She wished she could go up there with Breeze but someone had to activate the emergency doors from the panel where she stood. Whoever had designed the building had made that a flaw, in her opinion, as she stood there knowing how vulnerable it left her. They should have installed trigger panels for the blast doors on all the floors.
She punched the three digit code into the emergency panel and twisted the key. A loud siren blasted through the house in fast bursts. She knew steel doors and shutters slammed down on the upper floors of the building. The women would have been safe on the second floor but she wanted them higher up and harder to reach, just in case those men found a way to breach an interior door. She hadn’t thought the dorm could be broken into but she’d been wrong. She wasn’t taking any chances by making anymore incorrect assumptions.
Ellie slammed the emergency panel closed. She knew the security center had to be getting the signal by now about what she’d done. That system ran on a wireless connection with the cameras. It was a safety backup in case the phones weren’t working and the electricity went down so they could still monitor the emergency systems. It reassured her, thinking security had to know she’d just put in the last protocol of protection, which meant the dorm had been breached. They’d come faster to save her.
* * * * *
Rage gripped Justice. He found himself locked inside the main security control room watching the screens filled with images around Homeland. Fifteen trucks had driven inside after they’d car bombed the front gate. Shots were being fired, people were dying and he was trapped inside a steel box to watch it go down. His people were in danger and he wanted to help them.
“Calm down,” Darren Artino demanded. “The SWAT team and local law enforcement are on their way. The buildings have been locked down, everyone is aware there’s a problem, and your council has been secured inside a safe bunker. You’ve been watching everything just the way we have. It’s only my security force being killed out there. Your people are safe.”
“Sir,” a woman yelled. “Uh, there’s a big problem.”
“What,” Darren Artino snapped. “We have a hundred of them right now.”
“It’s the woman at the women’s dorm. She stopped trying to wave us down and she just put in the last protocol code. She’s triggered the Hail Mary doors.”
“The what?” Justice growled the words. He wondered if steam came from his ears. He’d never wanted to feel helpless again after he started his new life but he did at that moment. It infuriated him.
“Get me cameras on that building,” Darren Artino shouted. “The woman is too green and I bet she’s just panicking. I’m going to fire her ass when this is over.”
“I’ve got the East Street camera on line,” a man called out. “Screen fourteen.”
Darren Artino pointed to the right screen and knew Justice breathing down his neck. Both men focused their attention on the screen. They watched a truck accelerate toward the front entrance of the women’s dorm.
“Son of a bitch,” Darren spat.
“What are Hail Mary doors?” Justice grabbed Darren by the arm and spun him around.
Darren took a deep breath when he met a pissed-off pair of cat eyes. “Hail Mary is a prayer. It’s, ‘oh hell, it’s bad’. Reinforced doors have been activated inside the dorm and they cut off entire sections of the building.” He jerked his arm to break free of Justice’s grip. “Get every camera we have inside the dorm on screen and I want heat signatures being tracked on every floor, right now! Priority one to all frontal screens.”
Justice reached for his cell phone to place a call. “The women’s dorm is under heavy attack.” He hung up.
“Thirty-four heat signatures are on the third floor. The Hail Mary doors are down and secure,” a woman shouted out. “One heat signature is on the first floor and its moving fast.”
“There are thirty-five women living inside the dorms, according to our records,” a man called out. “All accounted for.”
Cameras normally inactive inside the dorm clicked on. One screen displayed women who sat or leaned against walls inside the hallway of the third floor.
“Those are my women.” Justice tensed. “Are they safe where they are?”
Darren nodded. “Very. Nothing can get to them. The steel doors are almost a foot thick. Not even a bomb could dent them. I told you they would be safe.”
“We have the front doors on screen ten,” a man yelled.
Justice and Darren looked at that camera view and Darren cursed. The glass doors were down on the floor. The damage along the top of the wall where they’d been anchored had been twisted inward.
“Son of a bitch! The glass held but the building didn’t.” Someone stated the obvious.
“We have movement with four new heat signatures,” a woman called out. “We are tracking the original single heat signature. It’s inside the kitchen. I’ve got all cameras on line now.”
* * * * *
Ellie ran into the kitchen. She’d heard the doors come down with a loud crash and knew she was trapped. She could either hide while she prayed help reached her before those men found her or she could fight. Her odds of facing off and winning against the four armed men weren’t good. Her main concern had been the New Species women and it comforted her, knowing they were safe. She’d understood it would be a dangerous job when she’d taken it but she never thought something this bad could happen.
She yanked open the knife drawer and grabbed the largest one she could find while she watched the open doorway over her shoulder. A she tried to quell her panic, knowing she needed a clear head.
Her focus immediately landed on the island and she moved to it, ducked down and got out of sight. She cracked open one of the cabinets and started shifting items inside, doing it as quietly as possible.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” a male voice yelled.
