Page 46 of Her Chosen Protector

“A piece of glass got him in the jugular. He didn’t have a chance.” Asher stood up. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

Eden looked down at her shoes. They were bloody. She couldn’t help taking a quick step backwards.

Dammit. Maurice didn’t deserve this. Nobody deserved this.

Eden clamped her teeth together hard, so she wouldn’t whimper.

Asher grabbed her hand. “We need to get out of here. Now.”

She finally noticed that more dust was falling down on them, and that there was a loud rumbling that was getting noticeably louder. “What’s that?”

“The tank, it’s coming in.”

Eden found herself rooted to the floor, looking down at the blood on her shoes. Asher grabbed her arm and hauled her out of the office. It was just what she needed to kick-start her into gear.

“Status,” he yelled into his mic.

She heard the answer as it came through on Asher’s radio’s speaker.

“They’ve found eight. They’re slotting them out of the northeast hole right now.”

“Who’s missing?” Eden questioned.

“Gerta, Becker and Carlson, they don’t know who the other four are. They’ll take a headcount when they’re on the other side of the gate.”

Eden did a quick headcount in her mind. Schlessinger would be one of the four.

“We’ve got to find the other three.”

“If we find them on the way to getting you safe, then fine,” Asher said as he looked to his right toward the stairs near the elevator. It was one of the exit points. It had taken a direct hit from one of the tank shells. That was out.

“There’s only one other exit from the building,” Asher yelled. “We need to move.” He changed from gripping her to putting his arm around her waist. As soon as her wet shoe hit the highly polished floor, she understood why. Once again, she would have ended up on her ass.

The rumble was no longer a rumble, it was a roar. She looked behind her and saw the tank cross the threshold into the bank lobby.

I’m not going to scream. I’m not scared. I’m mad.

Maybe if she said that often enough, she’d believe it.

“Meet me at the Northwest corner of the gate,” Asher yelled into his mic.

Her shoes crunched as she stepped on shattered glass. It was from the remains of one of the many huge pendant lights that had fallen from the ceiling. She couldn’t believe how mangled the beautiful fixtures were—and that’s when she saw a severed leg. It was lying three feet away from the oval bottom of the light. No body. Just a leg.

“There,” she pointed as she gagged. Asher turned his head.

“Fuck.” He squeezed her hand. “Stay here. And this time, do as I say.”

This time she was more than happy to. Her vomiting was just going to slow them down.

When he came back, he said, “Bank employee.” He grabbed her hand and continued toward the stairs, next to the women’s bathroom.

“Goddammit.” Asher sounded pissed.

It was hard to see, even in the moonlight, what had him so mad. Then Eden spotted it—part of the wall was blasted. It must have happened during the tank’s attack. The bathroom was exposed, sinks were hanging at odd angles. The door to the stairs was also blown open and Eden could see that the

door to the outside was blocked by a huge beam.

“Maybe we can crawl over it,” she suggested hopefully.