Page 106 of Twilight Tactics

The room held a metal chair bolted to the floor, harsh lights overhead, a video camera in the corner. The walls were painted a sickly green that made her stomach turn. All of it was exactly what her mother had described after one trip. She hadn’t wanted her girls to wind up there, so she’d been quite descriptive in her story and her adamant orders to obey at all costs in order to avoid the experience.

“Sit.” Iris’s command made her head hurt.

Elena hesitated, calculating her odds. Two men, both armed. Iris, whose fighting abilities were unknown but probablysimilar to Elena’s. The hallway behind her, with at least one more guard at the desk.

Not good odds.

But the alternative was worse. She had to get out now.

As one guard stepped forward to force her into the chair, Elena drove the pencil into his thigh with all her strength.

A scream came from the deepest part of him and he stumbled backward. Elena pivoted to slam her elbow into the second guard’s throat. He gagged, and the stun gun fell from his grip.

Iris lunged for her, but Elena sidestepped, grabbed her sister’s arm, and used her own momentum to throw her against the wall.

The stun gun lay on the floor. Elena snagged it and backed toward the door, holding the weapon in front of her.

“You always were stubborn,” Iris gasped, pushing herself upright. “But you won’t get far.”

“Watch me,” Elena said. She slammed the door and slid the bolt home. It wouldn’t keep them long. Even she could kick it down with enough adrenaline flowing. She turned and ran.

The guard at the desk was already on his feet, reaching for his weapon. Elena side kicked him in the gut and his breath whooshed from his lungs as he fell. He scrambled to his knees and she jabbed the stun gun into his neck. He cried out and collapsed back onto the floor. She raced to grab her boots and coat, noted her hat and gloves had been shoved into the pockets.

The main door was too risky—there would be guards outside. The side door was her best bet. Assuming it led to the outside.

She raced to it and flipped the lock. The door swung open to reveal a storage room. Beyond it, another door with a window, facing the woods she needed to get to.

Footsteps pounded down the hallway. Elena threw herselfthrough the storage room, knocking over shelves to block the path behind her. Her injured knee howled a protest, but adrenaline pushed her onward.

She flipped the dead bolt and stumbled outside. Cold air bit at her face. She took two seconds to pull the boots on over her socked feet. She’d tie them later. The compound spread before her, buildings lit by floodlights. Guards patrolled the perimeter.

And somewhere out there was Sully. She had no doubt. She just couldn’t wait on him or anyone else to come to the rescue.

Elena took a deep breath, tightened her grip around the stun gun and her winter garments, and ran for the shadows.

Sully crept along theperimeterfence, still a little surprised he’d managed to get this far inside the compound without triggering some kind of alarm. But all was quiet. The night vision goggles cast everything in an eerie green glow as he studied the compound’s layout. The perimeter guards patrolled in pairs, their movements predictable—ten minutes between rotations at the fence line. And yet, there was only one guard on the “prison.” He could understand that. It didn’t take much to guard two people who were locked in cells.

That was one positive Sully intended to take full advantage of.

The team had put their heads together and drawn a crude map based on the footage the drone had gotten before it had been shot down. The building where Elena was likely being held sat toward the back of the compound, deeper into the woods, away from the main areas. That was another advantage. Fewer eyes to avoid. Sully hunkered down behind an oak tree with a massive trunk to watch.

Unfortunately, this guard was alert and doing his job verywell. He walked the perimeter every so often and was definitely not predictable. Three minutes, then five, then ten, then two.

On the guard’s next pass, Sully hurried to the side of the building. The weight of his weapon in his gloved hand provided little comfort. He couldn’t shoot everyone.

A door slammed somewhere. Sully froze, then melted into the shadow of a storage shed three feet to his left. Voices approached.

“—escaped not fifteen minutes ago. Check the perimeter!”

“How did she get out?”

“Took down three guards and Iris. The woman’s dangerous.”

Relief sparked for a moment. Elena had escaped on her own. But if she was still within the compound, she was still in danger.

The men hurried toward the fence line and their voices faded. Sully once again headed for the jail-like building. He needed to confirm Elena was gone and possibly find clues about where she might have headed.

The guard had disappeared. Interesting. They had everyone scrambling to find the escapee. Sully slipped inside through an unlocked side door, finding himself in a storage room with shelves toppled across the floor. Signs of Elena’s escape route?