Page 71 of Redemption

“Aye,” Lorcan agrees. “We’re taking the south staircase. You, Carys, and Jay take the north. Jay knows. Car leaves in fifteen minutes whether or not we’re all there.”

“Yep.” I hang up and start yanking on my clothes, slipping my phone into the front pocket of my jeans. When I see Carys zipping up her suitcase, I realize she’s not going to be happy we’re traveling light. “No suitcase. Stuffessentialsin your purse. We’ll have to use cash to buy on the run as we head south.”

She unzips her bag and throws it open, grabbing various items and stuffing them into her oversized purse. She opens my backpack and grabs a few pairs of underwear for me. From the bathroom, she takes our toothbrushes. The reality is nothing we’ve got in this room is essential, but if it makes her feel more in control to pick a few things, I won’t stop her.

For a beat, she stares at the open suitcase. “You rescued my clothes from the mansion only for me to abandon them here. Someone is going to inherit some really nice outfits.”

I ignore her mournful tone because if we get out of this alive and free, she can afford to buy those items again. “No heels. You need shoes you can run in.”

Carys scoffs. “I can run in heels.”

“Fine then,” I grit out. “Shoes that don’t make noise. Happy?”

She grumbles as she sorts through her suitcase and pulls out a pair that look like slippers, but I’m not going to say anything else. As long as she can run in them with no noise, I’m not complaining. “Passports in your purse?” I ask.

“Yes.” She snatches her phone off the nightstand. “Does Jay know?”

“Lorcan told him. We have to move quickly. If we’re not at the SUV in fifteen minutes, they’ll leave without us.”

“We’re really going to abandon each other?”

“Whatever the PLA has planned has to be stopped. If they’re here looking for us, they think there’s a chance we can prevent whatever they’re doing. Doesn’t seem like good news, but it is. At least some of us need to be alive and free to get the job done.” It’s easier to hide and maneuver ourselves to safety in smaller numbers. Five of us is conspicuous. Groups of one and two is less so.

With my hand on the door, I take a beat to figure out the best strategy for exiting the hotel. Stealthy or as though we’ve got nothing to hide? Do the people looking for us know who we are or are they fishing at each hotel near the airport? Have they tracked our car? Do they realize we’re here?

I rearrange Noel’s gun at the small of my back to ensure I can get it in an instant. Once I’m satisfied, I stare at Carys before giving her a quick kiss. “Stay behind me. Whatever I tell you to do—run, duck, hide—you do it? You got me?”

She meets my gaze and then offers me another quick kiss. “We stick together, but other than that, I’ll follow your lead.”

I peer into the hallway. Empty. Have Lorcan and Kim already gone? What about Jay? Can’t worry about them. With her hand grasped in mine, we slip along the hall to the emergency exit, and I ease down the cement stairs, keeping my tread light, listening for anyone else in the stairwell.

At the bottom of the stairs, there’s no window to see who might be on the other side of the door. “Gun?” I glance at her purse, and Carys roots inside until she finds her small handgun. Not the best weapon, but better than nothing. Opening this door and having her in immediate danger makes my stomach clench. But there’s no way around it. I kiss her temple, shove her behind me, and crack open the door.

No talking. No footsteps. I peek out, and the street is deserted. Dragging her out behind me, I hustle across with my gun drawn.

“There!” a deep male voice behind us cries.

We’re at the first row of cars in the parking lot, and we duck. Heavy footsteps pound the pavement behind us. I weave us through the vehicles, and while we can hear the two guys calling to each other, they don’t seem to have a good sense of where we are amongst the parked cars. If I keep heading to the black SUV without losing them, I’ll lead them right to us. Apop-popgoes off in the night, but I can’t tell where the shots are coming from. None of them land near us, and then more gunfire follows. My instinct is to rise and engage, but I can’t put Carys at risk. I tighten my grip on my gun and on her hand. I keep moving in and out of parked cars.

They’re not chasing us anymore. I have to hope that means they’ve been taken out and not Lorcan, Kim, or Jay. When we get to the SUV, I dare to look for the others. We’ve got five minutes until go-time, and Carys and I are the first ones here.

I peer around the edge of the vehicle and several rows away, Lorcan and Kim are huddled behind different cars—one on each side of an aisle. She clutches her arm, and Lorcan’s attention is divided between her and the man stalking them.

Where the hell is Jay?

I tug on the handle for the SUV, and by some miracle, the driver’s door is unlocked. If we’re going to get out of here, we need to kill the other scout or outrun him. “Get in the back seat,” I instruct Carys, keeping my voice low. “Don’t get up for anything until the vehicle is moving.”

More shots are fired while I work on hot-wiring the SUV. When it roars to life, I hop in and roll down the driver’s window, gun in hand. “Stay down, Carys,” I say when I glimpse movement in the back. “Stay the fuck down.”

I wheel the vehicle around and tear toward where Lorcan and Kim are pinned. When the guy following them pokes his head up over a car, I fire. The shot pings off the roof, and the guy ducks again. I screech to a stop in the aisle, and Lorcan and Kim open the doors and dive in, piling on top of Carys. The PLA scout pops up again, and I fire. This time he cries when I nail his shoulder. I’m rusty, but at least it’s a direct hit.

I head for the exit, but ahead there are two bodies in the middle of the street. “Stay down,” I growl toward the back because if one of those bodies is Jay, Carys isn’t going to handle it well. I slow enough to realize one is Jay, and his chest is still rising and falling. He’s alive. A blessing and a curse with the other scout on our ass.

I wheel up beside him and shout to Lorcan, “I need help.”

He’s out of the car and at my side, while Kim climbs into the front seat. Carys gasps at the sight of Jay and the pool of blood around him.

“Is he dead?” she cries.

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