Page 39 of Echos and Empires
One chance. She had one chance to do this right. Her heart thundered in her chest, but her hands were steady as she scooped up the syringe and slammed it into the nurse’s arm.
The nurse gasped, a look of disbelief flickering across her face. She wavered on her feet, eyes wide with shock as the drug took hold. Emma felt a momentary sting of pity, but it was gone as quickly as it came. She had her own life to save.
The woman slumped to the floor, and Emma checked to make sure she was truly out. The nurse’s chest rose and fell in shallow, even breaths. Still alive, but completely unconscious. Emma released a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
The room spun around her, the rush of adrenaline giving way to an exhaustion that seeped into her bones. But there was no time to rest, no time to waste. Her movements were methodical, determined
She was still here, still standing and without whatever the hell Victor just tried to do to her.
It took every ounce of focus to push down the rising tide of panic and let her training guide her. She wouldn’t fail. She wouldn’t falter. She’d make it back to them. Back to the family she had to protect at all costs.
She wiped the sweat from her brow with a trembling hand, the final remnants of fear fading as resolve settled in its place. Victor thought she’d crumble, thought she was weak. But she’d shown him.
There were more vials on the floor. Emma took one last look at the unconscious nurse, making sure she was truly incapacitated. Her breathing was deep and slow, limbs sprawled like a discarded doll. Emma turned away, focusing on her escape.
“Grab them,” she told no one and reached down to scoop up the vials. Something that could make people forget could be useful, especially since she’d be back at this appointment again and would need to do the same thing.
Each step she took was more sure than the last, the plan crystallizing in her mind. She had to get out, had to find her men. Had to tell them everything. The urgency propelled her forward, one clear thought blazing in her mind.
She’d come this far.
She would go further.
Emma darted through the facility like blood through a vein. The walls were a glaring white blur as she moved, breath tight in her lungs, senses screaming with urgency.
She hugged the corridor, footsteps barely a whisper against the polished floor. Every door felt like a threat waiting to explode, each corner a blind spot hiding something worse than danger. She couldn’t slow down. Couldn’t stop. Every second counted.
Her pulse matched the pace of her escape, wild and frantic in her ears. Emma raced past rooms that looked like empty shells, their starkness magnified by the echoing silence. The oppressive hum of machines buzzed around her, reminding her she was still deep inside this place, and one wrong move could seal her fate.
A shadow flickered down the hall, and she pressed herself flat against the wall, the adrenaline sharpening her instincts. She waited, breathless, as it passed, then slipped out again with a burst of speed.
The door. She just needed to find the door. Her heart pounded the mantra through her body: Get out. Find them. Warn them. She turned a corner, scanning for signs of life, but found only the same sterile, sinister calm.
Everything around her was designed to break people, to crush them under the weight of hopelessness and control. The thought sent a jolt through her limbs, giving her the strength to keep going, to not lose herself in the madness.
She skidded to a stop at a junction, unsure of which way would lead her to freedom. It all looked the same, endless white stretching in every direction. But she wouldn’t let that stop her. Couldn’t let them win.
This was bigger than she’d thought. Bigger than Victor’s sick plans. The horror of it threatened to overwhelm her, but she pushed it down, forcing herself to keep moving. If they were after compliant children, if that was their goal, it meant more danger than she’d even imagined. It meant others like her, others who wouldn’t stand a chance.
They had to know. Chris, Liam, Bash, William, Alex—they had to know what they were up against. They couldn’t think she was lost. They couldn’t give up on her. She wouldn’t let them.
She chose a direction, a guess more than a decision, and sprinted for the end of the hall. There was a door. The outline of it was like a beacon, and she let herself hope for the first time since she’d been captured.
Freedom.
It was almost close enough to taste. But she knew it was just the beginning of another fight, another battle for survival. She wouldn’t rest, wouldn’t stop, not until she was back with them.
Emma pushed herself harder, lungs burning, the urgency fueling every step. She slammed into the door, and it gave way beneath her momentum, flinging her out into the cold air of a darkened alley.
She stumbled, caught herself, and didn’t dare look back. Only forward, always forward. She wouldn’t let them take anything more from her. Not her men, not her child, not her future.
Every breath felt like a promise, every heartbeat a vow. She could do this. She would. For them. For all of them.
FIFTEEN
“Emma’s gone!They fucking took her!”
Alex exploded into the room like a grenade, breathless, and full of panic. His words blasted through the small space. The sentence caught Chris like shrapnel, cutting into the moment with ragged urgency.
