Wait. No.
More shapes moving.
Still debilitated by that blow, Brighton shook her head. Her gaze fumbled to where Finch lay groaning.
Hands pulled her up. “C’mon.”
“Get off me!” She kicked and bucked.
“Easy, easy. It’s okay.”
“What …?” She could hardly think around the pain but recognized that the voice didn’t belong to Finch or Drex. Even as she came to her feet and moved toward the front door, glass crunching under her feet, she realized it was Cord. He’d come back, stopped the men—had he killed them? She strained to look over her shoulder as he led her from the house.
Clarity rang like a gong. If she let him take her, Ladomer would find out. Then he’d hunt her down. She jerked to a stop. “No. I can’t.”
“You must,” Cord said, catching her by the arms. “They’ll kill you.”
“Not if I stay—”
“They’re down.”
His words stilled her. The body at her feet—Finch wasn’t moving. Neither was Drex. How? “Oh my gosh—he’ll murder me!” Panic drummed at the core of her being. “You don’t understand." She searched for Mari. “I can’t … She’s …”
“My partner took the girl out to the truck. We have to go now!”
Ears ringing, head woozy, and arms still stinging, Brighton struggled to think, to see. “Why’s it so dark?” She felt herself falling … then rising suddenly. Flinging out a hand to balance herself, she stiffened.
“Easy. I’ve got you.”
He was carrying her. Across the yard. She felt the muggy Virginia air. Heard the cree-up of frogs in the nearby community pond. Heard a car roar toward them.
“Ladomer!” She wriggled, reaching back toward the house, oddly dark. “I have—”
Tires screeched. So did Brighton.
Hands turned her. Nudged her into a vehicle.
She flailed, panicked. Terrified. Ladomer would eviscerate her for killing his men. For escaping. He’d punish others. Her brother! “No. Stop!!” Her temple knocked against something metal.
Hand on her crown, Cord firmly guided her back into the truck. “In. Hurry.”
She tried to leap back out. “I have to find Mari!”
“I’m here! I’m here, Lizzy,” Mari said, arms and breath skating around her, pulling her back into the truck.
Surprised to find the girl smiling at her, tears glossing those big eyes, Brighton relaxed. Relief swept across her chest as she hugged the girl, even as the door thudded closed, and the truck lurched away from the house, the engine roaring.
Numb, she tried to wade through the disorientation, the panic, pain …
“Belts!” Cord shouted from the front.
She and Mari separated, scrambling for seatbelts. Once buckled in, they grabbed hands and held on tight. Brighton almost looked back but decided she didn’t want to do that and see her pursuers. For a moment, longer than two heartbeats, she’d let herself remain in the delusion of freedom.
Chapter
Three
Bexar-Wolfe Lodge, Northern Virginia
