We hadn’t heard any fighting. No gunshots. No war cries. The house had been silent apart from the chirp of a doorbell a few minutes ago.
We’d all looked at each other at the oddity of the bell going off at this time but decided it might be the police who Q had on his payroll according to Tess.
Three hours had been long and boring, but I would happily wait three years if it meant tonight had a happier ending.
The knock hammered again.
Being the one closest to the door, I gave Tess a look then inched closer toward it. “Who’s there?”
The absurdity of asking while in the prelude to battle made me flush with complex nerves.
What if I spoke to the enemy?
What if they’d silently murdered Elder and the others and come to finish their culling with us?
Should I be less polite? Should I growl and curse and demand to know their names so I knew who I would be slaughtering?
Before I could rephrase my question, the pounding fist was replaced with a gruff voice. “Phillip, ma’am. We were sent by Mr. Mercer.”
I looked over my shoulder at Tess, verifying she knew these men and it wasn’t a lie.
She came closer, crossing her arms as if she couldn’t quite recognise.
Phillip added through the door, “The enemy has arrived in greater force than planned. We were tasked to protect you.”
I looked at Tess. Were they here to protect us, or was it a lie? And if they were, was that a compliment from her husband or confirmation that he believed we were less than capable at survival?
Oh, my God, Pim. Why choose now to compare the pros and cons of different sexes?
That was my mother’s genes choosing to focus on human nature rather than focus on the task at hand.
Blinking my attention back to important matters, I asked, “Do you know him?”
Tess lowered her arms, marching to the door. “I know him.” Throwing open the deadlock, she ushered the two guards inside and locked it again just as fast. “What’s happening down there?”
“Nothing, Mrs Mercer.” One of them clutched his gun higher. “That Prest fellow and another Japanese bloke are talking.”
“Talking?”
He nodded. “That’s it as far as I’m aware—”
A loud crack silenced him, vibrating around the countryside, bouncing off the sleeping trees, echoing off napping clouds.
“Oh, no.” I slapped a hand over my mouth knowing exactly what that noise was.
A gun.
A pistol.
Something with the power to steal a life with one trigger.
“It’s begun.” Tess sprinted to the window, barging past staff members to investigate. She slapped the window sill in frustration. “Shit, I can’t see anything.”
“Ma’am, step away from the window. You’re a target.” The guards ran after Tess and I ran after the guards. All of us huddled at the glass, peering into the night for clues on what’d happened.
The turret faced away from the front door toward the garages and other buildings. It didn’t stop Tess from unlocking the window and bending her body as far as she could outside to catch a glimpse.
“Ma’am.” A guard clutched the back of Tess’s top, trying to stop her but still governed by her authority.
Tess stood straight, obeying the command. The moment she was back in the room, the guard locked the window and stood beside us with his legs braced and gun drawn as his colleague went to fortify the door.
Two areas of weakness.
Two men for protection.
I placed my fingers on the glass, glaring through the hazy gloom as my heart got on its knees and begged to know Elder was okay. I wished I could fly from this tower and go to his side.
He’d agreed to stay.
But he hadn’t agreed not to stick to his original plan of dying to protect us—the one move I couldn’t do equally. The one strategy that was entirely his decision with no input from me.
Frustrated tears glossed my eyes.
Don’t be a hero, Elder. Be safe and come back to me.
Another boom sounded as a bullet flew from gun to target—not knowing if it was our men or theirs who fired.
Sweat slicked my spine as I dropped my gaze from the sprawling gardens to directly below us, searching for a drainpipe or vines—something I could use to escape and find Elder.
But my attention locked onto yet another nightmare.
A flash of three shadows blended from grass to brick, darting through dead spots left by the security lights, streaking toward the tower like night crawlers.
“Look.” I elbowed Tess.
She latched onto the evil coming for us, understanding like I had the danger we were in.
Two guards wouldn’t be enough if they reached us. She swore as colourfully as her husband, dragging hands through blonde hair. “They’re going to climb.”
“No. Surely, they won’t—they don’t know where we are.” Suzette squeezed between us, staring at the same calamity we did. Far, far below our turret, the three shadows emerged at the base and looked up.