Saving Liberty (Kissing #6) (27 page)

I looked between her and the stairs, torn.
Shit!

“That is the
President of the United States of America,”
she managed through her tears. “You are
sworn to protect him!”

I felt it all welling up inside me: everything I’d turned my back on when I left the Secret Service. Everything that President Matthews had made me feel again, in the short time I’d known him. But the need to protect Emily... that overrode everything. I made a decision and shook my head, yanking hard on her arm. “I’m saving
you.”

But she tore her hand out of my grip, choking out the words through her sobs. “It doesn’t—It doesn’t
matter
about us. If
he
dies, it all comes down.
Kerrigan will be President.”
She pulled her hand tight against her chest so that I couldn’t grab it. “I am
not
leaving him!”

We glared at each other.
Goddamn her!
Goddamn her for being a better person than any of these asshole politicians.

Goddamn her for being right.

I stepped close to her. “Emily... Kerrigan knows you know. Those men... they’re not just here to kill your dad. They probably have orders to kill you, or take you and interrogate you.”

She nodded, gulping back tears. “I know.”

“We can slip away if we go right now. But if I do this, they’ll know where we are.”

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I know.” She looked me in the eye. “
Please,
Kian.”

I closed my eyes for a second... and nodded. “Stay here,” I said. “And be ready to run.”

She nodded quickly. I crept back through the archway and over to the balcony that overlooked the first floor.

Almost directly below me, the President was still sheltered behind the information desk, clutching his chest. For a second, I wasn’t sure if he was alive, but then I saw him glance across at Brannon.

Brannon and the other agent were crouched either side of the President, firing at the approaching gunmen. They’d killed two of them and managed to slow their progress but the men were sneaking ever-closer, three of them approaching down the left side of the room and three down the right. It was only a matter of time.

I checked my gun. Not for the first time, I wished I had my old one instead of the tiny one Miller had insisted I use. I took a deep breath... and started shooting.

The first one was easy—they weren’t expecting shots to come from above. I managed to take out one and was lining up the second before they’d even reacted. The second one went down and
now
they saw what was going on and started to fire up at the balcony. Chips of marble exploded a foot from my face.

I ducked back down, crawled to the side and sprang up again. A bullet flew an inch past my face and smacked into the wall behind me. I shot again... and a third gunman went down.

“
Go!”
I yelled to Brannon. “Go, I’ll cover you!”

He didn’t need telling twice. He threw the President over his shoulders and ran, the other agent and me firing to cover him. A second later, they were through the door and heading back towards the side entrance and the motorcade. I kept firing until my gun clicked empty, giving them as much time as I could... and then I turned and ran. Before I’d even made it off the balcony, I could hear feet pounding up the stairs behind me.

“What do we do?” panted Emily as I grabbed her hand and dragged her deeper into the museum.

“
Run.
”

Emily

Running in heels is almost impossible. Every step meant rolling the dice: would I go sideways on my ankle, would my heel snap off and send me tumbling? Twice, I nearly fell and only Kian’s grip on my hand stopped me smacking into the floor. I thought about taking off my shoes, but the floors were polished marble, incredibly slippery, and running on them in nylons would be just as hard.

The lights were off on this floor—everything was meant to be shut down for the night except for the speech downstairs. Luckily, there was enough moonlight shining down through the skylights above to see by. We sprinted through a fossil exhibition, threading our way between glass cases, then underneath a huge skeleton of a blue whale. The moonlight turned the floor into zebra stripes as it shone through the beast’s massive ribs.

Kian pulled on my hand, slowing me. We stopped to listen and to get our breath back. And as soon as I stopped, it all started to sink in.

“I should have figured it out sooner,” I panted. “I’m so
stupid!
Of course he’d assassinate my dad: it fast-tracks him to the Presidency. I just never thought he’d go that far.”

“We
did
figure it out,” said Kian, putting a hand on my arm. “We warned him.”

“But not in
time!”
The reality of it washed over me and I wanted to throw up. “What if he’s dead?
What if he’s already dead?”

He stepped closer and put his hands on my cheeks. The warmth of his palms soaked into me. “Hey!
Hey!
If we hadn’t figured it out, he wouldn’t have had any warning at all. He’s a tough old guy. He’ll make it. And the only person to blame is Kerrigan.” I sniffed and wiped my eyes. He waited until I looked at him again. “Okay?” he asked.

I nodded reluctantly.

Footsteps behind us. The glare of torchlight. Kian grabbed my arm and pulled me forward, past displays of stuffed alligators and bison and then to the staircase that led up to the third floor. We crept up the stairs and then waited in the shadows at the top to see if they’d follow. A few moments later, the torches went past and we both slumped in relief. But just minutes later, they reappeared and footsteps started to climb the stairs.

We looked at each other. We both knew what that meant: they were going to keep searching the whole building until they found me. Why weren’t they in more of a hurry? Surely the police must be screaming to the scene along with more Secret Service? But the streets outside sounded quiet.

I didn’t have time to work it out: Kian was leading me on through the third floor, sprinting through exhibits on coral, plants and insects. When we slowed down again, we were moving through something called
Treasures of the Earth:
rare gemstones and minerals displayed on silk cushions inside glass cases, the moonlight lighting us up with little points of light as it reflected off all the polished, glittering surfaces. Halfway across the huge room, Kian stopped and pulled me down behind one of the cases.

“We’re not going to be able to outrun them,” he said quietly. “And they’ll have blocked the exits by now. They’ll keep hunting us until we run out of places to go... and when they catch us, I’m out of ammo. We need to turn this around. I need to hit some fucker and take his gun—then we can fight our way out.”

My guts twisted in fear. I had a horrible feeling I knew what he was going to say next.

He took a deep breath. “I need to leave you for a bit.”

“
No!
”

“Just for a minute. You’ll be safe here. I’m going to circle back and ambush one of them when they come through here, then I’ll come straight back.”

“No!” I knew I sounded like a petulant child but I didn’t care. The fear was suddenly rising, engulfing me, already up to my chin and threatening to pour into my mouth and drown me.
He promised! He said he wouldn’t leave me!

He pulled me close and I flung my arms around him, his big body so strong, so comforting. The fear receded a little, but I knew it would only last as long as I was with him. As long as I clung to him, as long as I pressed my face against his chest and closed my eyes, it felt as if I was protected from all the evil in the world.

“I’m going to be right in the same room,” he whispered in my ear. “But I’ve got to do this. Okay?”

I took a deep breath and steeled myself... then slowly released him. He leaned in and kissed me on the lips. Then he was away, jogging silently back the way we’d come. I craned around the display case, trying to keep him in view, but within seconds he was lost in the shadows. A moment after that, I heard the footsteps of someone entering the room.

I pulled back behind the display case, sitting with my back pressed up against it. For the next few minutes, all I had to go on were the sounds behind me.

I heard heavy boots creeping closer. Just one man—they must have split up to search the museum. The footsteps seemed to die away in the distance... and then turned and came directly towards me. I hugged my knees, trying to make myself as small as possible. The footsteps came closer, entering the
Treasures of the Earth
exhibition.
Where’s Kian? Has something gone wrong?

They came closer still. I could hear the rustle of the man’s clothing, now.
Something’s gone wrong.
The fear rose up, the darkness giving it power, paranoia filling my brain like chilling fog.
He’s left me. I’m all alone.

Closer.
I could hear his breathing. Every hair on the back of my neck was standing up.

Closer
.
Shit!

I heard two very quick, almost silent steps and then the sound of a punch and one heavy body hitting another. Grunting. Panting. Two more punches. I closed my eyes tight—

And yelped as something hit the floor right next to me. I opened my eyes to see the unconscious body of one of the gunmen. Kian bent over the man and started pulling the assault rifle from his hands. I let out a long breath.

“Okay,” muttered Kian. “Now let’s get out of here.” He lifted me to my feet. “You okay?”

My heart was thumping so hard that I didn’t trust my voice, so I nodded.

He look unconvinced and gave my arm a squeeze. “We’re nearly out of here. Just hang in there another few minutes, alright?”

I stared at his hand on my arm. I could feel the warm reassurance pumping into me. “Okay,” I managed.

He gave a last squeeze and then moved ahead to check in front of us. “There’s a fire escape at the back of the building with an exit on each floor. They’ll have someone guarding it, but—”

He was maybe ten feet ahead of me when it happened.

Gunfire and explosions erupted all around me: behind me, left side, right side... even in front of me. How was that possible? Had they surrounded us? I felt something hard hit my cheek and closed my eyes on instinct, spinning and crouching, trying to find somewhere safe. But there
was
nowhere safe.

I fell to my knees as the explosions got even louder and closer. I was hit again on my arm and now my cheek was starting to hurt. I managed to work up the courage to open my eyes for a second and finally saw what was happening.

They were behind us, firing. One or more gunmen must have sneaked up the stairs without us seeing and now they were shooting wildly in our direction. The bullets were shattering the glass display cases, making one after another explode into lethal, jagged shards. I suddenly knew what had hit me and wondered how badly I was hurt.

Ahead of me, I could see Kian firing back at them, crouching down behind a display case and then jumping up again to shoot. Each time he looked my way, he beckoned me forward.

I screamed as another display case shattered. I went full-length on the floor as heavy shards of glass rained down onto my back. If one of them fell on me point-first, I was dead.

“Come on!” yelled Kian. “Stay low!”

I started to crawl... but the floor ahead of me was a sea of broken glass mixed with bits of rock and gemstone. I tried to find a place to put my hand down safely but there wasn’t one.

Something cold slid along the side of my neck and hit the floor. I looked to my left and saw a shard of glass the size and shape of a kitchen knife. A few inches to the right and it would have hit me in the neck.

I
had
to move.

I started crawling, using my fingers to knock the shards aside until I had a clear spot to put my hand down in. Then another spot for my other hand. Then crawl forward and try to put my knee in the clear spot. It would have been agonizing enough if I’d been able to go slow, but new glass was still raining down: I had to race. I could feel myself picking up little cuts as I knocked against the sharp edges of shards. Once, I put my knee down and cried out in pain, feeling something tiny and sharp digging into my knee. When I rubbed my knee and it fell into the palm of my hand, I saw it was a diamond. I tossed it away and carried on.