Page 14 of Dalla's Royal Guards
Nanna nodded. He pressed his finger against Cianna’s lips. She nodded in understanding. He exited the bedroom and crossed to the door of the apartment. Opening the door, he peered out onto the landing before he motioned for Nanna to follow him.
Across from him was another door. There was a key in the deadbolt. He crossed to the door and was unbolting it when the sound of a banging knock on the front door carried to them and Basheer’s loud voice echoed from downstairs.
“I am closed, but if you need a special spice for your dinner, give me a minute,” Basheer hollered.
“Let me take her,” Nanna said in a hushed voice.
“Come in, come in. What can I do for you?” Basheer asked in a boisterous tone.
Nasser handed Cianna to Nanna, pulled open the door, and peered out before opening it far enough for Nanna to slip through. Pulling the key out of the deadbolt, he stepped through the door, closed it behind him, and then re-inserted the key, locked the deadbolt, and broke the key in the lock.
He descended the stairs behind Nanna, gripping his gun as he scanned the alley. Nanna tugged a shawl from the pink backpack and wrapped it around Cianna’s head. She handed Cianna a dog plushie and murmured to the little girl. Cianna nodded and held the toy up to cover her face.
“We’re in the alley behind the spice shop,” Nasser murmured.
In less than a minute, a black Range Rover appeared. Nanna looked at him with a panicked expression.
“It’s for us,” he assured her.
The moment the SUV halted, he yanked the back door open. Nanna, carrying Cianna, climbed in and scooted across the seat. Nasser followed a second later. Colin was pulling away before Nasser had fully closed the car door. The sound of gunfire followed them. He looked through the back window and saw two mercenaries emerge from the building. Gunfire cracked behind them, bullets peppering the Range Rover and shattering the rear window.
Nasser covered Nanna, who had thrown herself over Cianna as she tried to buckle the little girl between them. Colin gunned the engine and took a sharp right turn at the end of the alley. They were on the opposite block from the market, heading for the historic downtown district.
“Musad, we are going to need backup,” Nasser warned.
“I’m tracking you,” Musad replied in a terse tone over the radio.
“Shit,” Colin muttered when he saw an armored Hummer heading toward them.
Colin twisted the wheel. The Range Rover fishtailed. Pressing the accelerator, Colin wove through the traffic in grim silence. Nasser took out the M4/M4A1 Carbine-Brigade from the duffle bag on the floor that Colin had assembled for him.
A white, fabric horn stuck out of the bag. He picked up the unicorn he had brought for Cianna and handed it to his terrified niece. She clutched it to her chest before burying her face against its soft neck.
“Everything will be all right,” he promised.
“Hang on. We have two more,” Colin said.
Behind them, two armored transports were gaining on them. Colin swerved when another vehicle turned out of a side street.
Metal screamed as the vehicles collided, deafening and jarring.
“Get down,” Nasser ordered when the passenger lifted a gun and opened fire.
Glass exploded from the side window, cutting across him like ice. He turned, the M4 secure in his hands, and opened fire. The SUV swerved away, smashing into several vehicles parked along the roadway.
Through the windshield, Nasser saw the roundabout approaching in the center of the historic district. A beautiful monolith stood in the center of the square, decorated with nearly a million colorful mosaic tiles.
The tiles depicted images from the War of the Desert Kingdoms and the two future kings of Narva and Kashir. Atop the monolith stood a statue of Dalla. She was holding her longbow out to the side in her left hand, the seax that his father had given to Musad in her right. Her arm was stretched outward, the end of the seax pointing to the mountains in the north.
Nasser jerked his attention away from the monolith and back to Colin when the older soldier entered the roundabout at a high speed. Two of their pursuing vehicles closed in on either side of them. Colin swerved into the SUV on the passenger side, trying to drive it into the protective metal posts lining the sidewalk along the edge of the road.
Pedestrians scrambled out of the way of the speeding vehicles and gunfire. Nasser spun in his seat, taking aim at the SUV to their left. He released several short bursts before taking cover when the merc in the vehicle behind him opened fire.
Colin released a low grunt of pain, and the Range Rover swerved before he gripped the steering wheel and brought it back under control. They entered the street heading south. The road narrowed from four lanes to two with parked cars lining each side.
“Musad, where the hell are you?” Nasser snapped into the radio.
“A block over, heading in the same direction,” Musad replied.
