“Throw this on. We have to get out of here. I’m not sure how much longer we have. Quorum bitch was still out when I got the blood, but she could come around at any point.”
Ryder nodded, and barely even winced as he slid into the blue shirt. It was a little tight around the chest and arms but it would do for now. Wasting no more time, we took off through the pit. Ryder seemed to be gaining strength in leaps and bounds. Reaching out, he captured my hand, his eyes expressing a plethora of emotions.
“Thank you for rescuing me.”
Damn, I wanted to kiss him so bad, even smelling like dirty-ass pit floor. I loved that he didn’t carry on about me putting myself in danger to come down here, or go all cave-man. He just thanked me with sincerity and respect.
“You too, bud.” He turned to Kyle for a split second before his focus was back on me.
“We aren’t rescued yet. Let’s get the hell out of here before there’s a thousand vamps gunning for our ass,” Kyle said.
Shit! Gun … right. Might be time to switch out the knives for a weapon that could actually put a bloodsucker down. I slipped the blade into my boot and yanked out the pistol, even while on the run. That was how badass my clothes and accessories were. If I had time, I would have had that ash make me fifty of these outfits. One in every damn color.
We made it through the pit and back to Marty’s desk without anyone stopping us. Quorum bitch was still on the floor; the elevator was still open and waiting for us. I wondered how Marty had gotten out—maybe Kyle had called it back down when he got the blood. Either way, I hoped it was a sign that luck was on our side.
We passed the still unconscious meaties and dashed inside. As soon as the doors closed we were zooming up. Kyle immediately turned to fill Ryder in on the rest of the plan.
“So by now Oliver and Jayden should be at the first safe point. They took one of the vehicles loaded up with the blood and supplies. Jared is in the other car, waiting outside of the grounds for the rest of us. Markus and Sam were going to stage the breakout for the little girl, so all that’s left is for Charlie to cure her, then we can get her ferried away to the one of the compounds. Sam has a contact in line to pick her up.”
Sam had been working his ass off making sure the plan with the child went off without a hitch. Just like with me, she had struck a real nerve with the silent enforcer.
“How did they get out of the compound without their access cards?” Ryder asked. “And where do we find the girl now?” The lead enforcer’s eyes shifted toward the elevator panel. We were almost at the top.
“Sam rigged them to open without setting off the alarm. We timed their departure for guard shift change. Since we were in the pit, we have no idea if they made it out without alerting the vamps. Hopefully they did though. We had to get the cars out, otherwise we’ll be screwed trying to escape on foot.”
It hurt my heart to think about leaving here without Tessa. I wanted so badly to try and find her one last time, tell her that I loved her, but I couldn’t risk the rest of my family because of her stubborn single-mindedness. I just had to hope Blake and Lucas would keep her safe, especially since something told me that when the Quorum found out I’d escaped, they would be all over my friends like a bad rash.
Ryder interrupted my morbid thoughts. “You didn’t tell me where we find the girl.”
“She should be stashed in that laundry room which opens to the outside. We figured it was the easiest place to escape from with her. Sam left us a trail to follow. There’s supposed to be a space in the fence line which will be free from alarms.”
Ryder gave a chuckle as the elevator dinged to let us know we were at the top. “What would we do without Sam?”
Kyle also laughed. “Funny thing is, he has really pulled out all of his skills since Charlie arrived. Methinks he has a little soft spot for our unicorn ash.”
Ryder nodded, and looked at me. “Who doesn’t?”
I batted my eyelashes at him. “If Kyle weren’t here and we weren’t running for our lives, I would totally—”
The elevator dinged again, cutting me off, and the boys laughed. Comic relief was like my nervous tic. As the doors to the ground level opened, we sobered immediately.
Uh oh. We had a big problem. Four hulking vamps were waiting for us, and a ton of people were running in the background.
“Plan B!” I shouted, simultaneously smashing the close and down buttons.
The four vamps rushed at the closing doors, but they had been just too far away to make it before we were cut off.
“Shit!” Ryder said, and since he didn’t swear much I knew we were extra screwed.
As the steel box made its rapid descent, Kyle looked at Ryder. “We haven’t been rock climbing in forever.”
Ryder shook his head. “No, it’s too dangerous.”