But before I could come up with a suitable plan, I heard a shout and a gunshot from the left, and the sentries practically leapt off the wall, hands dropping to their belts as they looked around wildly.
“I’ll go check it out!” one of them shouted as his radio began to crackle. “You stay here.”
He ran into the darkness, the beam of his torch bobbing erratically across the ground. My stolen radio began to spit static and garbled curses at me, and I fumbled to switch it off before anyone heard it.
This was our best chance. I motioned for Fletcher to flank the remaining sentry while I approached from the front, and she melted into the darkness. I gave her a ten-count to move into position before I stepped out from behind the bush.
The sentry squinted into the darkness as she spotted my shadowy form, but I was able to get within a couple of metres of her before she realized I was an actual person and not just a trick of the light.
“Stop!” she yelled and yanked a pistol from her belt.
I stopped just shy of the glow off the windows and raised a hand in greeting. “Hi there. Lovely weather we’re having.”
“You can’t be here. What are you--?”
Fletcher whacked her upside the head with a branch.
The sentry collapsed, legs suddenly boneless, and her gun skittered away into the dark.
“Good swing,” I said as I rifled through her pockets, taking her ring of keys and cell phone.
“I played cricket for a year when I was five,” Fletcher said and spun her bat to prove it. It flew out of her hand and clattered to the ground near my feet. “We lost every match.”
“Clearly.”
Two more shots rang out in the dark, and all the lights went on within the building, bright white floodlights bursting to life along the fence. Voices filled the air, the sentries shouting for backup as if they thought there were twenty of us rather than just seven.
“We need to hurry,” Fletcher said.
There were ten keys on the ring I’d taken from the woman she knocked out, and I began to try them one by one, my fingers clumsy within my gloves.
“There!” someone shouted.
“Company,” Fletcher hissed. “Hurry up.”
“I’m trying,” I snapped.
Fletcher drew her gun and fired two shots at the approaching footsteps. I wasted precious seconds to glance over my shoulder to see four people dressed in black dive to either side. I couldn’t focus on that. I had to get the door open. I tried the third key. It slid into the lock but refused to wiggle.
I swore I could already feel the blaze of a bullet burrowing into my back like an itch right between my shoulder blades that I just couldn’t reach, but I tried to ignore the sensation, intent only on my keys. I dropped the ring as Fletcher fired again and cursed, scooping it up off the wet ground. All the keys looked the same, and I’d lost my place.
“Any time now!” Fletcher yelled.
I winced as a bullet ricocheted off the brick not far from my face and jammed a random key into the lock. Nothing. I tried another. No luck.
“They’re almost on us!” Fletcher said helpfully.
“Thank you,” I ground out.
Two more keys and I could practically feel our assailants breathing down my neck. The next key twisted in the lock, and I yanked it out before I realized what happened, convinced that it would be another bust. I muttered a curse as I stuck it back in, cranked it to the side, and shoved the door open, half falling into the hallway beyond.
“Fletcher!” I yelled, but she was already jumping through behind me.
Together, we slammed the door shut on four furious faces just as the sentries slammed into the side of the building. The door shook against my shoulder as I flicked the lock shut, though I knew that one of them no doubt had another key. I braced my back against the door and turned to look for something we could use to barricade ourselves in.
The hallway was short and well-lit, fancy for a back entrance. The walls were a sumptuous dark wood that reflected orange light in the sconces that hung beside each of the four doors. There was an oil painting of a sailboat above a high-backed chest inlaid with a mirror and porcelain bowl, flanked by two verdant potted plants.
“There,” I grunted as the lock slipped and the door shook against my back. I reached behind me and grasped the knob as someone tried to twist it from the other side, but I could barely grip it through my sodden gloves.
“You got it?” Fletcher asked.
I nodded. “Hurry.”
I almost lost it as she pushed away, the door opening a full inch before I managed to flip around, brace my hands on the wood, and slam it shut again, feet struggling to find purchase on the marble floor. A deafening screech filled the hall as Fletcher heaved against the chest, cursing at the heavy thing as she fought to get it to move.
“Out of the way!” she yelled when she got it up to speed, aimed directly at the door.
I jumped to the side. The door flew open but didn’t make it very far before the end of the chest caught it and slammed it shut. I heard someone yelp with pain outside. The pounding only paused for a second before it started back up again, but the barricade held.
Fletcher braced her hands on her knees, panting. “Remind me to start lifting weights again.”
“I’ll go with you,” I said as my muscles trembled.
We had a brief reprieve to rest, but I knew that chest wouldn’t hold the door forever, and we still had to locate Finn with the entire estate alerted to our presence. I stared at the three doors waiting for me to make a choice. If only we knew where to start.
Twenty-Three
The frigid water
