She needed to get that gun.
Dayne’s voice came in loud and clear. “At the south end right now. The explosion caused a cave-in on Tunnels North and South, and we’re working to clear the southern one right now. Are you in the south cell?”
“Yes. I have Karma.” Terre didn’t even turn around to look at her.
Karma searched for a weapon, but there was nothing except the small computer station in the underground room. Maybe a rock would fall from the ceiling. She looked up but didn’t see anything that looked loose. Gathering her strength, she rushed for the door and tried to yank it open. “What’s the code?” she yelled, her chest thundering. The girls were upstairs by themselves. Would they know how to get out?
“Did you see Drake or Vero?” Dayne asked. “I haven’t found either kid yet.”
“No,” Terre barked. “The main lodge was already on fire when we came down here. Are you sure I shouldn’t open the tunnel door?” He glanced at Karma as another explosion rocked the night.
She pulled uselessly at the door and then dropped to the floor to see if she could scrape free enough dirt to go under.
Static came over the line, and then it cleared. “No. You’re safe in that room until we finish with the tunnel. The room is surrounded by cement, so a fire won’t get you. The top door is secure, and nobody will find the passageway. You have oxygen and whatever you need. I’ll call you, brother. If you do need to unlock the tunnel door, you can do it with the keypad. It can’t be unlocked from this end.” Dayne disengaged the call.
Terre stood. “Get away from that door.”
Karma turned around and struggled to her feet, tears clogging her eyes. “Open the door. The kids are upstairs, even Vero. He’s yours, right? Please let me save them.”
Terre stared at her, his long hair dark against his pale skin. “I care little about those children but will be very interested in the sons we create.” He moved toward her, full of grace and anger. “It was a nice try with the rash, by the way.” He grabbed her elbow and yanked her toward him. “You lay with the hybrid, didn’t you?”
“No,” she lied. “Let me save the kids, and I’ll do whatever you want. We can mate the second we get to safety.” She had no idea what he might have used for a code. It was probably random numbers, and that door was the only way to her children. Another explosion echoed through the night. “Please, Terre. If you want to have any sort of life with me, let me save them.”
He shoved her back against the door. “Those aren’t the children for us, and you’ll do whatever I want already.” His hold was painful, and he squeezed her arm harder, yanking her up. Then he kissed her, his mouth bruising.
Her mind settled, and she kneed him directly in the groin, tearing her mouth away. He partially bent over, his eyes wide, and she punched him in the left one. Then the right. She kept punching until he backed up, and then she kicked him right below the knee, just as Benjamin had taught her.
If she could just get him on the ground, maybe she could take the gun. She kicked again, and he grabbed her ankle, yanking her off the ground and then letting go.
She flew up and landed on her back. The air whooshed out of her lungs, and her head thunked on the dirt floor. Her ears rang and sparks flew behind her eyelids. The pain was immense.
Then he was on her. Straddling her and ripping her shirt. She screamed and raked his face with her nails, thrashing beneath him to get free. He tore off the shirt and then grabbed her by the neck, cutting off her oxygen. The room swam around her.
Something hovered to the side of her vision. She looked, and Linda was there, throwing all her force into a punch that actually landed on Terre’s temple.
His head flew to the side, and the spirit hit him again, grunting with the effort. Her eyes were a wild topaz, though her hair was barely visible.
Karma pushed Terre and slid out from under him, grabbing the gun out of his waist. She backed away, and Linda hovered next to her, fading in and out. “How did you do that?” Karma gasped, her lip bleeding down her chin.
“Don’t know,” Linda said, her voice weak. “It’s for the girls.”
“Our girls,” Karma said, lifting the gun and pointing it at Terre.
He stood, many, many inches taller than she. “You won’t shoot—”
She fired several times, hitting him in the head, neck, and chest. Blood poured from his wounds, and he dropped to the ground, his brain taking refuge in unconsciousness so he could heal. Breathing heavily, she turned and fired at the keypad. It was her only chance.
Nothing happened.
She fired again, shooting the green lasers all around the pad and right through it. Finally, something clicked. Crying, she snatched Terre’s tablet off the table and ran out of the room and up the stairs, her boots slipping on the rough wood.
It couldn’t be too late. It just couldn’t.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Benny kicked another door open in the main lodge as fire crackled around him and smoke billowed. He tried to cover his mouth and nose. “Karma,” he yelled again.
“Benjamin!” A hidden door opened in the hallway, and she stumbled out, blood on her face and her bra dirty. Scrapes covered her bare arms, and her shirt was missing. She’d never looked so good. “The girls,” she gasped, turning to the right and running through the smoke.
He followed her, grasping her elbow to steer her away from the fire licking up the east side of the building.
She reached a room at the end of the hall and pushed open the door.
He ran in behind her as the ceiling in the hallway collapsed, barely slamming the door shut before the fire could rush in. Heat smashed against his ankles.
“Boone, Belle?” Karma cried out, dropping to the ground beneath the smoke.
Two little girls crawled out from beneath the nearest bed, both in little shirts that covered them past their knees. They had long black hair and terrified brown eyes, and both rushed to Karma, crying. She gathered them in her arms as she knelt.
Benny ran past the bed and opened the lone window, looking around the night outside. Most of the fights seemed to be finished. “Let’s go, sweetheart. Now.” The fire was coming in, and the smoke was unbearable. He didn’t trust this ceiling, either.
Karma grabbed the little hands of the girls and rushed toward him.
He whisked her off her feet and set her outside the room before she could stop him. Then he picked up both girls and handed one out. Karma took her, and Benny jumped out with the second one, landing on his knees and rolling to keep from hurting the fragile child.
The door inside exploded inward.