Behind Our Walls (20 page)

Lot had suggested making another run around the stadium to make sure there weren't any other ways into the building that they might have missed but Clive rejected it. He had overseen securing the building and said that they couldn't have overlooked anything. Sophie didn't trust him to be that thorough, but she let the point drop.

Rowen walked up next to her and placed a hand against her back. She leaned into him and tried to clear her mind of all the possibilities that they could be facing in the next twelve hours. She thought about this man who had been there by her side for so long and helped her through everything. There had always been a connection between the two of them, a shorthand as they always seemed to be coming in on the cusp of the other's thoughts.

"Are you doing all right?" he asked. Just the sound of his voice ran a thrill of emotion through her. It was as if these waning moments were the last things she clung to before everything tumbled away into a dark abyss.

"I guess," she said. "Have you seen Fiona anywhere?"

She felt his touch leave her back momentarily and she was surprised at her disappointment.

"No. That doesn't really surprise you though, does it?"

"No, but let's be honest. We might not make it through this."

"Sophie—"

"I just hate the thought that she could be spending her last moments up there in that suite by herself. Is that what you would want?"

"Clive went by her room and said she wasn't there. Beyond that, I don't know what else to do. If she doesn't want to be found..."

He trailed off but she understood all the same. Always understood him. She traced the contours of his face with her eyes as he returned her gaze. They both wished that their lives could have unfolded differently, but wanting that made no difference. They could only do the most they could with what time they had. She looked down at the feeling of Rowen's fingers intertwining with hers.

"Come on," he said.

She nodded and fell in line next to him, leaning her head against his shoulder as they walked. There had always been something between them but nothing ever actually happened. Now it felt like events were almost putting them to the decision, even if it was just to blot out the fear of what loomed over them.

They were on each other as soon as the door to his suite clicked shut. He kissed her, taking in every breath with her as they stripped off each other's clothes. He pulled her in close, as he moved his lips up and down her body and she closed her eyes, trying to focus on nothing but the feel of him, the urgency of him that she could feel pressing up against her. They lowered to the floor and she laid back, letting him take his time until she grew tired of waiting. She pushed him back and climbed on top of him, reaching down to take hold, and eased him into her. They moved in rhythm with each other, as he rose up to meet each of her thrusts and for a few moments, the entirety of the universe for her was what she saw in his eyes and what he saw in hers. His breath started to shorten, and she increased her speed, anticipating the release and rushing towards her own. He sat halfway up, groaning as he reached his climax and she cried out, feeling the muscles in her body start to tremor and release.

She collapsed down onto him, resting her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat slowly returning to normal. He ran his hands up and down her back and they lay there, not speaking or moving. Sophie ran a finger along his chest and wondered if this would be the only time. She wondered if the memory of it would be her last thought as her life bled out onto the ground around her. She wanted to say so much to him, to thank him for everything that he had done for her family, but the words would not form. Before she could figure out how to fully express what she could only feel, he spoke, and did it for her.

"I love you."

He said it with such certainty that she couldn't help but feel the tears immediately swelling. It seemed so absurd, but she still felt herself nodding against his body.

"I love you too."

She had barely spoken when she started to feel his chest rising and falling more rapidly as his breath started to pick up. In a moment after that, she started to feel the rising pressure somewhere else. He grabbed her by the hips, rolled her over onto the ground and climbed atop, thrusting into her and pulling her tightly against him. She grabbed him and bit into his shoulder, trying to stifle her cries and keep herself under control. As he began to thrust deeper, she felt her head start to swoon as the room around them began to wobble. Ready for the possibility of this being the last moment she would have to cling to, she let her head fall back and surrendered as the wave swept her away.

-46-

"Where the hell have you two been?" Lot rushed down the corridor towards them and Sophie could only hope that the low light hid the color she felt rising in her cheeks.

"We stepped away for a few minutes," Rowen said. "What's going on?"

"We just started hearing it coming from outside, like someone's talking through a megaphone.

Rowen frowned and pressed his ear to the wall, listening to the sound for himself. "I think he's saying that they have one of our people out there, and he wants to negotiate."

"Who could they possibly have?" Sophie asked. Almost in answer, Lot's radio chirped and he pulled it from his pocket.

"What?" he asked as he depressed the button.

Clive's voice came through with a burst of static. "They've got Fiona."

The three of them exchanged a perplexed look.

"There's no way they came in here and left with only one person," Rowen said. "If they got in here, they'd be overrunning us. She must have been high-tailing it."

"But how did she get out in the first place?" Lot asked. The implication hung in the air until Sophie voiced it.

"She must know of some other way out of here that we didn't find."

"So what do we do?" Meredith asked.

"I don't see that we have much of a choice," Rowen said. "I'll go out there and try to talk to him. At least then she can see a somewhat friendly face and we can try to defuse this."

Sophie felt the objection rising up from her stomach, but Lot voiced it for her. "Don't try to be a fucking hero. You know as well as I do that they're just trying to draw us out of here."

"Besides if anyone should go, it should be me," Sophie said. "I'm the only one here who wasn't constantly at odds with her."

"There is absolutely no way that I am putting you in that situation," Rowen said. "Frankly, I don't think any of us should go, but regardless of how much of a pain in the ass Fiona has been, I don't think we can just leave her out there with those assholes. Besides..."

Sophie looked up at him as he trailed off, like he had stopped himself from saying something.

"What?"

"We might be able to come to some kind of an agreement with them."

She thought she hadn't heard him correctly. "You aren't thinking about actually giving in to them, are you? Opening up the doors and letting them in?"

He nodded. "I know. I'm just running short on ideas. I see a lot of scared people in here and if I need to swallow my pride and make some sacrifices in order to keep everyone safe, then maybe it's worth it."

She couldn't help but think that it would just prove to be the band-aid that they put over the wound that continued to fester, and grow infectious.

"I think you're rushing into this," Lot said. "We can't play by their rules."

"They aren't going to give us enough time for anything else," Rowen said.

Sophie reached out to grab his hand. "If you go out there, something bad is going to happen. Can't you sense that?"

There was the barest glint of a hard smile on his face as he answered. "A little. But I think we're pretty much out of trick cards to play. I think we need to meet him head on and see it out. At some point you stop controlling events and you have to accept that events are controlling you."

He stood up to head for the garage, clearly having made up his mind. She could resent him and let him walk away. But before she could steel herself against the memory, her mind raced back to the final image of her father, back turned and walking away from her. She jogged to catch up to Rowen, falling into stride next to him and grabbed his hand as they walked, feeling his gaze and sensing his gratitude for her presence.

They walked out through the garage, but before they walked up the ramp, he turned to face her.

"Look, I just want to say—"

"Shut the fuck up," she cut him off. "I'll hang back and stay out of the way, but I'm not letting you go out there completely alone."

He looked at her and nodded. She glanced over her shoulder at the sound of someone else and saw Clive coming out. It occurred to her how he somehow managed to be everywhere in this place. The three of them walked up the ramp, with Sophie and Clive stopping at the top while Rowen moved on, alone. The lot seemed strangely empty, and she wondered where everyone had gone. Jerry stood there by himself, Fiona on the ground next to him.

Sophie watched as Jerry greeted Rowen. The exchange seemed polite enough, but she couldn't hear what was being said. Rowen pointed at Jerry, and then down at Fiona. After several drawn out moments, Jerry started to gesture over Rowen's shoulder at the stadium and began to speak in a more animated fashion, but still not loud enough to be understood.

This was idiotic, insane to think that he should be out there by himself. Were they really putting all their hope in the morality of this man who had clearly demonstrated a willingness to hurt people to get whatever he wanted? Why would he hesitate to do the same to any one of them? She shouldn't have let Rowen convince her that this was a good idea. She took a step towards him, convinced that she was going to do some good, joining him out there in some form of support and protection.

The specifics of the conversation rapidly became less important as it became clear that negotiating wasn't high on Jerry's list of priorities. The next few seconds seemed to stretch out in front of her forever and would, from that point forward, be seared into her memory. She watched as Jerry first shoved Rowen, and then brought his other hand around to club him on the side of the head with his gun. Rowen toppled to the ground, his cry of pain and surprise just barely reaching her on the wind.

He was still struggling to get back to his feet when one of Jerry's men came up behind Rowen, a knife flashing out in his hand. Rowen turned in time to see it and as his arm came up to deflect the thrust, Sophie felt a thrill of excitement that somehow this man was going to perform another miracle and turn an impossible situation in his favor. These jack-asses with their broken down motorcycles would get what they had coming at the hands of this highly trained soldier.

The hope lasted for as long as it took for Jerry to step forward and grab Rowen's arm, pinning it to his chest. The other one came up behind and from that point forward, all Sophie saw was the blade of the knife, drawing across Rowen's throat, and the spray of blood against the glint of the setting sun.

-47-

She didn't know what she heard first, the sound of her own screams, or that of gunfire coming from behind them, from inside the stadium. Someone was dragging her back down the ramp but she fought it, until she was physically picked up off the ground and carried down into the darkness of the garage.

It only could have been a few minutes, but it felt like it had been hours. People ran around while Clive screamed orders at everyone to take up defensive positions.

"What is happening?" Sophie asked, somehow articulating the words through her own screaming.

"They got inside somehow, that's all I know!" Clive said as he lifted his gun. "I can't raise anyone on the radio to find out what's going on up there."

She heard the words, but all she could see in her mind's eye was Rowen on the ground. A part of her still wanted to rush out there to try and help him even though she knew it was pointless. She should have gone out there, instead of him.

"Sophie!" Someone shook her. She blinked and looked around the garage, seeing it and hearing the shots for the first time.

"What's...what's going..."

Clive shook his head and pulled her to her feet. She hadn't even been conscious of dropping to her knees. She looked back at the garage door and started to pull away from him, yelling at anyone who might be listening.

"We have to help him! He's out there all alone, we have to help!"

She twisted around in Clive's arms but just as she managed to pull free, he would regain his grip a moment later. She swung back at him and kicked, even spit as she tried to get loose. She had to help Rowen. He had to be all right, he had to be—

Clive spun her around and punched her across the jaw.

Sophie staggered back, clutching at her face. She stumbled to a stop, wobbled from side to side for a moment before falling flat on her backside. She looked up at him, shocked at what he had just done, tearing up from the pain she felt.

"What—"

Clive pulled a bottle of water out of someone's hand as they passed, stepped forward and dumped it over her head.

Sophie sputtered as she crab-walked back away from him, spitting out water and reaching up with one hand to wipe her eyes. Water flowed down her back, making her shiver and arch from the cold as she shook her head and tried to center herself.