Page 76 of Sanctuary

“We’re taking this place down,” Cole says. “And I’m getting you out.”

“But you were free and clear, you fucking idiotic do-gooder! You have no idea how these people suck you in. Once you’re in, you’re stuck. I can’t go anywhere. There’s no life for me after this shit. So get your ass out of here before you ruin your life too.” Mark sucks in a ragged breath. “You need to get it into your thick head that Ican’t be saved.”

“It’s not happening.” Cole steps closer and takes the gun out of his brother’s hand, clicking on the safety and then tucking it into the back of his jeans. "You’re my brother. You’re coming with me. We can beat the shit out of each other later.”

Mark is momentarily stunned. Then he gives a brief, breathy laugh tinged with bitterness. “Don’t blame me if you get yourself killed.”

He lifts his hands in front of him in a gesture of surrender when Gail and Aidan exit the other room.

“We’re clear in there,” Aidan says. He motions toward the room that Mark came out of earlier. “Help me check in here, love.”

I do what he says, charging in and aiming my gun around until we confirm that there’s no one in there but more victimized women and girls.

There are four more rooms on our wing of this floor. Cole asks me to cover his brother while the other three burst in and clear each room, facing little to no opposition.

Aidan was right. There are no real fighters up here. Just a few of the less-vicious guys used for crowd control.

When we reach the center alcove where the elevators used to be on this floor, we run into the group who cleared the opposite wing. Cal and Rachel with a couple of men from nearby towns I’ve never met.

Cal has a streak of blood on his jaw, but he’s clearly not seriously injured. The blood might not even be his. No one else appears hurt at all.

After a brief assessment, we move together toward the stairs on the right we ascended.

It’s pure chance that Gail is the one who opens the stairway door and walks in first. It could have been any of us.

I gasp at the sudden barrage of gunfire.

Gail jerks as the bullets hit her and then falls in an awkward heap, her body keeping the door from closing shut.

A surge of stunned nausea rises into my throat. A desperate shuddering begins deep in my chest. My eyes burn. Blur. I’ve seen people get killed right in front of me before, and I barely even knew Gail.

But I liked her. She was quiet and clever and efficient, and she traveled from miles away to help people she didn’t even know.

Even a couple of months ago, it never occurred to me that people could be that good anymore.

Cal and Rachel move together retrieve Gail’s body from the doorway, Cal shooting blindly around the corner to provide cover for them.

Gail is dead. There’s blood streaked all over the floor from where she was dragged.

“Fuck it all to hell,” Cal growls, his hand on the back of Rachel’s head as she kneels to gently close Gail’s eyes. “They’re holding the stairs so we can’t get out.”

It’s actually a smart move on their part. There must be at least a few among them that have brains.

“Then we try the stairs on the other side,” Aidan says quickly, motioning the group down the hall in the opposite direction.

This time, Aidan pushes the door open while staying carefully out of range and tosses his jacket onto the landing.

The barrage of gunfire that follows is even louder and longer than the one that killed Gail.

“There are more here than the other stairs,” Aidan says, meeting Cole’s eyes. “We’ll be better off on the other side.”

I have no idea how we can possibly do it, even on the first stairway. They have every advantage, holed up on the landing between the flights of steps. Even if we rush them all together,there’s no guarantee even a couple of us will get down those stairs alive.

But we’re four stories up, and the fight is still going on. There’s gunfire from all over, and we can’t let ourselves be trapped up here for long. Eventually, they’ll come after us, and there are far too many innocents up here in these rooms that could be hurt in the crossfire.

We’ll have to try something.

There’s some low-voiced, urgent discussion when we reach the other side of the hall about how to get through. My mind is a blank, so I’m no help at all. I stand near Aidan, instinctively gripping the back of his shirt.

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