Pulling the trigger as the man moved toward her, there was no crack as the bullet fired, just a click and then nothing.
What the heck?
Again and again she pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. The weapon must have been damaged somehow in the explosion.
The man chuckled as his body collided with her, sending her slamming into the ground, pain flaring through her already aching body.
“Too bad, little one, you lose.” The man chuckled, his much larger body pressing her into the ground, rubble digging into her back.
Not yet she didn't.
The weapon hadn't fired, but it was still in her hand. Raising it, she slammed it into the side of the man’s head with every drop of strength she had poured into the hit.
Grunting, the man stumbled sideways enough that she could scramble out from under his body. Swinging the weapon again, she connected with his temple a second time, and then she was up on her feet and running.
Debating whether she should try to drag Rose’s unconscious body along with her, Cassandra knew she couldn’t. Not realistically. The man was down, but he wasn't out, and she had no time to waste looking for the other weapon to try to finish the job.
She’d have to pray the man didn't hurt Rose while she tried to find the others.
Heading for the area where the secret door had been, she was halfway through it when, with a growl, the man threw himself at her. It wasn't the fresh wave of pain rolling through her that she focused on, though, it was the sharp scratch as she felt something pierce her skin.
A syringe.
She’d just been drugged as well, and the edges of her vision were already swimming.
Chapter
Twenty
January 9th
9:37 P.M.
Finally.
The door to the room where Rose and Cassandra had been hiding came into view as they rounded a corridor.
It was still closed, and Dragon prayed the girls were still in there.
They wouldn't have wandered off to look for him and his team, would they? Honestly, he didn't think they would, they had no idea where to find them, and they had to know the safest place for them was locked inside that room.
Scanning the hall, he didn't see anyone else, but there was another scent in the air, one he didn't recognize, and he could still smell Cassandra’s fear. In front of the door was a pile of rubble that didn't appear to be disturbed. Was whoever he could smell inside there with his little rabbit and Rose, or had the person terrorized the girls from the hall and they’d refused to let him in?
“Something feels off,” Steel said as he scanned the corridor.
“I smell him, but I don’t see him,” Dragon said, completely frustrated. Someone was there, that wasn't in dispute. He could quite clearly distinguish nine distinct scents, yet he didn't see how anyone could have gotten into the room with the girls with the door closed and the debris from the explosion still in front of it. “I smell blood as well.”
“We’re all covered in blood,” Thunder reminded him. “Chances are, both Cassandra and Rose are too. The explosives were a little closer to our position, but this part of the building is damaged as well, they didn't avoid getting caught up in it.”
Although nothing his friend had just said was untrue, Dragon felt a growl rumble through his chest. He didn't want to think about Cassandra being injured, blood staining her beautiful skin.
“They’re not in there,” Blade suddenly announced.
“They have to be,” he growled, closing the distance to the door and ignoring the rubble to reach for the handle. It didn't turn, the door was still locked.
“They’re not,” Blade insisted.
“Then where else could they be, and how is the door still locked?” Dragon demanded. He would have accepted the possibility that the girls had somehow managed to get out the door without disturbing the rubble, it didn't seem likely, especially since they would both be injured, but it wasn't impossible. But how was the door still locked from the inside if no one was in there?
