I ran my hand along her arm then back to her other arm until I met his grip. And then I very forcibly peeled his pinky back and snapped it.
His howling scream was so satisfying it was almost like a lover’s caress. "What the fuck?"
"My wife asked you to stop touching her. I suggest you don't touch her without her explicit permission again."
I could feel him come at me like a whoosh of air into my space, and I glowered because he was wearing glasses of some kind. It was hard to tell in the dark, but I could see something on his face. Some kind of sleek night vision goggles. What the fuck?
"We have these security parameters for a reason." His voice lowered to a whisper. "I’m just asking everyone to calm down and stay where you are. My team will have this dealt with posthaste."
As he spoke, I reached for Emma's hand behind me and she was right there already reaching for mine. "Thank you, but we won't be staying."
"You have no choice, she’s my employee. If she attempts to leave, we'll have no choice but to assume that she's partially responsible for the security threat."
"And you know full well that should you argue that, it'll be very difficult for you to prove. She's been here with you in your direct line of sight all evening. So you are going to let us off your property."
"Of course, I'm happy to do so, but I do want to make sure that she's safe. She's my employee."
Emma's voice was strong behind me. "Not anymore."
There was a long pause, and I gripped her hand hard because we were going to have to run. And I wanted to convey the message to her without actually saying it, because when I did what I was planning to do, I wouldn't have any choice.
I hope she can run in those fucking shoes.
"Why don't we wait until we cool our heads to discuss that decision, yeah?” Middleton said. “In the meantime, I'm going to ask that you stay exactly here because my security team shoots on sight, and I don't want anyone to accidentally murder my current employees."
I grinned, knowing it was more of a sneer. And then I said, "Funny that you should mention murder." And then, quick as a flash, I jabbed him directly in his nose and snatched the glasses off. Quickly, I popped another fist to his face before dragging Emma behind me.
As we hustled for the door, I popped the glasses on. Jesus fucking Christ, it was so much easier to see with them. "Move your ass, Emma."
"I'm trying, goddamn it. Have you tried to run in four-inch heels before?"
"There was that one time in Uni. Don't ask questions."
All I heard behind me was her snort of laughter, but she kept up as best she could. She had long legs, and she was strong. But at one point, I heard her curse behind me, and then she stopped. "Babe, love, you can't stop. Let's go."
"Sorry. I'm just taking these goddamn shoes off."
And then she was running, beating me. Jesus, she was surprisingly quick. And she was carrying her shoes like weapons.
We headed out of the massive ballroom into the reception hall, to the right, and I could see some people milling about, trying to feel their way along the walls. Down the hall, I saw a security guard with his gun drawn. I immediately tugged Emma to a halt, wrapped my arm around her as we walked, and snatched the night vision glasses off.
He'd been thirty feet down the hall. I counted silently. Twenty-five. Twenty. Fifteen. Ten. And then I put the glasses back on. He still had his gun drawn. He wasn't paying much attention to us as Emma didn't have to pretend she couldn't see. When we were close enough he called out, “Hey, who's there? No one is supposed to be in the hallway. It's too dangerous.”
Emma was great. She immediately started to feel around. “Oh my God, I really needed the bathroom, and he said he'd come with me, and we just got turned around and it's so dark. Do you know what's happening?”
The guard seemed confused at first. “Ma’am, you need to turn back around and head back to the ball—"
I hit him hard and pulled his goggles off his face.
"What the—"
Before he got to say anything, I landed another punch to his throat, grabbed him by his lapels, and then snapped my head forward to catch him on the nose. Blood started spurting everywhere, and I patted him down and grabbed his walkie. As he rolled and moaned, I kneeled down and popped him in the face once more for good measure.
Next to me, Emma gasped. "Bridge, what's happening? What's going on?"
I took her hand and put Middleton’s glasses in her palm as I put on the other goggles. When she put them on, I could almost feel the tension ease out of her. "What the hell?" She glanced down at the motionless security guard. "Is that a gun? Why does he have a gun?"
I tucked the walkie in my lapel then took his gun and checked it. Those were live rounds.
Fucking hell.
I tried our comms again. "Lucas, come in. Lucas."
But nothing. They were down. Middleton’s team must be doing something to block communications because they have been using a separate channel on walkies.
"What do we do, Bridge?"
"Every person in here, including Roone, is well trained enough to know how to get the fuck out of here. So let’s get out of here safe and sound. We’ll regroup, and if we need to, we'll come back for anyone left behind."
There was a movement behind me, and before I could respond, Emma whirled and connected one of her bare feet to his femur.
He grunted and grabbed her ankle. "Easy, pet, I'm not the enemy."
"Oh my God, Roone, I'm sorry. You just surprised me and…"
He tapped his night vision goggles too. "Snagged these off a security guard in the ballroom."
I had never been more relieved to see him. "Jesus Christ. Okay, well, we have you. Where are Lucas and Bryna?"
"Don't know, but Lucas will get Bryna out of here. He would never leave her behind. If they did trip something, Lucas is probably going to get her."
I halted. "It’s Bryna. We should go help her."
Roone shook his head. "No, the prince knows what he's doing."
I chuckled. "Lucas?"
Roone grinned. "Remember, he wasn't always a prince. You have more in common with Lucas than you do Ben or East. Trust me."
So the three of us headed out, not at the main entrance, but using the egress route we'd chosen before. The alarms had already gone off, so we wouldn’t risk tripping anything else.
I glanced over at Emma once we were in the fresh air. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so. Jesus."
"You can run?"
"Yeah. Let's go. Come on."
Over the crest about a quarter of a mile away and down the path that led to the beach, we had boats waiting in a small cove.
A crack zipped above my ear as we ran, and I cursed as I dove and tackled Emma, covering her body with mine.
Beneath me, she struggled. "What the fuck are you—"
Another crack rang out.
This time, Roone tucked and rolled and dove beside us. "The fuck? We need to crawl out of here."
Ten more feet to the crest. We kept low and tried to hide behind shrubbery. The person they had shooting at us wasn't a sniper. Otherwise, we'd already be dead.