The Gender Plan (The Gender Game #6)(80)

“Amber, they are heading your way,” I said, swinging the drone around and heading back toward her. “You’ve got maybe a minute to hide.”

“You want us to go into the buildings?” she asked, her mic popping.

“No,” I said, remembering Henrik’s warning. It had worked for Viggo’s group, but I didn’t want to take any more chances. I ground my teeth, thinking. “Up the fire escapes,” I said. “As fast as you can until my mark, then slowly.”

“Roger,” she replied with a grunt, and I pulled the drone to a stop above the intersection, watching.

I tilted the nose of the drone up some, exposing more of the street to the sensors, and watched as the crowd grew closer, marking their speed closely. I waited until the last second, trying to buy Amber’s team time to get as high off the ground as possible. I hoped she hadn’t put her entire team on one single fire escape.

“Now,” I transmitted, swinging the drone around and heading down Amber’s street, the mob of people just reaching the corner. I maneuvered the craft higher as I moved, and slowed to a stop when I caught sight of Amber’s team spread out on the fire escapes, slowly climbing up. They were on the same side of the street, but split between two different fire escapes, a narrow alley separating them.

Amber was squatting in the corner of the third-floor balcony, her gun trained on the street below, while her team crept by her, heading straight for the fifth story. “I’m thinking I’m just going to do this Violet-style,” Amber whispered softly, and I smiled nervously.

“What’s Violet-style?” I asked, rotating the drone around to do another sweep of the buildings across the street.

“Running pell-mell across the rooftops in order to escape a mob.”

I chuckled ruefully and shook my head, switching from the thermal scan to the night vision and maneuvering the drone around so I could peer through the windows of the buildings her team clambered on. Maybe I was being too thorough, but with the thermal scanner unable to reliably read through building walls, I was not taking any chances.

“Owen really loves to exaggerate that story,” I replied, my eyes searching the green image on the screen for anything out of the ordinary.

“Hey, you aren’t the only one suffering in that story,” she said testily, then affected a deeper, dramatic voice. “‘Amber was barely conscious, her life slowly draining out of her with every step we took. We were surrounded by the enemy, and I knew that if we were caught, she would surely die.’”

I bit back a laugh as I shifted to the next building to repeat the process. Then we fell silent, and I didn’t say anything, in case she was moving or doing something that required her concentration. After a moment, she asked, “How’s he doing?”

My eyes flicked over to where Owen was sitting on the stairs, his back pressed against the wall, and frowned. “He’s… He’s here.”

I moved up to the next windows, letting silence fill the line. “I really want to hate him, you know,” Amber admitted softly.

I said the only thing that came to mind. “I know.”

Blinking at the screen, I leaned closer and squinted my eyes, trying to discern what I had just seen. It had looked like a flash of movement, which wasn’t uncommon, but there was something about it that was weird. It hadn’t been dark… It had been light. I peered a little closer and stroked a finger across the screen, running my fingers over the thin vertical line that was now jutting out the window. I switched over to thermal, and blinked when the red-hot body of a person lit up, standing just behind the wall next to the window. I realized what that vertical white line was—it was light shining brightly off of a silver muzzle, reflecting the light of the moon.

“Amber, adjacent building, two o’clock from your position. Individual is armed and pointing at your position.”

“Most of my team’s up on the roof. The civilians just passed us and are moving away. We’ll be clear in—”

Whatever she said I lost as the door to the command room I sat in slammed open and the basement went dark.

“What the—” I heard Owen utter, then he grunted, and I heard another clatter and a slam. Almost in the same moment, my chair was pulled out from under me, and I fell, hard, on my rump. Pain jolting my body, I scrambled forward on hands and knees, under the table that held the screen. Then it seemed that things were flying all around me.

I heard the flutter of papers followed by the crash of something breaking. Ducking under my table, I was almost hit by something heavy as it crashed to the floor in front of me, skidding off to one side. Henrik shouted, but the sound of rushing wind grew, and I became aware of a breeze that seemed to fill the basement.

“Cody?” I asked, daring to lean out slightly from under the table, and then ducking quickly back in as something long seemed to come right for me. There was a hard metallic thunk on the side of the table, making my shoulders hunch for fear that it had somehow broken through. The breeze stopped, and the door at the top of the stairs slammed closed. I heard a sharp click, and then there was silence.

My heart beat hard against my ribcage, and I pressed my hand against it, fearing that it was too loud in the sudden silence of the room. I waited a few seconds, my eyes finally growing used to the darkness. There was light coming from somewhere. Likely the kitchen lights were on, and shining through the cracks in the closed basement door. I hurried out from under the desk.