Eden still had his hand gripped in both of hers as she was sitting on the rocky floor. Raiden, Nic, and Ezio were holding a snapped piece of rebar.
Talk about a team effort.
“You good?” Raiden yelled over at him.
“Good as gold.”
Raiden chuckled at his pun. Eden didn’t.
She grabbed him around the neck and gave a rebel yell.
All four men laughed, albeit tiredly.
Eden gratefully pulled on the jeans and the long-sleeved sweatshirt that Nic handed to her. The clothes kind of fit, and that was all that mattered. They had even gotten her a pair of gloves and some Venezuelan version of Skechers that didn’t come close to fitting in any way shape or form, but the thick socks were a Godsend.
She looked Raiden and Ezio over to see if they were all right. She’d seen her brothers after they tried to do something stupid like prove to each other who could lift a tractor tire, but these two men didn’t even look out of breath.
“Eden, you’re going to be behind me. I’m going to go slow, but Asher will be behind you so he will tell me if you’re getting tired.”
She nodded. She hated to admit it, but sometimes she pushed too hard and then ended up in a heap. It was good that they would be watching her. On the smart side, she’d been staying hydrated, so that would help.
“Raiden and Nic, you’re taking the rear. Any questions?”
Everybody shook their heads.
“Let’s get moving.”
Even the first little bit was hairy. They had to climb over the gate, but pieces of rebar were sticking up from underneath, and it was sharp. Ezio was good—he pointed out every single movement he made, where to put her knees and hands when he was crawling, and where to put her feet when she was shimmying through tight spaces.
“Do you coach caving?” she yelled, her breath labored.
“Hold up,” Ezio said into his mic.
“Why are we stopping?”
“I need some water. So, do you.” He was such a liar. He’d heard her gasping for breath. She shouldn’t have talked.
As soon as he handed her a canteen and she took a slow sip, she didn’t care how big of a baby she was, she was just grateful. She couldn’t tell where they were exactly, because the documents room had caved onto the basement vault floor, and there were gaps higher up where the marble lobby floor had collapsed.
“Where are we going?”
“We got in through the west door on the third floor. We had to climb down the wreckage to get to the basement, but the door itself is now open.”
“West. Is that the one near the ladies' bathroom?” Eden asked.
“Yep.”
She took another sip of water and went to hand the bottle back to Asher, but he held up his canteen. “Nic provided,” he explained.
She gave hers back to Ezio. “Okay, I think I’m ready.”
“Okay, because here’s where it gets a bit tricky.”
“Oh, great,” she mumbled.
Asher stayed inches behind Eden as Ezio took them up and over some crumbling cement and rebar.
“I don’t remember this being such a far walk from the vault to the ladies’ room,” Eden quipped.
Then she slipped back a little bit into Asher. “Or as treacherous.”
“It’s okay, we’ve got you covered.” He held her for a moment as she took a deep breath. Ezio had stopped and come back a couple of moves so he could show her again how to navigate the path.
“Thanks, guys, I’ve got it now.”
“We’re almost there.”
“Then we just have to get past the secret police, right?”
“Carnival is still going on, they’ve just steered it around the bank. We’re still going to use it as a cover. Don’t worry, we have a plan.”
“A plan-plan, or a some-shit-plan?” Eden asked. “Because a some-shit-plan is usually best in these types of circumstances.”
“Ignore her,” Asher advised Ezio.
“We need to get going. It’s not too much further. And it’s a plan-plan,” Ezio told Eden.
“Ow.” She cried out, then tried to cover it with a laugh.
Asher saw what had happened—her foot had stepped on exposed rebar.
“Stop!” he roared.
“It’s nothing,” Eden protested.
Asher grabbed her ankle so that he could see her foot. Some blood was showing on the outside of her sock. He gently pulled her shoe and sock off and saw where it had sliced a two-inch gash along the inside of her arch. At least it wasn’t on any of her pressure points and it wasn’t a deep cut. He heard shuffling behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to know that Raiden and Nic were changing places.
“Move,” Raiden said.
“You’ve got a med kit?” Asher asked, since his teammate wasn’t carrying his backpack.
“It’s in my utility pouch.” Raiden had already pulled out some antibiotic ointment, bandages, and gauze.
“Damn, Eden, I thought I might be able to do a little sewing here in the darkness and rubble, but you didn’t cut it deep enough,” Raiden teased.
“I’ll try harder next time,” she promised.
As soon as he was done, he scooched back behind Asher and resumed his position at the back of the line.
Asher stayed as close as a flea on a dog for the next forty-five minutes it took to get them to the door. Of course, there were no whimpers coming from the York camp. Nope, not from my girl.
Ezio immediately checked that the door could still open when they reached it. It could. All five of them huddled close to freedom, Asher holding most of Eden’s weight, so she didn’t have to put it on her foot.
Cullen had been talking to their group on and off for the last forty-five minutes, promising them that he had a plan-plan to get them safely to the Azua hacienda.
“If it includes a food truck
