Chapter 28
“Get off of me,” Dakota yelled as the guard grabbed hold of her shirt and hauled her back onto Grand Station’s southbound platform. Holly, Amy, and the three boys were similarly yanked up.
“Be careful,” a woman said, stepping forward. “Can’t you see that woman’s pregnant?”
The guard closed his gloved hand around her face and shoved her back. The woman tumbled into the crowd gathering behind her.
Brutal as it was, the move seemed to have the desired effect. The murmur of questions and complaints coming from the stirring refugees fell silent.
Holly felt like a criminal as she and the others were perp-walked through the station.
Suddenly, from out of the tunnel came the sounds of gunfire. For a moment, everyone paused and looked back, including the guards. The staccato was incessant and went on for what felt like forever. Then just as quickly the tunnel grew quiet.
The blood drained from Amy’s face. She knew what that silence meant. That Nate, all alone and outnumbered, had likely been overwhelmed and killed by Sergei and his goons. First her sister-in-law, then her neighbors and now this. The two young red-headed boys, Hunter and Emmitt, were still in shock, their tiny faces ashen.
They were marched through the station and up to the mezzanine. A metal door along the north wall opened into another corridor and a series of administrative offices. At the end of the hallway was a staff break room. A picnic bench sat in the middle of a nondescript room. It looked and smelled like a glorified prison cell. There was a small bathroom off to one side, although without running water, it wouldn’t do them much good.
One by one they were shoved in. Amy too, who Dakota managed to catch before she hit the ground.
“Even hyenas have more compassion than you,” the girl shouted at them.
The guard sneered and was about to close the door when his mic came to life. “Vasily, what is your status?”
“We’ve got them locked down, boss,” Vasily assured Sergei. “They won’t be going anywhere.”
“Good,” came the breathless reply. It sounded to Holly as though Sergei was really hoofing it. “Get everyone into position on the double. We’re on our way, but the ambush didn’t go as planned.”
“What do you mean?”
“We’re about to have company.”
Chapter 29
Nate and Colt pressed forward, wary of a potential ambush around every corner. He had seen how quickly Sergei and his men had run off. Did that make them cowards, or were they more interested in heading back for a bloody last stand on home turf?
The grey concrete walls of the corridor swallowed the glow from his tac light. Along the ceiling overhead ran thick metal pipes, the veins and arteries of a circulatory system no longer in use. The air here was dusty and filled with motes that glittered in the beam of his flashlight.
They passed through a doorway and were proceeding down a long corridor when they came to a break. Nate scanned left, checking it for enemies, and immediately came face to face with the barrel of a rifle. He ducked and made an upward blocking motion with his forearm, knocking the rifle’s muzzle off target and toward the ceiling. The guard in black and white camo grunted as he tried to bring his weapon to bear.
Behind him, Colt drew his pistol, but couldn’t get a clear shot.
If a recessed doorway hadn’t blocked him from backing up, that was precisely what the guard would have done. And chances were Nate would have eaten several incoming rounds. Already bent forward, Nate kept the guy close, coming up instead with his pistol and jabbing the barrel right under his chin. He gave him two shots, although one would have been more than enough.
Nate grasped the rifle resting against his forearm before it had a chance to hit the ground. For the guard, it was a different story. Colt regarded the man’s crumpled form before stripping him of a pistol and any additional magazines.
“Waste not, want not,” Nate said, pressing on.
The next door spit them out into a scene of sheer panic as a swirl of screaming refugees and armed guards ran through the subway station’s lower level.
This was not the way Nate had wanted this to go down. Dakota’s plan had been a simple one. Slip away from the shelter and hurry back into the snow and the cold before anyone was the wiser. Now they were facing a dire situation where more innocent people were sure to be killed. If Nate didn’t hurry, his remaining loved ones would share the same fate.
Chapter 30
Inside the breakroom, while Holly and Amy were comforting the young boys, Dakota was busy searching for something she could use as a weapon. A long umbrella hung from a hook on the bathroom door. She held it in both hands, jabbing at the air.
“What are you gonna do with that?” Amy asked skeptically.
“If Sergei comes in, I can stick this point in his eye.”
“Then he’ll be missing one eye and one ear,” Holly said, letting out a nervous laugh.
“I’ll take him apart piece by piece if I have to,” Dakota said, clenching her teeth.
Dire as their present circumstances were, Holly had begun rethinking things. Like whether she should have stayed behind. Should have skipped the escape attempt. She had nearly gotten herself and Dillon killed. Now here they were, locked in a room, awaiting a fate that couldn’t be good. Not only that, but the pistol which had served her so well was now gone. It was difficult to underestimate how vulnerable that made her feel. That growing fear was eating away at her confidence, and, she was sorry to say, making her doubt every choice she had made in the last week and a half.
Sitting nearby, Amy, still in shock, also had the look of someone who was just about ready to give up. It surely wasn’t easy trying to be a Wonder Woman when you were nine months pregnant. Dakota on the other hand, seemingly impervious to the pressures around them, hadn’t stopped since they’d been thrown in here. She was a fireball of grit and tenacity and Holly found herself admiring the young woman.
Amy let out a moan and sat up straight, pushing Emmitt’s head off her lap.
“Everything all right?” Holly asked, concerned. Had she been hurt when Vasily had so ruthlessly thrown her into the break room?
Amy’s cheeks flushed as she drew in a deep breath and clutched at her belly.
“What’s going on?” Dakota asked, dropping the umbrella and swinging around.
Holly stood, asking what she could do.
“I don’t know,” Amy finally replied, her jaw tight, her hands rolled into fists.
Looking down, Holly noticed the jeans she was wearing were wet. Amy noticed it too. “Oh, my God. I think my water just broke.”
For a second, everyone stood silent, failing to comprehend the full magnitude of the situation.
Their troubles only deepened with the sudden sound of screaming and shouting from outside. Dakota had already tried the door a few times, but did so again and found that it was still locked.
“Lauren would know what to do,” Amy said, angry and sad all at once.
“That might be true,” Holly said, giving her the benefit of the doubt. “But unfortunately, she’s not here to deliver this baby. We are.”
Dakota said to Holly, “You’ve had a kid. What should we do?”
“Do? How should I know? I didn’t deliver Dillon myself. That’s why we have hospitals.”
“Well, we gotta do something,” Dakota said, pacing back and forth.
Holly went over to Amy. “She needs to lie down and we need warm water. Boys, help me put her on the picnic table.”
Together, they helped Amy to her feet and placed her on the table. Once there, she began working on her Lamaze breathing technique.
With the taps not working, Holly and Dakota opted to search for towels instead. But all they came up with was a dirty rag beneath the bathroom sink.