Classic Novel
89
Konstantin came out of it first. Snatching the silver handcuffs out of her belt pack, he slapped one over her wrist and the other over Larry’s before taking her duty keys and sidearm. “We’ll be back for you,” I said as we took off running for the Pack House. The new warning had been heeded, the front doors were open and people were running out the door. I fought the tide, Kontantin behind me, until we were in the vestibule and Patrick stopped us. He was gathering security force members around him. “Where are the girls,” I asked.
“Getting the children out,” he said. One of the men held out a Kevlar vest and helmet, I put them on and grabbed a rifle. They needed all the fighters they could get. “All right, Team A will go with Beta Konstantin down the escape stairway. Team B will go with me to the service elevator. Both entrances to the safe room are locked down from the security room, but we have no eyes on her. When both teams are in position, the doors will be unlocked, and we go in. Shoot to kill, and don’t shoot each other. Any questions?” The men were ready, we had six men on each team and their faces were set.
We all knew if this went bad, they’d never find our bodies.
I followed Patrick through the kitchen, back to the loading dock area. He gathered us in front of the elevator door. “The blast doors are operated from the inside, we don’t have cameras but the doors are not closed from what the control center is seeing. If we were t take the elevator down there, she might hear us, and the door would open as soon as it stops.”
“We’d be sitting ducks,” one of the redshirted men said.
“We’re sending the elevator to the top floor, and we’ll rope down from here. Once in place, Security Control will open the doors and we go in. Boris, Pascha, Mikhael, you guys are in front. Mikhael, bring a crowbar in case the door won’t open, but for Luna’s sake don’t bang it on the wall on the way down.” This brought a forced chuckle. “Boris, you go left, Pascha right, Mikhael breach then stand aside, I’ll go straight ahead, and John covers our flank. No friendly fire and no spray and pray, just take the bitch out before she can blow this place.”
We opened the door, blocking it in place, then tied off ropes and sent them to the bottom. The bottom of the shaft was fifty feet down, covering the gym level, the security level and finally the safe room. The five of us made it to the bottom and took our places. I wasn’t in their Pack, so I couldn’t follow the mental communications, that was why I was last in. Boris and Pascha, their red shirts under their vests, knelt by the sides of the door with rifles ready. The would curl around the doorway when it opened. They tensed up and readied, so it must be close. Patrick held up his left fist in front of me, finger counting down five, four three, two and he readied his rifle.
The door slid open, the men surged through and suddenly I was flying backwards, the concussion blowing out my eardrums before my helmet smacked the concrete of the elevator shaft and everything went dark.Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
Jessie’s POV
The teachers and security personnel were already organizing the children when Mischa and I reached the floor. The same Pack broadcast that warned of the attack had gone to all members, not just adults, and the older ones had some understanding there was danger.
“Подходите к двери и держитесь за ту, что перед вами, (Line up by the door and hold on to the one in front of you),” Katya said as she and the other teachers woke and organized the students. The children were tired and confused, but they had practiced evacuation drills before and quickly lined up. They started out the door, led by a security officer and a teacher, with the others falling in along the way. It was well in hand, so I went next door to the nursery.
The workers had moved some of the babies into slings or baskets so each person could carry at least two. We each took one sling, one basket and one burrito (a smaller baby wrapped in a blanket), the most we could do and have one hand free for a handrail. Mischa and I were joined by some nervous mothers, and with one last check of the room we headed out into the hall. The children were in two lines going down the stairway, thankfully no one was panicking. We got in the back, making sure everyone would get out before us, and the last security officer followed us, gun at the ready. “Why aren’t more mothers up here?”
“We’ve been updating the Pack on the evacuation status, they are waiting outside for their children. Right now having more people coming up the stairs would slow things down.” It was very smooth, well thought out. “You practice this?”
Katya nodded as she watched the line continue down the stairs. “Every month we have a timed drill, either a fire evacuation or down to the safe room. Everyone has to be in place within five minutes, or we run it again until we can. As you can see, the practice helps keep them calm even at night, after being woken up.” It obviously worked, the children weren’t panicking and kept one hand on the child ahead and the other on the handrail. It wasn’t long before they were heading out the front doors and across the street to the park, where parents scooped them up in the park across the street. I handed over my charges to grateful parents and looked around.
I looked out at the number of people close to the building and remembered what happened on 9/11. I went over to the security guys, finding one who spoke English. “They are still too close to the building, we need to move everyone to the far side of the Park.” He nodded and sent out something on the Pack Link that got people moving away. I could hear sirens rapidly approaching, Security must have called the bomb threat into the Police.
I started walking down the stairs when I felt the ground shake from two explosions, only a fraction of a second apart. I turned, the building still stood, and I reached through the bond for John to make sure he was all right.
The bond was silent, but it was still there. Barely.
Larrry’s POV
I looked at my mate who was sobbing uncontrollably in my arms. “What did you do?”
“I betrayed them all,” I said. “I made a blood oath to Polina when I asked her to save my brother. She came to collect, she needed help getting into the Pack House and I did it.” She looked up at me, her eyes full of tears. “Either let me go or kill me. If they get ahold of me, I’m dead.”
“I can’t let you go.” I’d been waiting for her forever, I couldn’t watch her walk away. “We can find a way through this. You gave a warning, we can stop her and they will take that into consideration.”
“It won’t be enough,” she said as I sat up, pulling her into my lap.
“Come on, let’s get off the street.” There was a park a block away, we had passed it on our run. I helped her to her feet, then stood by her, my right hand cuffed to her left. I held her hand, relaxing into the tingles that passed between us. She was scared, crying and shaking, but she was still the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life. MY Elizaveta. “Elizaveta is a beautiful name, do you go by it or do you shorten it?”
“Liz most of the time. You?”
“Lawrence, but I go by Larry,” I said as we entered the park. “Your English is excellent.”
“The Alpha insisted those going to college learned English, Spanish or Italian,” she said. “I liked American television, so that’s what I chose.” We found a bench in a quiet, dark corner and sat down. I pulled her onto me, her legs straddling mine, and pulled her down into a kiss. The mate bond exploded between us as she relaxed into it, our tongues and fingers exploring each other despite the handcuffs and the situation. “We don’t have much time,” she said. “They will come for me.”
I looked at her, our wolves knew what we wanted even if our human sides saw nothing but pain again. “I want you, Liz. If this is my only chance to know my mate, I want to take it. I love you, I could never abandon or reject you.”
Tears were in her eyes as she looked at me. “You’ll go through more pain when I die, Larry, and they are going to kill me,” she said. “I love you to, but at least think about what you are doing to yourself.”