Page 22 of Endurance

“No,” Vincent snapped. “Damnit, Maura! She went into Amelia’s hospital room.”

“She was supposed to abort if something happened,” Dean said.

“Vincent, start listing off reasons why her earpiece wouldn’t work,” Jameson ordered.

Everyone went quiet.

“Vincent!” Jameson snapped when he didn’t get an answer.

“Fuck! I don’t know. Something must be jamming the frequency, but I highly doubt a hospital has something like that,” he said frustratedly.

“So someone is jamming it,” Jameson said.

Dean turned in his seat to look at Jameson. “This was a trap.”

“Oh shit! They’re here. Buck is here!” Vincent shouted. “He’s going into Amelia’s hospital room.”

I went to get out of the truck.

“Wait!” Asher yelled. “Hospitals are mazes with many exits. If you run in there, you will easily lose them.”

“How do you know they aren’t trying to kill her right now?” I asked him.

“They know we’re out here. It’s why they jammed our way to communicate with her. They need her alive if they want a chance of getting out of here,” he explained.

“He’s right,” Vincent said. “They have her and are heading east through the hospital.”

Asher put his truck into drive and drove in that direction.

“They’re heading toward the cafeteria,” Vincent said. That was toward the back of the hospital. “They’re going to exit through the kitchen. Go! Go now!”

Asher floored it and turned sharply toward the back side of the hospital. We each pulled our guns. Dean cocked two semi auto rifles—one for him and one for Asher.

There was a white cargo van parked near some large dumpsters about two hundred meters away. As we got a little closer, we saw Maura. An Aryan held a gun to her spine. Asher slammed on his brakes and we all hopped out of the truck. The Aryans ducked and ran for their van as we unloaded on them, releasing shot after shot. Amelia screamed, cradling her baby close as she jumped into the van.

The other Aryans, including Buck, tried to return fire but ducked behind a dumpster and the van. The Aryan with his gun at Maura’s back grabbed her by the arm and was trying to drag her toward their van. If they got her inside, we’d lose her.

“Maura!” Jameson and I yelled at the same time.

“Go, we’ll cover you!” Asher yelled as he and Dean started raining bullets down on the Aryans, making them duck for cover.

Jameson and I dashed for Maura. We only had a breath of time to make it before the Aryans would start shooting again. Maura dropped to the ground, breaking her captor’s hold, and rolled away. She barely got to her feet and went to run for us when Buck jumped out from behind the dumpster and grabbed ahold of her by her hair. She let out a painful scream.

We were almost there. Using Maura as a shield, Buck pointed his gun at me. I didn’t have time to react before he pulled the trigger. Pain exploded in my middle.

“Louie!” I heard Maura scream.

I put my hand to my stomach before I bent over, and my legs gave out on me. Once I was on the ground, Jameson was there not a heartbeat later, throwing his body over mine.

“Go get her,” I tried to tell him, but he couldn’t hear me over the gunfire.

Asher’s truck sped past, chasing after the van. I faintly heard the squealing of his tires over the sound of my heart booming in my ears. They'd gotten Maura in the van.

“Louie’s been shot,” Jameson said into his mic.

Through the earpiece, Brenna responded, “We’ll get help.”

“Don’t worry about me. Go back up Asher and Dean,” I grunted and tried to sit up. Jameson shoved me back to the ground by my shoulder, pinning me there. He placed his other hand where I'd been shot, just under my ribs, to slow the bleeding. The pain made my breath hitch.