“I’ll figure it out. Go,” he said between coughs.
“Like hell,” Gaby muttered. She jumped, grabbing the bars at the top. “Help me!”
The same four girls mirrored her instantly, all that would fit.
“Now pull up,” she told Mateo.
Between his strength and their combined weight, the last hinge gave. The gate jerked, and they went down in a heap, screaming as they hit the hard ground.
It was enough, though. Mateo squeezed through.
Once the girls scrambled to their feet, he hauled Gaby up and crushed her in a hug. “You make a damn fine addition to the team.”
“Thanks,” she wheezed. “But could we—save this—for later?”
He released her at once, all business again. “Let’s get out of this hellhole.”
***
Mateo led them through the courtyard, smoke hanging low and gray, turning the morning light the color of dusk. He paused at a service door, cracked it open, scanned both directions—then waved them through.
“Go. Now.”
Gaby went first, pulling Natalie with her. The other girls followed in a tight cluster, Mateo bringing up the rear.
They burst into open air and nearly collided with two guards hustling a line of women toward the tree line to the south.
The other muses. They were barefoot, faces streaked with soot and fear, roped together at the waist, knots cinched tight.
“¡Alto!”one guard barked, already raising his rifle.
Mateo wasn’t about to stop. He hit the nearest guard like a battering ram, knocking the rifle loose as the man crumpled. He scooped it up and, in the same fluid motion, swung the butt into the second guard’s face. Bone cracked, and he dropped too.
The line of women screamed, pulling against the rope in panic.
Gaby rushed to them, fingers working quickly at the knots. “Quiet, please. I’ll get you free, but we can’t draw attention.”
The guards had tied them for containment, not comfort. Her fingertips were sore by the time the first knot gave, but the rest came easier.
“Past the grotto, you’ll find a concrete channel,” Gaby told them as she worked. “Follow it down to the beach. Run. Don’t stop.”
They all scattered, except one. She froze—until gunfire cracked somewhere close. Then she bolted.
A third guard emerged from the smoke, weapon raised.
Gaby didn’t think. She reacted.
Dropping low, she scooped up two fistfuls of sand and flung it into his face. As he shouted and staggered, she drove her elbow into his gut and followed with a knee between his legs that dropped him hard. He didn’t get back up.
She bent, stripped the gun from his grasp, and came up ready.
Rifle in hand, Mateo stared at her. Surprise flashed across his face, followed by something like renewed respect.
“Don’t mess with me when I’m pissed,” she advised.
He huffed a breath, a half grin breaking through. “Duly noted.”
Rolling her eyes, she grabbed Natalie’s hand, refusing to be separated from her again. “What about Rhys and Leland? The rendezvous point was the helipad?”
