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.
That’s when she heard it. Commands in Spanish. The secret police were entering the building.
“We’ve got to try,” Asher said grimly.
Chapter 11
He had to get her to safety. He had to. Never again was someone he cared about going to die on his watch.
He should never have let her try to help with the coward under the desk. Asher shoved harder at the beam, trying to lift it out of the way so he could get to the safety bar and open the goddamn door.
It was too heavy. He stepped back a moment and put his goggles back on. He needed to take a closer look at the door itself. That’s when he saw the casing was now mangled metal that basically welded the door shut. Nothing but C-4 was going to get them out of there, and he heard the secret police getting closer.
“The vault,” Eden said as she yanked at his arm.
“What?”
“We’re screwed. We’re either going to be captured and tortured or die. I don’t like any of those options. To the vault.”
Is she insane?
She yanked at his arm again.
“Explain,” he demanded as he refused to move.
“No time.” She started down the stairs.
Dammit, she knew he would follow her. And he did. As soon as her bloody shoes slipped on the stairs, he was there to steady her. He pushed through the door to the basement. She kicked off her shoes and ran down the hall until she got to the bars that encased the vault. She looked down at the keycode. She was scrambling for something in her skirt pocket.
Keycode! Rafa!
“Kane!” Asher yelled into his mic.
“He’s busy. It’s Leo. What do you need?” Leo’s voice was a sea of calm.
“I need the gate to the vault opened. It’s a keypad. Unlock it now. Then unlock the vault.”
“Coming right up.”
The longest ten seconds of his life ticked by, and then a green light came on the keypad. Asher shoved open the gate and rushed Eden inside. The gate crashed closed behind him. “Lock it, Leo.”
“Done.”
He and Eden skidded in front of the vault’s combination keypad. “Open the vault, Leo.”
“Wait a minute.”
There was silence.
Asher saw Eden looking intently at a piece of paper in her hand.
“Fuck!” she cursed vehemently. Nothing new in that.
“What?”
“It’s too dark. Give me your flashlight. I can’t read Suzanne’s writing.
He’d dropped it during one of the tank assaults. “Don’t have it. What are you trying to read?”
“It’s the combination to the vault. Suzanne gave it to me and Leland, said we might need to hide in it as a last resort,” he heard the panic in her voice.
He reached into his tactical vest and pulled out a glow stick. He jerked off his night-vision goggles.
“Rafa doesn’t have the combination,” Leo said. “Trying to get ahold of Señora Azua at the hospital.”
“Never mind,” Asher said as
