The Witch Hunter Chronicles: Hunted

Without warning, a series of loud pops like Fourth of July fireworks erupted from somewhere inside the building. Unfortunately, I was getting used to that sound. Our entire room was instantly quiet. Then there was a scream, and I followed the shocked gazes of the occupants back to the glass entrance doors and saw a streak of blood along one panel, and a body in a blue suit slumped down below the red stain. The dead-man’s gun hung limply from his fingertips.

Not again. Did I forget-

I patted my leg and breathed out as I felt the hilt of my blade in its thigh sheath. Lucía told me to never leave the house without it, and for once in my life I listened. I also had a five-shot derringer in my purse. Fran told me never to leave the house without a firearm, and for the second time in my life, I listened. Apparently, I was starting a new trend.

Galahad, if you’re here, my dagger has an appointment with your left eye.

Two guards ran past the conference room and there was another series of pops. A hand grabbed my arm, and the blade was out of its sheath and halfway to his throat before I realized it was only the cute guard that had a hold on me.

His eyes were wide and panicked. “Senorita, we have to go,” he said. He looked at the blade in my hand, then back at me and swallowed hard. My face was hot with anger, and I can only imagine what he saw in my eyes at that moment.

Lucía placed herself between me and the door and yelled at two of the biggest guards to do the same. All three had drawn pistols and were looking around for a person to aim them at. Everyone in the room was now standing, and at least half the people had guns in their hands as well.

“That knife’s not going to be very useful in a gun fight,” the cute guard said.

I showed him the miniature derringer in my purse and said, “I’m Kenzie. You got a name, or should I just keep calling you cute guard in my head?”

The cute guard smiled for a fraction of a second. “It’s Manuel. Maybe we can have a proper introduction when you’re safe. As for that gun, it’s only good at point blank range. Aim center mass and empty all the chambers.”

I knew that much already, but I nodded anyway.

“We need to get the High Queen out of the building!” Hugo yelled to the room at large. “She stays safe at all costs.”

He actually sounds like he cares. My little display must have really shook him.

A fiftyish guard with salt-and-pepper hair and a bushy mustache said, “Form up around la reina.”

Lucía grabbed the man by the arm and said, “We need to get to the roof.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied.

Guards began to converge around me, and I reached between two of them to grab Jordan’s hand and pull him close. No matter what, I wasn’t going to lose track of him.

“We stay together,” I said.

“Always,” he replied. He squeezed my hand tight, and I squeezed right back.

Another guard roughly the size of a refrigerator was asking into a walkie-talkie, “I repeat, how many are there?” but he got only static in reply. He turned and said to the older guard, “The door is going to be a bottle neck, sir, and I have no idea who’s attacking us or what assets we have left in the hall.”

It had been quiet for the past minute, which could have meant that all the bad guys were dead or that all the good guys were dead. I was betting on the latter.

Salt-and-pepper likely felt the same way. He pointed to the glass partitions and said, “Let’s bring these walls down first.”

The guards and a few of the armed family members took aim with their pistols. Manuel said, “Cover your ears.” I did, just as a hail of bullets shattered the wall of glass partitions. A few of the guards kicked out the remaining glass, while others took up firing position down the hallway. Gunfire erupted again and a guard that peeked his head out collapsed onto the broken glass, a clean bullet hole in his forehead. I gasped and turned away.

“They’ve got a sniper in one of the south offices,” salt-and-pepper said.

I saw Marc at the edge of the open partition, and he caught my eye – just for a split second – before turning and diving through the gap in the wall and rolling into the office on the opposite side of the hallway. Gunfire followed him, but he popped up on the other side, unscathed and with a pistol in each hand. He returned fire, then ducked back as a new barrage of gunfire blew chunks out of the doorframe where his head had been moments before. The distraction gave some of our guys a moment to get into position and shoot back at the attackers.

For a minute there, it looked like it just might work. Our guys unleashed a barrage of gunfire down the hall, and mustache began barking orders to his men about how to cover my group on our way upstairs and the rest of the guests on their way to the parking garage. Suddenly our guys started dropping as gunfire erupted from the opposite side of the hallway – i.e., the direction we needed to go to board the helicopter. As our remaining guards ducked for cover, three clunky black cylinders the size of a red bull cans landed one by one in front of our position.

Before my brain had time to respond to the new threat, the cylinders exploded with a cacophony of blinding light and deafening sound. Half-blind and ears ringing, I was dragged by the hand through the doorway and down the hallway back towards the elevator we came in on. What I could make out as I stumbled down the hallway was complete pandemonium. Gunshots were ringing out from either direction, men were screaming instructions or crying out in pain and the air was filled with smoke from all the burnt gunpowder.

As my vision began to clear, I finally glimpsed the enemy for the first time. They were a blur of black-suited bodies moving about at both ends of the hallway, flitting in and out of offices and firing assault rifles from the cover of doorframes and overturned desks. Casualties were occurring on both sides, and bodies littered the hallway along with shell casings and broken glass. It finally clicked in my numbed brain that I hadn’t the foggiest idea who I was following. I tore my gaze away from the carnage and looked up to find that it was one of the guards that was pulling me down the hallway.

I still had Jordan’s hand, so I knew he was all right, but I was worried about Lucía and Marc – having lost track of them both when the flash-bang grenades went off. I glanced back to see if I could spot them, and just as I did, I crashed into something that felt as solid as a brick wall. I saw stars, but I stayed on my feet – at least I did until Jordan crashed into the back of me, and whatever breath I had left in my lungs was knocked forcibly out of me.

I looked up from the ground, dazed and gasping, just in time to see the guard that had been leading me drop his gun, stagger back and begin to fall backwards towards me. I rolled to my right, and I was able to get my upper body out of the way. He still came down on my legs though, pinning me to the ground. I looked into the fallen man’s face and my breath caught in my throat. It was Manuel. There was a red, weeping hole in his forehead, and two more in his chest. His eyes were glassy and blank, and he wasn’t breathing. His gun was lying on the ground next to him, and I scooped it up without a second thought. It was one of those big 1911 models, and the hammer was already cocked.

A looked down the hall and saw a man in cargo pants, a long sleeve shirt and a ski mask, all black, striding towards me with some sort of machine gun held in both hands. He was dropping the barrel down to my level just as I was raising my gun towards him.

I’m probably dead, but I’m taking this bastard with me.

Before either of us fired a shot, the man’s head jerked back, and he crumpled like a lifeless toy.

I caught the muzzle-flash in my peripheral vision and looked left to see Jordan in a shooters crouch. He fired two more times at another assassin that had poked his head out of a doorway ten yards ahead of us, this time hitting only drywall as the man pulled his head back at the last moment. Seamus and two other men stepped in front of us and began firing pistol rounds down the hallway. Seamus turned back and yelled something to me, and I squinted at him in confusion as I struggled to my feet.

By this point, I couldn’t hear a damn thing. Seamus grabbed me by the collar of my jacket and dragged me into the nearest office. Jordan had my hand again, and I pulled him along too. The people around us either followed us into the office or took up defensive positions around the doorway. The gunshots slowed to few-and-far-between – like a bag of microwave popcorn that’s ready to eat – as both sides hunkered down in their little fortified sections of office space.

Seamus leaned in close and said, “They have the elevators at both ends. You’ll need to use the west stairwell to get to the roof.” I nodded. Somehow, I knew which way west was, and I remembered the perpendicular hallway he was talking about from when I arrived earlier.

What about everyone else? I can’t leave them all here while I run away.

I frowned and shook my head. “No,” I answered. “I’m not leaving all these people to die.”

He opened his mouth to answer, but there were more gunshots. I swung towards the doorway with my gun leveled, but it was just Lucía and Hugo. I dropped my arm back down to my side and let out a deep breath. Hugo’s leg was bleeding, and his arm was around Lucía’s shoulder for support. A handful of men and women who had likely been covering their retreat rolled in behind them. I breathed a small sigh of relief when I saw Marc’s face among the survivors. By this point the office was packed, and it stunk with the commingled smell of gunpowder and sweat.

“Hugo, we need to get the High Queen to the helicopter,” Seamus said, “and the only way she’s going to get there is by the west stairwell.”

“Is the pilot still alive?” Hugo asked.

“You’re guess is as good as mine,” Seamus replied.

“I can fly, if it comes to that,” Lucía answered. Marc looked at her doubtfully but remained silent.

“What about everyone else?” I asked Lucía. I knew the helicopter would only hold a few of us, and I had no intention of abandoning everyone else to their fate.

“They’ll be fine once you leave,” Lucía said. My face must have shown my doubt at that statement, because she added, “Kenzie, these desgraciados will all be chasing after you, if that makes you feel any better.”

It does actually.

And it made sense. In all these years, no one had bothered attacking Lucía ’s family… at least, as far as I knew. Reluctantly, I nodded my acceptance. Lucía grabbed me by the shoulders and looked me straight in the eyes. How she could look so calm in a situation like this was beyond me. Obviously, I’d made the right choice when I knighted her.

“Just keep your head down and run. I’ll cover your back.” She turned and faced Seamus and asked, “You ready to do this?”

They stared at each other for a few moments, and I felt like I was missing something unsaid that was going on between them.

“Aye lass, we’ll clear a path,” Seamus replied. “Tommy and Victor,” Seamus pointed at two men and they both nodded, “you’re with me. The rest of you – cover the High Queen’s retreat.”

Seamus moved to the doorway with Tommy and Victor. Tommy was tall and thin while Victor was broad, with a thick neck that reminded me of a bull. Both men looked to be in their twenties, and judging by the looks on their faces, scared to death. They waited with pistols drawn while Seamus shouldered past the doorway guards and poked his head into the hall, scanning quickly in both directions. Thankfully, no one took a potshot at him while he was exposed.

In front of me, Hugo stood with his right arm draped over Marc’s shoulders and his left over Jordan’s. Behind me, a handful of other gun-toting survivors paced around nervously while waiting to cover our retreat. I knew exactly how they felt. I was so jacked-up on adrenaline and I could barely hear over the sound of my pulse crashing in my ears.

Seamus looked back and asked, “Everyone ready?”

There were nods and grumbled affirmatives from around the room.

“Well then let’s do this,” he said. “Victor, you and I will punch a hole. Tommy, you’ll cover our six.”

Without another word, Seamus bolted left out the door, with Victor right on his tail. Both men began firing their weapons as soon as they entered the hallway, but with all the noise, it was hard to tell if anyone was firing back. Tommy followed a few paces behind them and moved to the opposite side of the hall. Once behind cover, he waved his hand in a circular motion and yelled to us, “Go, go, go!”

Hugo and his human crutches went first. I was right behind them and Lucía right behind me. I was out the door and moving left when I saw a black-clad dude with an automatic rifle step out of the conference room we’d been in earlier and begin to track his weapon on Lucía. I knew the gunman wasn’t in Tommy’s field of vision, and I fired my pistol at the man before I even had a chance to think about it – and felt a surge of satisfaction when he dropped his rifle and clutched his injured shoulder. The injured gunman spun and flung himself back into the conference room as I emptied the rest of my clip in his general direction.

I looked back at Lucía, and her eyes were wide. She mouthed a silent “Thank you” to me as we ran. Behind us, the survivors piled out of the office and began to run towards the enemy in the opposite direction. Only Tommy followed us as we passed by him. It took me a moment to register what was going on.

They’re sacrificing themselves so I can escape.

I glared in fury at Lucía, but she wouldn’t meet my gaze. I tossed the now empty pistol into a deserted office and followed my group down the hallway. I still had my dagger and the little derringer, but with all the automatic weapon fire, my little arsenal didn’t fill me with much hope. Seamus and Victor fired controlled bursts up the hallway whenever one of the enemy combatants poked a head out of a doorway. We covered the fifty feet of open space without casualties and found ourselves completely alone in an undamaged section of the building.

“You two,” Seamus barked at Tommy and Vincent, “hold the hallway. No one gets through. Understood?” Both men nodded solemnly. Two more men putting their lives ahead of mine. I felt sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

“Mackenzie, you take the stairs up with Hugo and the other youths,” Seamus said. “I’m going to go down a floor and see if I can flank their position through the west stairwell.”

“Thank you, Seamus,” I said. “Please be careful, and if you have the chance to get free, I want you to take it and run.”

Seamus didn’t argue, but the look on his face told me all I needed to know about his views on retreat and surrender. Hugo and Marc stood off to one side having a quiet but animated conversation with lots of hand waving and furrowed brows. I didn’t have time to think about it what it pertained to though, because Tommy and Victor began firing their weapons – each in a different direction.

“Time to go!” Seamus yelled as he pulled the stairwell door open. I nodded and began to go through, but at the last moment I turned back and kissed the old man on his cheek. He actually blushed. I wanted to cry, but it wouldn’t have done anyone any good. Instead, I turned away, grabbed Jordan’s hand, and followed Lucía up the stairs.

“Lucy,” Hugo called up, halting us in our tracks. “I’m staying behind to hold the stairwell.”

“Papá?” She had a look of panic on her face, as she brushed past me on her way back down the stairs. “You have to come with us.”

“I’ve already tried, hermana,” Marc said, but with a softness that was uncharacteristic. “He’s being stubborn.”

He pointed to his leg and said, “I’ll only slow you down hija. Besides, our men will be overrun at any minute.” He held up his pistol and said, “I can hold them off a little bit longer.”

“We’re not leaving anyone else behind,” I said.

We heard more gunshots and a man screamed in pain. “There’s no time,” Hugo said. “Go now, or all this death will have been for nothing. She needs to get out Lucy,” Hugo said, fixing a stern eye on his daughter. “That’s all that matters.”

I had a knot in my throats as I heard those words. I guess he finally believed.

If I survive this, I’ll be the… ruler, leader, whatever that is worthy of all this blind devotion.

Lucía hugged her father and he kissed her on the forehead. When she turned back to me, there were fresh tears on her cheeks, but the expression on her face was all business. She took the steps two at a time as she passed me. I watched as Marc and Hugo shook hands, and then turned and followed Lucía up the stairs.