Page 421 of Knox Academy Omnibus
I run towards the building, thinking that she may have headed back inside to get herself out of the ambush. I mean, I doubt it, but I have to at least look.
I jump as shots are fired around me, and as soon as I reach the doors I yank them open and check my surroundings. The first door on the left is locked.
“Amelie, are you in there?” She doesn’t answer so I leave that door to check the rest of the rooms in the hallway. I scour room by room. Marco has Chelsea in a supply closet, but he opens the door at my knock.
“Have you seen Amelie since she was on the stage?”
He shakes his head no.
“Go and look for her, I’ll be fine here,” Chelsea barely whispers. I shake my head no.
“You need to stay here, keep an ear out for her, but do not leave. She won’t forgive me if anything happens to you.”
“I won't forgive myself if anything happens to her.”
“We have so many trained men out there, she’ll be fine. She’s probably with Baxter, hauled up safe and the ass isn’t telling us. I’ll come back as soon as I find her.”
“If anything happens to her…”
“It won't, I promise. I know that I shouldn’t make promises that I can’t keep but I refuse to think of the alternative. If she doesn’t make it, none of us will.”
He nods and pulls the door shut, locking it. I check the bathrooms, kicking each stall open to make sure no one is hiding inside.
“Kalen,” Elsie calls from behind me. “Has anyone found her?”
I shake my head. We should have known this would happen. How many times did she slip her security? The girl was raised around bloody street criminals, and she’s always claimed her speciality was running and hiding.
I hope to god she’s doing that right now but my gut tells me otherwise.
Elsie reaches to her side and pulls out a knife, it happens so damn quickly. The thing sails past my head and straight into the neck of a woman dressed all in green. She stumbles into the wall and slides down it as blood runs from her mouth.
“Where the fuck did you learn how to do that?”
“I didn’t.”
“And you fucking just threw it past my head! What if you hit me?!”
“It didn’t. But we all have to make sacrifices. She was going to kill you, it was better than doing nothing.”
“We’ll talk about this later. You head out the emergency exit doors and I’ll check through the back of the building. If you find her, leave. Don’t come looking for us. Send an SOS once you’re safe.”
With a stern nod, she turns and leaves. Who would have thought Elsie would be a badass in a situation like this?Not me, that’s for sure.
The back entrance just comes into my view when cold metal is pressed against my temple.
“Hello, Kalen.”
“Grandfather. What a pleasant surprise! I never would have expected to see you here.”
“There is no need for the smart mouth, it will only get you killed.”
“Will it? Don’t you need me for your evil plan?” I chuckle at him.
“It’s too late for that. I need to use you as bait since the girl has vanished. Everyone loves little Kalen. So it shouldn’t be hard to get them all to come looking for you.”
“You’re wrong, pops, this can turn into a suicide mission. I won’t let them come looking.”
This time he laughs. “I never said I needed you alive for this, but you’re my grandson, maybe I could persuade you to come and work for me. We can take down The Order and be bigger and more powerful.”
