Anouk sprinted after him. She couldn’t afford to lose him. Not here, in what might be the new hiding place of Anglea’s most wanted.
Something caught her eyes across the hall on the level. She focused… just a worker operating a huge cauldron. The man pushed the crank and the cauldron jerked forward. Anouk swivelled towards Nat. Then she saw him—in the shadows above the worker’s head, a man was crouching and looking down as if searching for something. Anouk’s heart jumped—Captain Biddulph.
She beat her legs to a greater speed and caught up with Nat. She tapped his shoulder and pointed to the captain. “There, on the other side! They’re here.”
Nat turned to look, but the captain lifted his gaze at that very moment and looked right at them. He jumped up, pulled his revolver and fired at them. At the same time, Anouk and Nat dropped on their stomachs. The noise from the factory floor covered the gunfire. Anouk gulped. Not good. Not good at all.
She lifted her head. Captain Biddulph was running towards the stairs, leading to the upper level. He kept glancing at them and firing, forcing them to stay low. Soon he reached the stairs and vanished behind its iron steps.
Nat shouted something, drew his revolver and darted to the nearest stairs leading up. Anouk didn’t hear him, but assumed he told her to follow him and watch his back. That was what she would do, anyway. She pulled her gun and raced after him. Nat leapt the stairs, taking three steps at a time, and disappeared from her sight. Her muscles protested yet she pushed them to their limits. The hot air burned her throat as much as her panting. She tasted blood.
Adrenaline hammered her veins when she reached the next level. Nat was advancing fast towards Biddulph, who was now veering in their direction, dodging between the piles of crates. Nat pointed his gun at the captain and fired. The workers down on the factory floor were oblivious to the drama that ensued. If Anouk hadn’t seen Nat press the trigger, she would have known no better.
The pressure of a bullet flying right next to her ear alarmed her and in an instant she dropped. Fuck!
After a few heartbeats, she lifted her head. Nat had also dropped to a crouch and was looking in the direction of Captain Biddulph’s last known position. He had vanished. Nat glanced at her.
“Are you alright?” he mouthed.
Anouk gave a thumbs up. He backed into her, keeping his eyes on the catwalks above them.
“There must be a door,” Nat shouted and glanced at the gun she was holding with both hands. “Be ready.”
Anouk bobbed her head. “I will.”
They inched forward, to where the captain had vanished, hugging the wall. A wide steel beam ran from the roof to the floor, blocking their view of the other side. Anouk squeezed her revolver tighter. That beam could well be the only barrier between them and the captain.
Nat held his revolver up next to his ear, his forefinger on the trigger. He gave a firm nod to Anouk and jumped forward, bringing his gun in front of him. The way his body relaxed, Anouk knew they missed him. She came next to him and spied a door.
“He must have gone that way.” Anouk pointed at the entrance.
“Yes. Most likely to warn Stalo,” Nat called back. “Open the door and take cover.”
Anouk took a deep breath, but regretted it immediately for the hot air scorched her throat, making her cough. She pressed her forearm over her mouth, trying to stifle the fit and clenched her fingers tight around the knob. Nat gave her a nod again, holding his gun up and ready. She pulled the door wide open. Nat peered inside and pulled his head right back before pointing his revolver around the corner; he was returning fire. After a moment, he peeked behind the doorframe then darted in. Anouk squeezed her gun and jumped in after Nat. The door closed, hitting her bottom and sending her against the rail, giving her a good look at the dim-lit abyss of a stairwell.
Nat pulled her to safety against the wall. The door muffled the noises of steam machines and the sounds of bullets ricocheting in the confined space. Anouk pressed her back against rough tiles, shaking—that would have been a very long drop.
She glanced around. The stairwell was about six yards wide, with iron mesh steps circling the walls. She searched for Captain Biddulph, but the echoes and gunfire made locating him difficult. Debating the risk of getting shot when leaning over the rail and taking a proper look, she slowly craned her head to peek upwards. A bullet hitting the railing in front of her made her jerk back.
“He’s going up!” Nat bellowed and galloped for the stairs. Slowing, he sneaked upwards step by step, keeping his eyes on the movement above him, and holding his gun pointed up.
“I’m crazy,” Anouk muttered in disbelief, and charged after her partner.
She climbed, keeping to the wall. Nat disappeared to the next landing. Gunshots rang out like thunder above her. Anouk reached the next floor and spied over the catwalk, ready to pull her head back. Nat was already running towards the next set of stairs. Anouk jumped and pounded after him, adrenaline keeping her going. Her whole body was soaked in sweat. Running in a hot refinery had to be equivalent to a marathon in a desert although there the runners weren’t exposed to random salvoes of bullets. Lucky bastards.
Nat chased the captain further up and Anouk was doing her best not to lose sight of him. They both kept low to evade getting hit. From her position, she couldn’t see if Captain Biddulph had similar issues, in fact, she couldn’t see the man at all… it unnerved her.
A burst of loud hisses and clanks of machinery covered all other sounds then muffled again.
“He’s gone back into the hall,” Nat’s shout
