Bang!Bang!Bang!
For the second time that night, I jerked awake, but this time the nightmare was reality. Someone was shooting at the bedroom door.
“Javier!” I shouted, but he had already vaulted to his feet, swearing under his breath.
Someone yelled a steady stream of Spanish. Javier responded in kind.
“Levántate! Get up!”
I jumped out of bed and ran toward him. “What are they saying? I don’t understand.”
“We’ve run out of time,” Javier said. “Any minute now, they’re going to burst inside this bedroom, and neither of us is going to live to see another day.”
“Nonono.” I shook my head.
“Listen to me.” Javier gripped my shoulders. “You’ll have to do exactly as I say, and you’ll make it out alive. But you’ve got to swear you’ll get Sullivan to let Talon go.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Don’t go back on your word.”
“I won’t.”
Javier dragged me over to his walk-in closet and pushed me behind the row of clothes.
“Where are we going?”
He shoved aside some jackets, revealing a trap door.
“Get in there,” he said.
“Wait.” I grabbed his hand. “Aren’t you coming?”
“No. I’ll try to reason with them.”
“You said they wanted to kill both of us.”
“They do, but maybe I can get them to change their minds. At best, it will buy you some time to get away before they search the property for you.”
“But—”
“Just go. Once you’re down the stairs, turn on the light to your left on the wall. You’ll find another set of stairs that will take you down to a secret underground tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is another door with a passcode. The passcode is T-A-L-O-N 8.”
“Talon 8.”
“Yes. Now go.”
I took one last look at Javier and started down the steps. Javier grasped my hand. “Kit.”
“Yes?”
“Please, tell Talon I’m sorry I never told him how much I loved him.”
My eyes stung as the meaning behind Javier’s words hit me. “Javier, it’s not too late to tell him yourself.”
The trap door shut, plunging me into darkness. A shiver ran down my spine, and I hesitated to go any farther. I couldn’t see anything. What if there were rats or spiders?
Muffled voices overhead propelled me into action. I climbed down slowly, all the while touching the wall. At the end of the stairs, I felt the wall, just as Javier had advised, and located the switch. A low light flooded the cold, concrete space. Where were the other stairs Javier had mentioned? There, off to the side. I rushed toward them, my heart in my throat. When I reached the tunnel, darkness swallowed me up again.