Here Comes the Rainne Again (Invertary 6)

A few seconds later, Caroline’s voice rang out. “Alastair, Rainne, are you there?”

There was silence. She tried again. And again.

“I hope this doesn’t mean someone got to them,” Jena said softly.

“Try a house-wide call. See if anyone we know is in the house.” Joe again.

“Hello, this is Caroline. Are any of our men here?” Caroline sounded desperate.

They all did. Because they were desperate. A good sense of humour could only take you so far when you were under attack.

“Hello, if you’re there, answer me.” Caroline again.

Nothing.

“I don’t think your guys blew up the machines,” the guy in the bath said.

“Then who did?” Megan asked him. “Is it your lot? Why would you blow up your own transport?”

“We wouldn’t.”

They stared at each other for a beat. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking. Megan found herself mesmerised by his dark eyes. An unwanted flare of awareness went through her. His pupils dilated, telling her he felt it too.

“Tell me your name,” Megan asked. “At least give me that.”

“Dimitri.” He gave up the name without any hesitation.

“Really? You don’t look like a Dimitri.”

“Tell that to my Russian parents.”

“I thought it was a Greek name.”

He cocked an eyebrow, surprised. Megan just about managed to resist rolling her eyes. Oh yeah, Barbie has a brain. Booya sucker.

“Greek origin. Russian version,” he told her.

“Dimitri.” She tried the name for effect. It suited him. “Tell me why you’re here. Tell me something. Anything that will help us.”

His eyes were hard as flint. “I can tell you one thing,” he said quietly, making her take a step towards him.

“What?” Her heart raced as her focus became all about him. “What is it?”

“I can tell you you’ve overlooked something.”

Her spine went taut. “What?”

He glanced up, and Megan followed his gaze. Straight up to the wide skylight above the bath. Her heart stopped. Her mouth opened to shout for Joe. The beam of a flashlight scanned over the glass before a hand appeared. It wielded the butt of a gun like a club.

“Get in the bath,” Dimitri shouted. “It’s going to shatter.”

Without thinking, Megan threw herself into the bath on top of her captive. Dimitri pulled a bath towel over their heads. Just as they were covered, the glass shattered, raining down on them.

A heavy thump sounded on the floor beside the bath. The door to the room slammed shut.

“Down!” Dimitri ordered. He flattened her onto her back in the bath, lying on top of her. Shielding her body with his.

She heard gunfire from outside the bathroom, but the bullets hit the heavy wooden door. There was the scraping sound of furniture being dragged, and Megan knew the bad guys were blocking the door with the wooden armoire that sat in the corner of the bathroom.