourself. So, step aside before I kill you as well.”
While Logan and Sam were busy staring each other down, I pulled Jordy off the floor with me and out of the way. Our access to the van was blocked, but the cars were still out in the open. If I could get Jordy inside one of them, there was still a chance for him to escape.
Sam’s gun fell from his hand and hit the floor, but the smile remained firmly fixed to his face.
“Oh, I know you could kill me. I’m a conman, not a hitman. But I don’t need to fight you. All I need to do is stall you.”
The door to the garage burst open just as I managed to shove Jordy into the passenger seat of one of the cars. Several more gunmen spilled into the room, bringing with them more weapons and more firepower.
