The corridor to the bathrooms was quieter than those for the exits. As they turned and saw the two narrow bathroom doors, Sydney heard orders being barked out from a soldier in the dining hall. No one was going to leave this building for hours, at least—already, news about the US president’s death must be filtering out to the rest of the world. They had little time to reach Niall, even less time for him to take them to the airfield.
Sydney reached the bathroom door first and shoved it open. Sure enough, a small, narrow window was situated above the sink, partially obscured by the green canopy of a fat-leaved tree.
She shot Winter a look as they ran to the sink. He looked like he was hanging back, as if he might not come.
“You can’t stay here,” she breathed. “Not by yourself.”
“Claire will be calling immediately when she hears about what happened,” he replied. “She’ll panic if she can’t get ahold of me.”
“And she’ll panic even more if you get yourself killed here. Have you forgotten who you are?” She nodded at him. “Come with us. For now. Please. I can’t keep you safe if you’re on your own. And Gavi already took your car.”
He hesitated, and in that hesitation, Sydney realized that he was afraid to jeopardize her life, that he thought his presence might compromise them. Then the image of him being sniped from a tree flashed through her mind, of him being here without so much as a bodyguard to protect him while there were assassins on the loose.
“Come with me,” she said again, her voice low and pleading.
Winter paused a second longer. Then he followed in her wake.
With little effort, Sydney jumped onto the sink’s porcelain rim and grab the bottom ledge of the window. Her fingers ran along the bottom of the glass, then curled into a fist.
“Cover your eyes,” she called to the boys below.
Then she stripped off her suit jacket and bundled it thickly around her hand.
She punched the window as hard as she could.
The glass shuddered and cracked. She punched it again, and this time, she felt the glass give away against her hand, raining down in pieces. She knocked a few more of the shards off before she removed the bundled jacket from her fist and flattened the clothing against the jagged bottom edge of the window.
When she glanced down to check on the others, Winter nodded for her to go first.
The side garden that they managed to crawl out into was still empty, but Sydney could hear the soldiers shouting at each other at the front and back gates.Shit,she swore to herself as she eyed the gate. They’d need to scale this fence to get to the other side, where she could jury-rig a car for their escape.
“I’ll boost you,” Tems muttered as he emerged behind her through the window. Winter followed shortly after, grabbing Sydney’s jacket as they went.
Sydney shook the glass shards from her jacket with one efficient flap and pulled it back on. Tems hurried to the gate and knelt there, handsready. Sydney ran toward him. Her shoe landed in Tems’s hands, and she felt his boost lift her as she reached for the top of the gate. She grabbed it with one hand.
The exertion sent a ripple of pain through her lungs, but she ignored it and hauled herself over the edge.
Immediately, her gaze settled on a parked car across the street, with an official license plate. A Singaporean government car. Inside, she saw the giant, unmistakable silhouette of Niall waiting for them.
Somehow, the familiar sight of him sent a rush of adrenaline through Sydney. At least he’d made it here—all they had to do was reach him. Maybe he would have an update from the CIA about what had gone wrong, something she knew they’d be in heated discussions over once they were in the air. No doubt he and Tems would have a shouting match about the mission—not that it would matter now.
Not now that the president was dead.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it. Niall must have spotted them at the same time, because the car lit up and reversed in their direction. All of her focus now zeroed in on the car, and she broke into a sprint at the same time as the rest. Maybe she couldn’t solve this mission alone, or even with Winter and Tems—but with Panacea, they’d get to the bottom of this. They would find a way to solve the chaos that was about to engulf the world.
Then—
—from the corner of the palace, right out of sight—
—a second car came speeding straight at Niall’s.
Sydney only had time to skid to a halt before the second car smashed, full-speed, into him with a deafening crash.
The force was so great that Niall’s car flipped into the air, landing on its roof with a crunch of breaking glass and metal.
A scream tore out of Sydney’s throat. “Niall!”
At the same time, Winter started bolting for the car. “Get him out!” he shouted.
