First Light (41 page)

‘I’m sorry–’ he muttered, shaking his head, ‘I just didn’t know what else to do – I’m – I’m sorry.’

Kalen’s head dropped, as did the heads of the others around me.

‘How long do we have?’

There was no response.

‘HOW LONG?’ Kalen’s voice boomed.

Laith stood up straight, as if to attention. Remorse flickered briefly in his eyes before he responded. ‘Maybe thirty minutes, depending on how far away the closest asset is.’

‘Do they know about her?’

‘I – I don’t –’

‘Dammit, Laith! Just tell me the truth, do they know about Ronnie?’

‘No.’

‘Okay.’ Kalen breathed out. Then, like a different person – fully composed and deadly – he turned to face the rest of us. ‘Ace, get her out of here. Run with her, get her to a motel until you think it’s safe to go back to her house, then you can leave yourself.’

‘No, K, I want to help you,’ Ace pleaded.

‘Ace, don’t question me! N, D, get out of here now. Laith–’

‘He’s gone,’ said Nash.

A thick silence fell over us and they all looked incredibly solemn. For a brief moment, their eyes met and I watched as they said goodbye to each other with those looks. Before I could process another thought Kal was walking me by the arm into an empty room.

My heart was thundering, everything was happening too quickly. ‘What are we going to do? Are you still going to come back?’

‘Red, we don’t have much time, listen to me.’ He brushed my hair out of my face and looked into my eyes. ‘I love you. I’ve loved you since the moment I saw you sleeping in that apartment in Lisbon four years ago. You’ve been the only thing in this world that has made me happy and I’m sorry, for all of this.’

I grabbed his shirt, burying my face into his chest. ‘Please don’t leave, this isn’t enough time! I don’t want to say goodbye–’

The lights in the house went out, plunging us into darkness and killing the rest of my sentence on my lips. Kal pulled me close to him. Before I knew what was happening, I was hurtling through the air encased in his arms. A noise like firecrackers filled the room around us as we hit the floor and he rolled us into the next room. Kal stood fluidly, dragging me up behind him. I pressed myself hard against the wall. Though I’d never heard a gun being shot in real life, it didn’t take long for my mind to catch up. We were under attack. Our time had run out.

The spate of gunshots grew silent. Everything was so still, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. Had Ace and the other boys got out in time? Slowly, without looking away from the doorway, Kal’s hand reached down to a leather pouch fastened around his thigh, emerging upwards holding a knife around six inches long, with a black handle and curved blade.

A creaking sound from above us caused Kal to freeze. In one movement he spun us both so that I was behind him and he was facing the noise. Though the moon cast a light into the room, my eyes hadn’t fully adjusted. I didn’t see where the assassin came from, but I screamed as a foot knocked Kalen’s knife out of his hand. He was flung backwards. A man dressed entirely in black swung from a rafter in the ceiling and stood over him. In the second it took Kal to flip upwards, I saw the cold, determined eyes of our attacker. Another gunshot went off. I screamed. Then I heard the gun clatter to the floor. Somehow Kalen had disarmed him and then they began fighting.

‘Run and hide!’ Kal yelled at me, startling me into action.

Though I felt rooted to the spot, I recalled the last time he’d ordered me to run. Ignoring him then had almost got him killed and as much as I didn’t want to leave him, I knew this time I had to do as I was told.

I fled through the house, trying to block out the sound of their combat. The hallway was so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, but fighting back the hysteria bubbling inside me, I felt along the wall for where I thought I’d once seen the door to a basement. My limbs trembled uncontrollably. Clenching my fists, I bit my lip and took a deep breath though my nose; I needed to get a grip! Panicking now was not going to help Kalen and it definitely wasn’t going to save my life. A few assertive breaths and I managed to stop shaking, continuing to feel along the wall and almost crying out in relief when my fingers gripped the handle I was after. Carefully – quietly – I pried it open and peered down into the musty stairwell. I didn’t want to go down there – I’d be trapped. But before I could think it over, a window shattered somewhere in the house. My feet found some bravery and propelled me forward.

With each step into the basement the air became thicker. The damp smell of mould stung the inside of my nose. Finding the ground, I tiptoed gently towards the back of the room, trying to avoid the boxes and furniture while searching for something I could crawl into and hide. I found what felt like a shelving unit up against a back wall and slid my hands over it. My fingers picked up dust as I worked out its shape and size. It appeared big enough for me to get inside.

I was half bent over when a tremendous rolling thunder sounded from the floors above me. The house vibrated and shook. I fought back a cry. I didn’t have to be an assassin to know a helicopter when I heard one. One, two, even three assassins and I thought Kal might triumph – but a helicopter meant a team. A team of killers had come for us.

I dived into the bottom shelf of the unit and pulled my knees up to my chest. Seconds later, the cellar door practically flew off its hinges.

‘Down here!’ said a loud British voice I didn’t recognise. I strained to listen, but I wasn’t surprised I heard nothing else. If assassins couldn’t move quietly I suppose they’d be in the wrong job. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could faintly make out at least four silhouettes making their way around the room. My whole body trembled, I pushed myself further back against the back of the cabinet, clutching to the hope that I was as well hidden from them as they were from me.

‘This looks promising,’ said the same voice I'd heard before, extinguishing any hope I'd had. A torch shone down onto my face. The bright light stopped me from seeing much, but I felt a large hand wrap around my arm. I was dragged upwards.

‘A girl,’ the voice of the man holding me sounded confused and satisfied at the same time.

The others joined him in staring at me. The light shone into my eyes again.

‘Please stop doing that,’ I spat.

‘Trust me, love, this is the least of your worries.’

Pain shot through my arm as he hauled me forward and threw me to one of the others. I glanced around, frustrated and disorientated by the darkness.

‘Call in. We need to know what to do with her.’

One of them spoke quickly and quietly, as if to someone on a phone, or some sort of communication device. I couldn’t hear what was said, but then to the other men in the room he announced, ‘She may draw out the targets. Bring her in.’

‘Bring me in? Bring me in where? You can’t take me anywhere, it’s kidnapping! I won’t go anywhere with you people! Who the hell are you?’ Anger was the only thing stopping me from bursting into tears and I refused to give them that. As I was being towed towards the stairs all I could think was that I’d let Kalen down. I couldn’t even hide well.

‘Gag her.’ The one holding me dismissed my outburst and one who felt smaller in build responded to the order by pushing me up against the wall.

‘Do as they say,’ he whispered in my ear. ‘I won’t let them hurt you, but you need to stop fighting us.’

I held my breath. Had I heard correctly? Was he really trying to help?

He used one hand to pin mine behind my back and tried to fix tape over my mouth. From the top of the stairs, the one in charge threw open the door and called down. ‘I suggest you come quietly, little lady. The more you fight us the more painful it’s gonna be, all right?’

I knew I couldn’t trust any of them. I whipped my head from side to side and just before my mouth was covered, I took my chance and screamed out, ‘Kal will kill you if you don’t let me go!’

He shone his torch down at me. ‘Well, you see, I don’t know who Kal is, love. What I do know is all them boys we came for have done a runner. They ran off and left you here to die. So, as for killing me, that might be difficult while he’s doing all that running. What d’you reckon?’ His words trailed into a vile laugh and my will to fight dissolved. I stopped struggling. The tape was finally pressed into place.

But his laughter stopped abruptly. There was a second of complete silence before his large body tumbled down the stairs and landed in a heap in front of us.

‘You can’t say she didn’t warn him,’ said a perfect voice from the top of the stairs.

The man holding me let go and raised his weapon in Kalen’s direction.

‘Red, down!’

I dropped to the floor as the sound of gunshots filled the room. I covered my ears. Above me, the soldiers were firing up at the open door, I forced my eyes open and glanced around, looking for some way out, thankfully his torch had stayed intact when it hit the floor – it was providing some light. The first thing I noticed is that we weren’t alone: two shadows formed in the darkness behind the men shooting at Kalen. I was astounded. I squinted to make sure I wasn't imagining it, but I knew the faces well. Though I had no idea how they got into the room without any of us knowing, relief washed over me.

And just as quickly as it began, the noise ebbed. Without fight or struggle each of the men in the room with me dropped to the ground like lead weights. The room was suddenly flooded with light and Kalen descended the stairs in a single leap, pulling me up and into his embrace. His lip bleeding and one arm hanging limply at his side, he tried to carefully peal the gag from my mouth with his good hand.

I ripped it off myself and smiled, despite the sting the tape left behind. I’d never been so happy to see anyone in my entire life. ‘I knew you’d come for me,’ I breathed.

‘Guys, I’m not sure we have time for this,’ said Denver with a grin.

‘Where’s Ace?’ I panicked.

‘Here.’ Ace slid down the banister to join us. ‘Just sorting out the lights.’

I almost laughed. We were all alive! With that thought, I glanced at the bodies on the floor.

‘They’re just knocked out,’ said Denver as though reading my mind. ‘Tranquiliser.’

‘Right, guys, great as this reunion is, we need to get out of here. I’d say this is well and truly game over,’ Nash stated grimly.

‘N, sort this out, will you?’ Kalen pointed to his limp arm. Taking his bicep and his shoulder in his grip, Nash gave it an almighty shove. Kalen’s shoulder clicked into the space it had been meant for. He grunted through gritted teeth.

‘What now?’ asked Denver.

His breathing ragged through the pain, Kalen looked at Ace. ‘The pilot?’

‘Sorted.’

‘Okay,’ he blinked slowly, collecting his thoughts. ‘Boys, burn this place down. I suggest we make it look as though we died in here too. Fire exit, level one.’

‘What about these guys?’ said Denver. ‘British SAS, I think.’

Kal looked at me apologetically. ‘Ronnie, they saw you. They may be able to find out who you are.’ He was asking my permission to kill them.

‘No!’ I exclaimed. ‘Kal, they barely got a look at me!’

‘You don’t know what these men are capable of, Red. Do you think they’d show you the same mercy? They’ll do whatever is asked of them and they probably know who you are now.’

‘No, they won’t. Please! They’re just soldiers, Kal, like you guys.’ I looked desperately at his friends but they refused to meet my gaze. I didn’t care. It was one thing to kill someone in self-defense, but another to do it in cold-blood,
just in case
.

‘Kal, this one was decent. He tried to help me.’ I pointed at the man who’d whispered to me. For the first time I could see his face; he didn’t look much older than us.

Kal stared at me, debating with himself before turning to the others. ‘Put them outside, well away from the house, but hidden. Ace, fix the chopper.’

Nash lifted one of the unconscious bodies and marched up the stairs. Denver did the same.

‘Others won’t be far behind,’ said Kal as we headed out of the basement. ‘We need to get out of here. N, you’re with Ace.’