They reached the end of the hall and opened the second-to-last cell. A small woman came out and embraced Lyla.
“I’ve got you, Patty,” Lyla said. “We’re going to be all right now.”
“I can’t believe this,” Patty said, sobbing with relief.
She leaned on Lyla as they returned to the south stairwell. Linc joined them to help Lyla while Eddie kept herding the other prisoners up the stairs.
Juan did a mental count and said to Lyla as she walked away, “That’s nineteen. Are you sure about the number of prisoners?”
Over her shoulder, she said, “Yes.”
While he unlocked the last cell, Raven put her ear to the north stairway door.
“Anything?” Juan asked.
“Not a peep,” Raven said.
“I don’t like that.”
“Neither do I.”
Juan pulled the last door open and saw that the small cell was empty. Lyla had been right about the count.
“Let’s clear out,” Juan said. He waved Raven in front of him while he backed down the hall, covering the door behind them.
They’d made it halfway to the safety of the stairwell when Raven yelled, “Contact!”
He whipped around to see Eddie shove Lyla and Patty through the south stairwell door as shots rang out from the elevator, which faced the long wall of the hallway. The rounds barely missed the three before Eddie could close the door behind them.
Both Juan and Raven ducked behind open steel doors on opposite sides of the hall. They swung out instead of in to keep the hinge pins protected from the prisoners inside, so they provided cover for the two of them. Bullets smacked into the doors but didn’t penetrate them.
“Chairman,” Eddie said on the comms from the south stairwell, “report?”
“No injuries,” Raven said as she put her P90 around the side of the door and let loose a volley.
“Linc and I will stay behind to get you out of there.”
“No,” Juan said. “Seal the door behind you and take the prisoners to safety.”
That got a glance from Raven.
“Aye, Chairman,” Eddie said. “We’ll be back to get you.”
“Hopefully, that won’t be necessary . . . Go!”
“Aye, Chairman,” Eddie repeated.
“You seem pretty optimistic,” Raven said before firing another few rounds. “Especially given that we’re now locked in here with ten hostiles who want to kill us.”
Juan held up a syringe holding his supply of anti-glue solvent.
“We won’t be locked in. They will be.”
TWENTY-FIVE
When they reached the shed, Eddie herded Lyla and Patty into the rear of the container, half of which was piled with trash bags filled with refuse from the facility. The other prisoners were already inside, with MacD at the wheel of the rumbling tractor and Linc lying on top of the container to provide cover fire.
“Everybody stay down,” Eddie said. “This may be a bumpy ride.” They all sat on the floor.