Allie's War Episodes 1-4(164)

The agent emptied four chambers into his chest.
Ethan’s brown eyes flashed yellow as he slid to the bedroom floor, bleeding on the new silk carpet his wife found for them in Dubai during their last trip with President Daniel Caine, Lisa Caine and the twins.
The last thing Ethan heard was the elongated scream of a siren outside his window, and then everything went dark.






 
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I leaned on a walnut bookshelf, watching Revik check a security panel by the study doors. Eddard hovered near him. Jon and Cass stood out of sight of the tall sash windows, looking down onto the street where I could hear the activity ramping up once more. Maygar did the same by a third window, an automatic rifle gripped in his hands.
While I watched, Jon shoved a gun in the back of his belt, holding another in his good hand, what looked like one of Revik’s Glocks.
My brother the pacifist.
I glanced back as Revik passed by where I stood, aiming for the china closet. He moved aside a vase on a nearby accent table and slid a key off the wood with his fingers. I watched him unlock the double hutch doors, pressing a button concealed behind a faux wooden panel.
The panel slid back, pushing out a velvet-cushioned tray.
I could only stare as he pulled another handgun off the blue, velvet cloth, checking the magazine for how many bullets remained, then the chamber before handing it to Eddard. He picked up a second gun, then a third. He checked them all, shoving one in his belt before passing the other to Eddard, as well.
I saw him motion towards me then, still muttering to Eddard in a voice too low for me to hear, and I looked away.
I held my stomach with one arm. I was having trouble breathing. My brain seemed to have short-circuited somewhere between the conversation over lunch and the two helicopters exploding over the London streets below. Some kind of delayed reaction, maybe...to being fired on by jets, prolonged stress, almost zero sleep in two days, and finding out my best friends were alive and that I was still married to a guy who couldn’t bring himself to look at me.
I felt a push to move my limbs. I think I meant to walk over to Jon and Cass, but my body must have had other ideas, because I only got as far as the china closet and the exposed tray of guns. Revik no longer stood there. I don’t know when he left, but by the time I reached the tray, he bent over another wall panel on the other side of the room.
“They changed all my codes,” he said. “We’ll have to take the stairs.”
I stared at a gun on the tray I recognized. It looked just like the one Revik held all those years ago in Germany. I picked it up, hefting the weight of the metal in my hand. It was so small. It looked like a toy.
“We can’t take the elevator,” Revik said. I felt his attention on me, but I didn’t turn around. “We have to get to the stairs...now. There’s some chance we can still make it to the basement.”
“Revik.” Clearing my throat, I shook my head. “No.”
Everyone paused.
I thought they’d forgotten me in their panic, but when I turned around, the whole room seemed focused on my face. Even Eddard stared, his expression a mixture of curiosity and pity. It occurred to me that he probably thought I’d snapped. I didn’t look at Revik, but felt his mind slide past my words, still thinking about how we would get out of the building.
He turned to Eddard. “Get the charges from my room. If I have more clips—”
“Revik,” I said. “No. We won’t get out that way.”
He didn’t look at me, but I watched him put a hand on the wall. He turned towards me, still without looking at me, his face closed.
“Allie. We don’t have any choice.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not that way. Please.”
I saw his jaw harden. He still wouldn’t look at me. “Please trust me on this, Esteemed Bridge. I am not being disrespectful...but I know our options here. This is my home. Let me protect you in it.”
I saw Jon and Cass stare at him, as if they didn’t recognize him. Then they both, seemingly at the same instant, looked at me.
“I do trust you,” I said. “But I can’t let you take us out that way.”
“Allie!” Cass said.
I looked at her. My whole body was shaking. I stood there, in the middle of the room, barely able to stand upright from the pain in my chest.
“Allie, what are you doing?” Jon said. His voice sounded shocked.
Revik stared at me, his eyes flat now, wary.
I didn’t realize at first I was pointing the gun at him. It wasn’t until I looked at Jon, saw his mouth hanging open, his hazel eyes wide, that I realized something was wrong. I looked down at my hands. They gripped the gun, steady.