We dive behind whatever we can—couch, wall, overturned table. Plaster bursts from the wall near my head.
The guy’s firing wildly, panic in every shot.
Then Luca moves.
He steps out from his cover behind a bookcase, like he’s done it a thousand times. He fires off three quick shots.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
The guy screams, dropping the gun in his hand as he takes three hits—shoulder, thigh, arm. Non-vital, but enough to put him down, and for us to get the upper hand. He crashes onto the floor, writhing.
“You shot me,” he whines like a damn pussy.
“Where’s Vee?” Luca kicks him in the stomach with his boot.
“Fuck you.” The lump on the floor manages to get out between coughing up blood.
“Stay with him,” Luca snaps to Javier and the rest of us move toward the stairs. It’s clear this sack of shit is worthless.
If she’s here, she’s upstairs. I can feel it in my gut.
Halfway up the staircase we hear it. A loud slamming door.
My pulse spikes. We move faster, and when we hit the landing, we split up. Each of us heading toward a door.
There’s four.
One of them has her. I know it.
Luca goes to the first door. He takes hold of the handle and opens it easily.
The bed looks slept in, like someone just got up and threw the blankets off them. But no one’s here. He steps into the room, checking everywhere, while Ryker opens the door across from it. It’s empty. But you can tell someone was sleeping in it too.
The next door down the hallway is already open, light shining out from it.
A bathroom. And it's also empty.
Just leaves one more room for us to check. The last door at the end of the hall.
We have our guns up and ready for anything, and move toward it slowly.
I’m in the lead, so I take hold of the handle and try to open it. It’s locked.
Then a voice shouts from inside. “Come in and she’s dead!”
My jaw clenches so hard it hurts. The fuck if anyone’s hurting her.
Luca leans close, voice low but deadly.
“When we open the door, Vee is the priority. Doc, I want you and Luke going for her. Get her the fuck out of here. ”
“Like she ever wasn’t the priority,” Doc mutters. I know Luca didn’t mean it the way it came across. He’s just as worried about his sister as we are.
From inside the room, we hear something scraping across the floor. Heavy. Furniture, maybe? I already know what he’s doing. He’s trying to barricade the door. The fucker is trying to keep us out. We don’t have time for this.
