Page 13

13

KYRA

W hen the dust settled, the door stood slightly open, and as Max pushed it in all the way, Kyra and Yamanu swept into the room, covering all corners with their weapons.

The scene inside seared itself into Kyra's memory.

Yasmin was huddling with the children in the back of the cell. Her body curved protectively around the three smallest ones. A little girl, no more than six years old, clung to her mother, her face buried against her chest. The two older ones, about fourteen and fifteen, flanked their mother, hugging her from both ends.

Yasmin looked up with wary defiance in her tear-stricken eyes, one arm tightening around her youngest while the other moved subtly to push the older children behind her. Even in captivity, even in fear, she was protecting her children with a fierceness that made Kyra's chest ache with pride.

"Who are you?" Yasmin demanded. "What do you want with us?" Her voice was steady despite the tremor visible in her hands.

Kyra lowered her weapon, keeping it ready at her side but trying to appear less threatening.

"We're here to free you."

Suspicion flickered across Yasmin's face. "You're not with them?"

"No," Kyra assured her. "We're with the Kurdish resistance. We learned of your capture and came to free you."

The lie was an easier and faster explanation. The truth could wait for when they were not in immediate danger.

Yasmin's eyes narrowed, studying Kyra's face with a scrutiny that seemed to pierce through flesh and bone. "You look familiar."

Something twisted in Kyra's chest—hope, perhaps, that her sister might recognize her despite the years and the impossibility of her youthful appearance. But there was no time for revelations now.

"We can talk later," she said. "Right now, we need to move. Quickly and quietly."

Yasmin hesitated only a moment before nodding. She rose from the bench, gathering the youngest child into her arms. "Do exactly as she says," she told the other children .

They nodded, wide-eyed but obedient. The oldest boy, who looked to be about fifteen, moved to help the younger ones.

"Max, take point," Kyra instructed. "Yamanu, rear guard. I'll stay with the family."

She was taking command from Yamanu, but he seemed okay with that. Later, she would apologize, but right now she needed to be in charge of the operation.

Kyra turned to Yasmin. "Stay close to me. If I say drop, you all get down immediately. No questions and no hesitation. Your lives depend on your quick responses."

Yasmin nodded again, her lips tight with determination. The initial shock was wearing off, replaced by the strong will of a mother intent on getting her children to safety.

Max checked the corridor before motioning them forward.

They moved as one, with Dima and Anton going first, Kyra positioned between Max and her family, and Yamanu bringing up the rear. The youngest child whimpered softly in her mother's arms, but the others maintained a disciplined silence, or maybe a terrified one.

They had made it halfway back to their entry point when a shrill alarm sounded throughout the facility. Red emergency lights flashed, bathing the corridors in an eerie, pulsating glow .

"They discovered the breach," Yamanu said. "We need to move faster."

"This way," Max urged, leading them down a side corridor. "I see a sign for an exit."

The sound of running footsteps and shouted commands echoed from ahead just as their group detoured into the side corridor.

Anton ran ahead while Dima joined Yamanu to bring up the rear.

Yasmin clutched the little girl tighter while the other children moved closer together, their faces pale with fear.

"It's going to be okay," Kyra assured them in a whisper. "Just stay close to me."

They turned another corner and found themselves facing three armed guards. There was no time for stealth, no opportunity for careful planning. The guards shouted in alarm, raising their weapons.

Kyra reacted on pure instinct. She pushed Yasmin and the children back around the corner, providing them cover with her body, then spun back to face the threat. Anton had already dispatched two of the guards, but the third managed to shoot, hitting the hybrid in the back, where a Kevlar vest protected him.

Kyra's weapon came up smoothly, but Max beat her to it, firing at the third guard.

The guy went down, and Anton straightened, patting his front and back as if surprised that he was unharmed .

"Let's go!" Kyra urged the family, shepherding them past the fallen guards. "We're almost there."

They increased their pace, the children running to keep up. Yasmin stumbled once, weighted down by the child in her arms, and Kyra instinctively reached out to steady her. Their eyes met briefly, and something passed between them—not recognition, exactly, but a connection that transcended their current circumstances.

The exit was just ahead, a service door that would lead them back to the compound's southern perimeter, where they had entered.

Freedom was tantalizingly close.

Then Kyra's pendant suddenly flared with heat so intense she nearly gasped aloud. Without conscious thought, she spun around, her weapon already tracking toward a new threat she hadn't yet seen.

A soldier had appeared from a side passage, his weapon aimed directly at Yasmin's back. In the split second before he fired, Kyra lunged forward, knocking her sister aside with one hand while firing with the other. Her bullet caught the guy in the shoulder, spinning him around but not dropping him.

The oldest boy reacted with surprising speed, pulling his younger siblings down to the floor just as Max turned and emptied three rounds into the soldier's chest. When the guy staggered but didn't go down, Kyra realized that he was either an immortal or was wearing a Kevlar vest, but her gut told her that he was a Doomer and not an ordinary soldier.

Ordinary bullets could slow him down, but they wouldn't kill him.

Yamanu stepped forward, lifted his gun, and fired at the Doomer's head. "Regenerate from that, asshole."

Kyra felt bile rising in her throat, and she could only imagine how traumatic it was for the children.

"Move!" Max shouted. "Now!"

They didn't need to be told twice. Yasmin gathered her little girl closer and ran for the exit, her other children following close behind. Kyra remained between them and the fallen Doomer, her weapon trained on him just in case he regenerated from the deadly wound.

"Go," Yamanu told her. "He's not going to be able to fix that."

Kyra nodded once and followed her family through the exit. Outside, the compound was in chaos. The distraction at the main gate had escalated into a full-blown firefight, with Jade and her warriors engaging a large contingent of forces. The sound of gunfire and explosions filled the air, along with shouts and curses.

Dima and Anton leaped over the wall to check that it was safe before signaling for the rest of them to follow. Max helped Yasmin over the wall, and Dima helped her on the other side. The youngest girl was hoisted up next .

The oldest boy turned back, his eyes finding Kyra's. "What about my father?" he asked.

The question hit Kyra like a punch to the stomach. In all the rush, she hadn't had time to prepare for this inevitable question.

"I'm sorry," she said, the words inadequate but necessary. "He didn't make it."

The boy's face crumpled for an instant before hardening into a mask of control beyond his years. He gave a single, sharp nod, then turned to help his siblings over the wall.

Kyra followed, her heart heavy with the weight of everything this family had lost and everything they still had to face.

But they were alive, they were together, and they would overcome.