“What?” Savanna and Ella said at the same time, just as the door to the study opened, and Henry rushed in.
“My security team has alerted me to a threat.” Henry looked straight from Ella to the bookshelf off to her left. “I have a safe room. They’ve advised us all to go inside. It’s impenetrable.”
“Your security team is running for the hills,” Sydney remarked. “Or, in this case, the forest.”
Still in a bit of a shocked daze, Ella did her best to snap herself back to the reality of the situation. Looking out the window, she saw Range Rovers rolling up the driveway in the distance, and sure enough, men running away from the property.
“Your crack security team seems to have abandoned ship,” Sydney said, still not a hint of fear in her voice, but Ella’s heart rate was maxed out, and from the look on Savanna’s face, hers was too.
Henry and Sydney were the only ones who remained calm in the midst of what would surely soon become chaos.
Sydney stalked straight for Henry as he slid the bookshelf to the side, revealing a steel door. “Who are you helping? You’re involved, but which side are you on?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I did you all a favor, and you’re going to question me?” Henry cursed under his breath while punching in a four-digit security code, and the door electronically opened outward. “Now get in.”
“We’re not locking ourselves in a room with you.” Sydney stepped directly in front of him, and Ella wasn’t sure what to do or think. They had limited options at the moment.
Safe room with Henry, who may be aligned with the bad guys for whatever reason, or stay out there and for sure get hurt. Both options sucked, but she had to go with option one. Safe room with Henry and hope for the best, not assume the worst. “Sydney, we don’t have a choice.”
Sydney looked back at Ella, then over at Savanna. “I need a weapon. A few. Provide me with those, and you might temporarily earn my trust.”
“What do you plan to do? Go up against them yourself?” Henry pointed toward the window, his jaw strained.
“Now that your team has taken off, someone has to do something.” Sydney went back to the window and shifted the drapes to the side for a better view. “I count ten tangos. They’re fanning out. Getting into position. I need to make my move now before they infil the main house.”
“Fine.” Henry tossed both hands in the air. “It’s your death wish.” He hurriedly moved into the safe room and came back out a moment later with a sidearm and a knife.
Sydney eyed the gun, checked the mag, then tucked the weapon at the back of her jeans. The knife remained in hand. “You’re rich. Rich people like archery. Where do you keep your bow?” Her monosyllabic tone, so cool and calm, almost had Ella feeling like everything was okay too.
“My office downstairs. Three doors down from the foyer, you’ll find the bow displayed on the wall behind my desk,” he answered, then moved into the safe room.
Ella wrapped an arm around Savanna’s back and pulled her in tight, hoping it’d ease her friend’s trembling body as they stood outside the entrance to the safe room. Savanna was probably in flashback hell after what happened to her in October.
“We’ll be okay,” she whispered reassuringly, trying to channel some of Sydney’s badass strength.
“Phone lines are down,” Henry announced from the safe room. “My mobile doesn’t work either.”
Sydney peeked into the room. “And yet, I see they kept your security cameras and lights on.” With her back to Ella and Savanna, she said, “If anything happens to them while they’re in the room with you, if you so much as touch them in any way, I will come back up here and gut you with this knife, are we clear?”
“Come on.” Ella lightly patted Savanna’s shoulder, prompting her to head into the small space, sidestepping Sydney.
“You’ll be okay.” Sydney gave Ella a nod and shut the door, securing them inside the room. Ella swallowed down the lump in her throat when she heard the bookshelf slide into place.
Henry dropped onto the only chair in the room opposite the wall of security screens and kept his focus on the changing views of the property. Only eight screens, but there had to be dozens of cameras across the sprawling estate. “She’s not the most likable woman I’ve ever met,” he said in a deep voice while Ella and Savanna stood next to him and watched as well.
Ella didn’t bother to respond, too stunned this was all happening. And with Sydney suspicious of Henry and his motives, how could Ella not be? There was more than just a little something off about this whole thing. “We just happened to be in the study where your safe room is located when men stormed your property. Little convenient, don’t you think?”
“Almost as if you knew this was going to happen,” Savanna added, her fingers racing over the screen where Sydney headed down the back stairs.
“Well, considering French Intelligence was holding you today for some reason, a guy can’t be too cautious, can he?” Henry’s tone was clipped, and Ella figured it’d be best to keep one eye on the man in case there happened to be another weapon in the room that he decided to go for with Sydney gone.
Before Ella could respond to him, what felt like an explosion from beneath them rocked the floor and had Ella stumbling, but Savanna grabbed her arm to keep her upright. “What was that?”
“They blew a hole in my front door,” Henry said through gritted teeth. Oddly, he sounded more frustrated than scared.
Ella watched two figures in all black, faces covered by masks, rifles in front of them, enter through what was once the double doors in the foyer of the home. Two more quickly followed. They’re inside now.
“One of those guys turned down the hall where Sydney is,” Savanna softly said.
Ella tapped at the arrows on the keyboard, trying to sort through the camera views to find Sydney. “There. She’s in the office. She’s got the bow.”
“And she has company,” Savanna pointed out, but Sydney was clearly aware she wasn’t alone. She dropped to one knee, twisted her torso toward the open doorway, and let an arrow fly, hitting the would-be assailant standing there directly in the jugular. “Yeah, wow, okay, she just did that.”
“Where are the other three guys who came inside?” Ella shifted screens again, but froze at the sight of one image, then clapped a hand over her mouth as tears welled in her eyes.
“Our guys,” Savanna said when Ella was unable to get her voice to work. “They’re here.”
Ella lowered her hand from her mouth. “They were released just in time.” With their weapons?
Jesse stealthily maneuvered across the property toward the house, his shoulders hunched slightly forward and his rifle trained ahead.
He’s a skilled operator, Ella reminded herself, while at the same time trying not to think about what he’d admitted to her on the plane. That Zoran was alive because he’d been “off his game” that day, distracted by Ella’s impending marriage to Brian. Hopefully, he won’t be off tonight with me here. She couldn’t bear it if anything happened to him, let alone see it on camera the way Savanna had seen her husband executed by terrorists in 2015.