“We need to move,” Darren said, ducking out of sight of the camera mounted on a nearby shop’s awning. He headed toward the checkpoint where the maintenance entrance was. “Station security uses tranquilizing bullets, don’t they?”
“Yes. From what I could see, so do Marcus’ men,” George said, trailing behind alongside Kristen.
Did that mean Marcus wanted them alive, after all? He probably knew there was another part to the legacy then.Good thing he’d left the earring with Leonard.
“I need you and Kristen to create a distraction. Aiden and I will get us some guns.”
George nodded, halting Kristen. “Be careful.”
Darren led Aiden to an alleyway behind the shops. They followed it until its eventual dead end, then climbed up the air-circulation system situated there. Humidity clung to his face, making his lungs work double, but he clenched his teeth through it and made it all the way to the roof of the building next to the vents.
The assembly checkpoint was right across, its entirety visible from this vantage point.And just as he’d suspected, Marcus’ men were monitoring it from here.
Crouching behind an air-conditioning unit once he’d vaulted over the edge, Darren took a moment to evaluate the situation.
There were three men. Two snipers and a lookout. They were focused on the crowd below so they hadn’t noticed him and Aiden yet, but the moment the lookout decided to do his job, the two of them would be busted.
“Aiden,” Darren whispered, gesturing at the three men. “Go from the left. I’ll take out the lookout, you go for the closest sniper. His gun will slow him down. The other one is distracted.”
Aiden squinted, his lips twitching in a hint of a smile. “I’m the decoy, aren’t I?”
“I’m better at close combat.”
“I know.”
Darren chuckled, feeling some of the tension leave him. “We go on three, two, one.”
Dashing out from behind the AC, Darren jumped the lookout. Before the man even had time to react, Darren’s armswere around his neck, squeezing. He crumpled to the group without a fuss just as Aiden punched the sniper with the back of the gun. The third guy yelped in surprise, his face contorting in shock as he watched his buddy trying to fight off Aiden. Darren took advantage and barreled into the man. They fell to the concrete, the gun skidding away.
“Aiden!”
Aiden didn’t hesitate, sending the butt of the gun to the man’s head. He blacked out momentarily.
Panting, Darren crawled off him and took Aiden’s offered hand. A bolt of panic raised the hair at the back of his neck.Shit, did someone see them?He turned around, a wave of cold sweat washing over his entire body.
“We are good,” Aiden said from next to him, squeezing his arm. “No one saw us.”
Darren exhaled, shuddering from the force of it. “I’ll take care of the guards. Get the roof hatch open.”
While Aiden did that, he lay on the concrete with one of the sniper guns and slowed down his breathing. He needed to concentrate. Knowing that Aiden had his back, he focused on the task at hand and tuned out everything else. The word narrowed down to his five targets and he took them out one by one in a quick succession of precise shots.
“Shit, you’re good,” Aiden said as Darren tossed the gun and stood up.
Grinning, Darren pulled him in and smooched his cheek. “I know. Let’s go.”
They used the hatch to get into the jewelry shop below. The street and the park were full of panicked people running in all directions. He held Aiden’s hand and pushed past them, headed for the maintenance tunnel’s entrance. Kristen and George were already there, working the control terminal to get the panel open.
“Hurry!” Darren urged as two SUVs pulled where the park started.
Station security got off the first one, shouting through megaphones for the crowd to calm down and line up in front of the fountain. Marcus and his three bodyguards got off the second one. They did a quick scan of the people and quickly seemed to realize that Darren wasn’t among them.
“Got it!” Kristen gasped as the terminal pinged.
A square section in the metal panel slid to the side, screeching so loudly, the entire crowd hushed and snapped their heads in the direction of the noise. Marcus froze in the middle of saying something, his gaze cutting to Darren.
Darren’s heart jumped, but before he’d had time to freak out, Aiden pushed him through the opening, screaming for Kristen to close the hatch.
In a blur of black and red, they ran down the tunnel to the airlock. Darren’s ears were pounding with his pulse. His legs were shaking. But even so, he somehow didn’t pass out, following the rest inside the decompression chamber. The Maine was just outside, docked and waiting.
