I stop and turn. Lily and Kaitlyn move next to me. I aim my gun at the corner. “What’s the move, Lily?”
She lets out a short sigh, which I think is frustration. “We need to get outside. I can take the guy out who’s standing there, but I don’t know who else is nearby. Also, we’re on the opposite side of the building to the front entrance, and more importantly, to the parking lot. There’s no quick way out of here.”
I stare at the corridor, focusing all my strength on keeping my arm raised. I wait a few moments, to see if anyone appears.
…
…
…
…
Nothing.
Could be a good sign.
Probably isn’t, but I feel optimism is the way forward right now.
I turn my head slightly. “I’ll cover you. Do what you gotta do.”
Behind me, Lily says, “Kaitlyn, stay low against the wall. Get your gun ready. Watch Adrian’s back, shoot anything you see that isn’t him. Just point and squeeze like we talked about, okay? I’ll call out when it’s clear.”
I take slow, deep breaths, concentrating on keeping my aim steady. I hear Lily kick the door open… The guy outside grunts… Then shouts out in pain… It’s cut short… I hear the thud of a body hitting the ground outside.
“We’re clear,” announces Lily.
I walk backward until I’m level with the fire exit. Kaitlyn’s already moved outside. Still no sign of anyone following us. My guess is they re-grouped out front.
I force myself to lower my gun and step through the fire exit. The heat is intense, and a faint wave of nausea hits me. I stand still for a moment while it passes…
I hate this.
I stride over the dead guy. I can tell he’s dead, because his eyes are open and blank, looking up at me. From the position of his head, I’m guessing Lily snapped his neck.
Nice.
There’s a small grassy area ahead of us with trees planted sporadically around the perimeter. A high wall surrounds the miniature garden ahead of us and to the right, with benches positioned in front of them. The graveled courtyard stretches left around the corner.
Lily takes point, with Kaitlyn close behind. I’m bringing up the rear, moving backward as fast as I dare, aiming at the fire exit. I round the corner and turn, quickly catching them up. It’s a wide passage that seems to lead around the back of the facility. There’s a set of double doors about halfway along on the left.
Lily’s pressed against the wall at the end, peering around the corner. Kaitlyn’s next to her, holding her gun awkwardly and staring ahead with a ‘what the fuck am I doing here?’ look on her face.
I smile to myself. I know that feeling.
I rest against the wall next to her and catch my breath. “What are we looking at, Lily?”
“It’s a parking lot, maybe half full. It runs all the way around the side and links up to the front, which is the good news.”
“I’m assuming there’s bad news, too?”
“Yeah… I can see eight men at the far side. They’re spread out, but in an obvious formation. There’s a chance they won’t see us back here, but there’s no way past them.”
“Shit. Okay, let me take a look.”
We swap positions and I peer carefully around the corner.
She’s right — the formation is spaced, but tight. There’s no way we can get past them unseen. I can’t make out facial features from this distance, but I can tell by how they’re all standing that Pierce isn’t among them.
As of right now, we’re against the clock. Realistically, I have to assume it’s only a matter of time before someone decides enough is enough and the button’s pushed to remove both mine and Lily’s heads. There are only two people I know of who can do that, so the safest option is to kill them both. Unfortunately, one of them, as best as I can tell, pretty much runs The Order, and is surrounded at all times by a sizeable security detail. The other is somewhere on the other side of this parking lot, also surrounded by a sizeable security detail.
Shit.
I turn back to Lily. “What do you know about The Order’s network?”
She frowns. “How do you mean?”
“Well, when Pierce was feeding me his bullshit, he said you’d hacked into their network and hijacked the signal from the tracking devices, giving you visibility of everyone’s location. I assumed, because I wasn’t dead, that viewing the tracking signal wasn’t the same thing as having control over the detonator. That might still be the case, I don’t know, but is anything like that remotely possible?”
She thinks for a moment, and then shrugs. “It’s possible, I guess. But I wouldn’t know how to do it.”
“Do you know anyone in The Order who could? Who you trust enough to ask?”
She shakes her head. “No. You?”
I return the gesture. “Nope. Only person I know could do that shit, I’m not allowed to contact.”
“Your GlobaTech friend?”
I nod.
“Listen, Adrian. Whatever happens from this point on, you have to accept that you’re done with The Order. If reaching out to him is our only way out of this, maybe you should consider it?”
I think about it for a moment, but quickly dismiss it. “No. He believes I’m dead. Regardless of what Horizon told me I can and can’t do, I can’t just announce to him out of the blue that I’m alive and immediately ask him to risk his life for me. We need another way.”
Kaitlyn stands up straight and steps away from the wall. She turns to face us both. “I… I might know someone…”
Lily and I exchange a glance, both equally surprised. I look at Kaitlyn. Her face is contorted with the familiar struggle of an internal debate. I’m guessing she’s trying to decide if she wants to involve whoever it is in this mess. Can’t say I blame her, and under any other circumstances, I would try to talk her out of it.
I move toward her. “Who is it?”
She stares at the ground for a moment, fidgeting with the gun in her hand. “It’s… my neighbor. He’s a sweet kid, nineteen. It’s just him and his mom. He’s studying a Masters of Science at Zayed University in… I.T. and Cyber Security, I think it is. He’s off-the-scale intelligent. If you want a computer system hacking, I bet he’ll be able to do it.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Kaitlyn, this is brilliant. Do you have a good relationship with them? Can we approach them with this?”
“More importantly, do you trust him?” adds Lily.
She looks flustered. “I… Yes, I think so. We can trust him, I mean. I speak with both Yaz and his mother when I see them. I think he might have a small crush on me, actually…”
Lily giggles. “That’s perfect. Just show a little of what God gave you, and he’ll do anything!”
Kaitlyn goes bright red and looks away.
I roll my eyes and look back around the corner. The men are still fanned out across the parking lot. I glance around the area directly across from me. There aren’t many cars nearby, but one does catch my eye. It’s a white Range Rover Sport. A big, sturdy 4×4 with a grill on the front and large rims on the tires.
We might be able to get to it unseen…
I look back at Lily. “I’ve got an idea.”
“Oh, no…”
I smile. “You’re gonna love it.” I look at them both in turn. “You see that Range Rover behind me? We’re going to steal it and plough straight through Pierce’s team. Lily, you can drive. I’ll shoot whoever I can. Kaitlyn, I want you lay flat on the back seat, out of sight. It’s a strong vehicle, and I’m hoping the surprise means we won’t take too much fire on the way out.”
The women exchange a look, and then Lily stares at me. “Adrian, that’s fucking stupid.”