She searched her mind for a way to delay them and came up with a really stupid idea. Unfortunately, it was the only idea she had, so she went with it.
As she reached the bathroom, she opened the door and dived inside, slamming the lock closed as she turned.
“What’s happening?” Josie asked, her eyes wide.
“Delaying tactics.”
“Kaitlin, get out here. Now.” Stella’s voice called through the door.
“Sorry, I’m feeling sick as well.” She stared around the tiny room. The door wouldn’t hold them for long. And there was nowhere to hide. “Get to the side of the door, in case they shoot,” she said.
Josie plastered herself against the wall.
“Kaitlin, come out. We’ve told you we don’t plan to hurt you.”
Ha.
“You have five seconds then we blow out the door.”
Five seconds wasn’t very long.Shit.Kane had gone quiet again. She could really do with knowing the plan right now.
She counted the seconds off in her head. Five, four, three, two, one...
Chapter 23
Nothing happened. Kaitlin waited for the blast. All was quiet, but there was a weird tension in the air.
Then a huge explosion sounded from outside, too distant to be the bad guys shooting out the bathroom door, but close enough to make the walls tremble. Which meant—hopefully—it was the cavalry.
For a moment there was silence, then shots rang out, some sort of automatic weapon fire. Followed by silence once again.
A voice called out. “Kaitlin?”
Kane. She almost collapsed with relief. She did sag against the wall for a moment and closed her eyes.
“Kaitlin!” She heard the call in her head that time.
“We’re in the bathroom. Don’t shoot. We’re coming out.”
Josie was standing across from her, her eyes wide.
Kaitlin blew out her breath. “I’ll never call him ‘that fucker Kane’ again.”
Josie grinned. “I don’t believe you.”
“Come on.” She unlocked the door, turned the handle, and slowly pushed it open. Outside was chaos. Smoke billowed in through the doorway which had clearly been blown in. While the room appeared full of people, she counted only five. Kane stood at the center, dressed in Kevlar with SWAT across his chest.
He looked as shell-shocked as she felt. The room faded around her as she stared at him. Closing the distance between them, she reached out with a shaking hand and touched his cheek, just to make sure he was real. “Thank you.”
He ran a hand through his hair. His fingers were trembling. “When we opened the door and you weren’t here, I thought we’d lost you again.”
She stepped back and smirked. “No such luck.”
Rose was there and Janelle, also in Kevlar and sporting an array of seriously impressive guns. The other two men, she didn’t recognize.
“What happened to the bad guys?” she asked.
Kane shook his head. “They must have slipped away when we opened fire.”
