But no pool of blood. No pool of blood. Make it different. Please, no pool of blood.
She was climbing the stairs to the back door, holding on to the railing.
So hard. Such a long way to the top.
She leaned against the door to gather strength. Another minute and she’d be in the hall. It was okay. She’d made it and nothing had happened. She’d not even been stopped by the guards.
The guards.
Where were the guards?
She pushed open the door.
Blood. Staring eyes. Two bodies.
The guards.
“Why aren’t you talking to me, Melissa?”
“Close your eyes, Cassie.” She was lurching down the hall. Jesus, another body beside the door to the artifacts room. Blue suit, not a guard. Guilliame? “Listen to me, I want you to close your eyes.”
“Why? Then I wouldn’t be able to see— What was that sound?”
“What sound?”
“Popping. Heard it before. Heard it before.” Melissa could hear the panic in her voice. “Michael is running downstairs toward the other door. He’s leaving me.”
“Close your eyes.”
“Wind Dancer. I can’t stay here. He’s got to take me away.” Terror. “I’m falling, Melissa.”
“Why are you falling? Are you hurt?”
“I don’t know. I’m on the floor. Closing my eyes. I’m going away. . . .”
“Why are you on the floor?” She threw open the door. “What’s happen—”
And then she saw it.
The emerald eyes looking down.
The pool of blood spreading on the floor until it touched the child’s shoe.
Scream after scream tore from Melissa’s throat.
She didn’t know how she got across the room, but she was falling to her knees. Stop the blood. She had to stop the blood gushing from Jessica’s chest.
“Mellie?” Jessica was looking up at her. “Help . . . Cassie.”
“Cassie’s fine.” She was pressing her hands on the wound. “You’ll be fine too.”
“She was almost . . . back. I know it. I—did it, didn’t I?”
“Of course you did.” Oh, God. So much blood. “Now stop talking.”
“He’s beautiful. . . .” Jessica was looking up at the Wind Dancer. “I can see why Cassie ...”A thin trail of blood trickled out of one corner of Jessica’s mouth. “ Beautiful . . .”
She slumped sideways.
“No!”
16
“No use, Deschamps’s gone,” Galen told Travis outside the museum. “And we’d better get out of here too. Those sirens sound close. It’s probably what scared the bastard off.”
“Son of a bitch.” Travis’s hands closed into fists. “He knew this place like the back of his hand. He knew exactly where he was going when he jumped down from that catwalk. How did he get past those guards?”
“That’s what I want to know,” Galen said grimly. “I’ll go find out while you check on Cassie and Jessica. Two minutes and we’re out of here.”
Travis ran back into the museum and skidded to a stop when he reached the artifacts room. “Oh, shit.”
“She won’t wake up.” Melissa lifted her head, her mouth smeared with Jessica’s blood. “I can’t make her breathe.” She covered Jessica’s mouth with hers again.
“Melissa.” He knelt down and put his fingers on Jessica’s throat. “It’s no use. She’s gone.”
“Don’t you say that.” She frantically blew into Jessica’s mouth. “I won’t let her be dead.”
He checked Cassie. No wounds. The child hadn’t been hit. He hadn’t been aware that either of them had been shot when he’d run after Deschamps. He’d glanced at Jessica, but she’d been sitting upright in the chair with the child in her arms.
The sirens were louder. “Melissa, we have to get out of here.”
She ignored him.
“Out.” Galen was beside them, swiftly picking up Cassie. He glanced at Jessica. “Dead?”
“Yes.”
“No,” Melissa said at the same time.
Galen nodded. “Dead. I’ve locked the doors and I’m taking Cassie out through the basement.” He carried Cassie toward the steps. “If we don’t get moving, we’re all going to end up in jail. Both guards are dead, and so is Guilliame. My man Cardeau was killed too. I found him behind some boxes in the basement. You either get Melissa away from here or leave her.”
“She’ll come.” Travis pulled Melissa away from her sister. “Let’s go, Melissa. You can’t help her.”
“I can help her. I can stop this.”