Page 23 of No Vow Broken

I couldn’t be everywhere at once. I needed to get Tito some help, but currently the front door and living room windows were completely uncovered. Anyone coming in the front door could go immediately upstairs where the only weapon protecting the first lady and our family was Agent Glass’s Glock.

There was another flash-bang, more breaking glass, and shots from multiple guns at the ballroom end of the house where Beau and Hands had just gone. They’d barely made it in time. I heard Hands responding with his rifle and hoped they’d be able to hold off the assailants with just the rifle and the Glock. At least the rifle had a low-light scope. The attacker there had better be very cautious.

One thing was for certain—the attackers had to be completely confused at the unexpected and surprisingly effective resistance so far. They’d counted on three, armed Secret Service agents to take down, with one of those agents presumably in a safe zone with the first lady. By attacking simultaneously in the dark at separate entrances, they’d certainly thought they could easily overtake two agents and penetrate the building by now. But all entrances were being fiercely defended, and their time was running out.

But so was ours.

TEN

Lexi

Despite the dark and the gunfire, I found myself surprisingly calm as I climbed the stairs on my hands and knees. I’d started to develop my own version of Slash’s operational mode, where I could focus on the situation at hand and compartmentalize the emotions and fears that were not helpful. Still, if I got out of this alive, I was going to have averypersonal and no-holds-barred talk with my little black cloud. This was starting to get ridiculous.

Since Slash had moved us upstairs, gunfire was ongoing from all different directions around the house. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I hoped that with every second that passed, it meant help was that much closer.

Everyone scattered into different rooms while Rock, Stefan, Finn, Agent Glass, Elvis, and I moved what furniture we could out into the hall to form a barricade. It wasn’t an easy task. The dressers were solid wood and too heavy to move. Plus, it was dark, and we were trying to move quickly while keeping low and away from the windows.

When it was all said and done, we’d piled some end tables, overstuffed chairs, suitcases, wardrobe bags, pillows, and cushions—anything we could readily carry—in the hallway near the top of the stairs. We knew it wouldn’t stop a determined gunman, but hopefully it would slow him down and give Agent Glass a chance to take some well-aimed shots. She would be our last line of defense.

Agent Glass insisted the rest of us lock ourselves in different rooms. Finn decided to stay in the room with Agent Flax to help tend to him since he was badly wounded, while the rest of us split up. I had no idea where anyone else was located, including the first lady, since most everyone else had already been hidden away before we got upstairs. But I knew Elvis and Basia had slipped into my room. I knocked on the door, announcing myself quietly, and Elvis opened it for me. I locked it behind me, and we joined Basia in the bathroom, locking that door behind us, too.

For a moment, we just stared at each other wordlessly before I pulled the shower curtain open and urged everyone to climb into the bathtub.

We slid in sideways, sitting next to each other in the dark, shivering and hugging our legs to our chest. Elvis sat in the middle between me and Basia. After a moment, our eyes adjusted to the dark and I took Basia’s hand and squeezed it.

“This is insane,” Basia said, resting her chin on her knees. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to die. There’s still too much of my life left to live.”

“You’renotgoing to die,” I said fiercely. “Slash won’t permit it. I won’t permit it.”

More sounds of gunfire came from outside the house, followed by returning fire from below. It was like the universe directly challenging my assumption. Basia covered her ears with her hands. I pretended as if I didn’t hear the noise and wasn’t agonizing over how those bullets might be hurting someone I loved.

“I don’t know which room Gwen is in,” Elvis said. “She went upstairs ahead of us. She’s probably safely locked away in a bathroom, just like us…right?” Elvis seemed to be asking himself rather than us, probably to convince himself that she was going to be okay.

“She went up ahead of us, and she’s safe,” I confirmed. “We were the last ones up. Gwen is going to be fine, Elvis. We’reallgoing to be fine. Slash, Hands, and the Secret Service agents will stop the attackers. They will. They’re good like that. We only have to hold out until the backup team gets here.”

“How will they hold them off?” Basia asked. “They don’t have weapons. How will they stop a bunch of maniacs intent on killing us? Agent Troy is hurt, and the others outside are probably incapacitated or dead. That leaves only two agents inside with guns to protect us. It’s not enough.”

“Hey,” I said, frowning. “Knock off the doom and gloom. Don’t forget we have Hands, Slash, Tito, and Beau down there. They aren’t just regular guys, and you know it. They’re well-trained experts who know how to handle this kind of thing. I know firsthand none of them would go down without a fight. We’ll fight, too, if we must. We’re going to come out of this okay. We always do.”

“I don’t know about this time,” Basia said. “This time is different.”

I didn’t like her pessimism. “This is not different than any other time we’ve had to survive. We’ve got this.They’vegot this.”

“Well, for the record, I don’t want to die, either,” Elvis offered, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “But like Lexi, I’m putting my faith in the good side. We do have a better chance, given the group we have on our side.”

“Listen to what Elvis is saying.” I appreciated his attempt to stay positive. We just have to stay calm and do what Slash and Agent Glass told us to do.”

“But I don’t know where Xavier is,” Basia said, her voice quivering. “He went to the bathroom, and now I don’t know what happened. What if he’s shot? What if he’s dead? What if I never have the chance to see him again?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “Xavier is one of the smartest people I know. He’snotgoing to do anything stupid. If he’s still in the downstairs bathroom, he’ll lock the door and stay safe and hidden until this is over.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I know I’m right. This is Xavier we’re talking about. He’s the most levelheaded among us. He’s not going to jump out and try to play hero. Especially not when we already have a bunch of trained heroes in action.”

“You’re right.” She suddenly started sobbing and I looked at her, concerned. Basia usually wasn’t this emotional, and I’d been with her in life-and-death situations before. “What’s really wrong, Basia? Are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m not okay. We could all die tonight, and I never had the chance to tell him.”

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