Page 74 of Sanctuary

“Sweetheart, I know you can’t trust me anymore. But I can’t stand to see you hurting. Will you please let me hold you? Only for a minute.”

I should resist. I shouldn’t let myself rely on him emotionally. But I need something. Someone. And Aidan is the only place I’ve fully found peace in all the years that have passed since my family was whole. So I nod, and I’m still shaking as he pulls me into his arms.

He wraps me in a tight embrace, and I shudder violently in his arms for a long time as the emotion wracks me, tries to tear me apart.

I swear he’s holding me together.

The only place of sanctuary in the storm of my life.

But the world is what it is, and it’s never going to change. And a sanctuary like this won’t hold for more than a single moment.

When it’s time to leave the room, I’ve pulled myself together.

I’m in a kind of detached daze, not able to think or feel deeply about anything, but I’m focused and functional. My hands are tied with a special knot that looks real but that I can pull out when I’m ready. I’ve got my knife in a sheath in my pocket and my pistol tucked into the back of Aidan’s belt so I can grab it when I need to.

We walk downstairs, encountering only a couple of guys heading upstairs who don’t pay any attention to us at all.

The back door is off a hallway that leads to the kitchen and some small storage-type rooms. There are voices coming from the kitchen, but we pass by it quickly. We’ve almost reachedthe door when a rough voice stops us. “What’ch’ya doin’ down here?”

Aidan grabs me tighter and turns around with an easy smile. “Stretching my legs. Couldn’t risk leaving her alone.”

“Who the fuck are you?” The man approaching is big and ugly. My heart pounds like a sledgehammer.

“You don’t who I am?” Aidan asks with an impressively cool smugness. I’m honestly not sure how he’s managing to convey such arrogant nonchalance. “You must be new here.”

“Who the fuck are you?” The man has reached us now. He’s pulled out his gun but hasn’t aimed it.

That’s his mistake.

In a motion so fast I barely register distinct moves, Aidan draws a small knife from one of his pockets and throws it at the other man. The blade penetrates the side of his throat, slicing his carotid.

The man looks stunned. Then drops to the floor in a pool of blood in about ten seconds.

“Come on, love,” Aidan says, his tone more urgent now. “We need to move quickly before someone sees his body.”

I follow without a word. Before he unlocks the door, he pulls out his gun and screws on a silencer. Then he does the same with my pistol before he hands it over to me. The silencers were from Aidan’s stock. No one else in our group had them. They’re unheard of anymore.

I’m tense and chilled as he unlocks the door and opens it. He steps out with his gun aimed. Shoots once and then again.

When I get outside, I see the bodies of two guards on the packed dirt of the back courtyard.

There’s no one else in sight. This side of the courtyard doesn’t get much activity.

“Okay. I’ll head to the gate.” He’s eyeing all directions, searching for threats. “You stay here and protect this door.Getting inside the gate will be useless if we can’t get back into the hotel.”

I already know all this, but I don’t resent his giving me instructions again. He’s in full-on battle mode now, ready to get this job done.

“I’ll cover you,” I tell him. “Stay alive.”

He glances back at me for a second before striding fast and silent toward the wall.

It’s probably the riskiest step of this initial stage of our plan. He’s fully exposed and obviously up to no good. Soon, he has almost reached the door, and I’m shocked and relieved at how easy it’s been when a motion from my right distracts me.

A man strolls around the building. I’m not sure what he’s doing—maybe simply taking a walk—but he sees Aidan and recognizes him as a threat. He reaches for his gun, and I shoot him.

He falls with a grunt and a thump that sounds dangerously loud.

Aidan whirls around, ready for a fight, but he sees the downed man and then gives me a wave.

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