Page 108 of Desperate Victory

“Go,” I told him. “I’m going to get Andrea dressed so we can go.”

More shouting came from outside. It seemed a thousand miles away, but that could have something to do with the shutter barricading the single slit window. When the distinctive pop-pop of gunfire reached me, I pulled Andrea to the floor.

“Is someone shooting?”

Her eyes were wide and the whites were wild. A teenage boy was suddenly filling the doorway.

“Get away from her,” he ordered as he charged to where we were. He never made it, Bodhi hauled him backwards and Andrea waved her arms.

“Levi no, this is my sister,” she told him, tears coating every word and it made my heart jerk painfully in my chest.

“Let me go,” Levi argued with Bodhi who had him in an armlock he couldn’t break.

“I will when you calm down.”

He had pressed against the wall, one hand flat against his shoulder blades to keep him there.

“I heard her scream,” Levi argued. “After what happened?—”

“They startled me,” Andrea said as I pulled her to her feet. “But I told you they would find me.”

She sniffled and Levi seemed to calm down. “You’re okay though?” He studied Andrea like he was looking for signs of injury.

“Yes,” she said. “Now get out, I gotta put clothes on.” The familiarity and the order made me snort.

Bodhi eased up and then backed off a step as he let go of Levi. The teen pivoted to face him and the light from the hallway cast across his face just like it was Bodhi’s.

Yeah, there was no mistaking the resemblance.

If I saw it, Bodhi had to, though his expression didn’t shift. He studied the kid in front of him with narrowed eyes.

“Let’s go, kid,” Bodhi said in a gruff voice darkening with emotion. I doubted anyone else would hear it but finding Levi was messing with him. “We’re gonna let the others out. Help me do a head count.”

It didn’t take long to find Andrea’s meager clothing. The thin tops and pants were not meant for colder temps outside. She also didn’t have a coat. Had they taken all of her clothes from her too?

A pair of ballet slippers fell out of the cabinet where she stacked her clothes as she rooted around and finally came out with a pair of low boots.

“Are we really going home?” Andrea asked me and I dragged my attention from the room back to her.

“Yes,” I said, nodding. “We’re going home.”

The sound of multiple male voices in the hallway drifted inside. There was more thumping.

“We can take the guys with us, right?” Andrea said and I didn’t have a direct answer for that one. Levi for sure. Maybe Theo if he was here. But the others?

We’d need to find their families.

“One thing at a time,” I told her and then I was back at the door and opening it now that she was dressed.

“Lainey…” Adam called my name and I turned to find him striding down the hall. I stepped out of the room and beckoned to Andrea. She didn’t even make it across the threshold before Adam swallowed her up in a hug.

The tears burning in my eyes made the whole thing waver. We found her.

We found her.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

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