Page 103 of Trained Royal
The royals did as he’d asked, and Kieren positioned himself in front of the doors.
“Who is it?” he shouted. When there was no answer, his heart sank. It looked like his group had drawn the short stick. Hopefully, the other group had escaped through the kitchen and met up with Brett. “Get ready,” he murmured, lifting his gun to point at the door. He flicked his gaze to Patrick’s wide eyes, then refocused on the door. This was one time in his life he couldn’t miss.
The door gave just as he thought that, and a man he didn’t recognise burst in, sweeping his gun as Kieren had told his group he would. Before the man had the chance to do anything, he was dropping to the floor. Another man entered, aiming straight for Kieren, but Kieren was too quick, and the man went down. Two more filed in, and Kieren aimed for one. From the corner of his eye, Patrick jumped out of his spot and gave a high kick at the second man’s wrist, sending his gun flying. Kieren took the third man down while Patrick punched the fourth man, knocking him to the floor. He straddled him and grabbed his arms, holding him down.
Kieren took his eyes off his man and raced to the door, pointing his gun out and checking the hallway. There didn’t seem to be any others he could see, but he didn’t know for definite. They had no choice, though. They needed to get out of the dining room. He heard a commotion from the kitchen. Kieren moved to the man Patrick was holding and smacked the handle of the gun into his temple, knocking him out cold.
“Everyone out. Now!” he said. “Grab the four guns. We might need them.”
He led the way with Gerald, the other hidden guard, picking up the back. They kept to the walls as they hustled down the corridors, pausing at every corner. Kieren stopped everyone when he heard shots firing in rapid succession. They were close to the secondary safe room but not close enough.
“Gerald?” He moved closer to him. “I need you to take lead and get everyone to the safe room on the west side.” He glanced at William. “Are you willing to be my backup?”
“I will,” Patrick said.
Kieren shook his head. “I can’t focus if you’re in danger right next to me. I need you to look after everyone. Please.” Patrick clenched his jaw but nodded. “William?”
“I’m with you.”
“Be safe,” he whispered to Patrick, kissing him.
William hugged his wife, and the two men stood at the end of the corridor, guns pointed towards where the gunfire sounded as Gerald led the group down the other stretch of floor. The gunfire drew closer.
“Are you ready?”
“Six years in the Army? I’m good.”
They moved further down the corridor towards the gunfire. “We need to draw them away from where the group is—”
Silence descended suddenly, and Kieren paused, holding his hand to stop William from asking anything. It was too quiet. No gunfire, no footsteps, no talking. He wanted nothing more than to call Brett and find out what the hell was happening, but they had a rule that no one would call if something like this happened, so they didn’t inadvertently give away another person’s location.
Should he go forward and check the location of the shots or go back and keep his group safe? He blew out a silent breath.
“Let’s go.”
He stepped backwards, heading to where they’d left the group. His job was to keep the people safe, not try to find trouble.
“What about—” William started.
“We need to keep them safe.”
Kieren led the way, taking things slowly, and they eventually made it to the safe room with no further incidents. They saw no one at all, and Kieren couldn’t decide if it was a good thing or not. He knocked on the door of the safe room, putting his face to where he knew the camera was.
“It’s Kieren and William,” he said.
The door unlocked with a clunk, the steel hidden behind a wooden exterior to resemble their surroundings. They slipped in, and Kieren immediately had his arms full of Patrick. The door clunked shut again, and he quickly did a head count.
“Don’t ever do that again,” Patrick whispered into his neck.
“I can’t promise that, sweetheart.” He held on, though, knowing exactly how Patrick felt. He glanced at Gerald. “Have you heard anything?”
Gerald shook his head. “There’s a computer in here, but I don’t have access to it.”
Kieren pulled Patrick to his side, reluctant to let him go, and headed for the computer. He input his details, making sure no one but Patrick could see it, and it fired up. A message waited.
Incident over. Them: six dead, seven locked up. Us: four non-fatal casualties, one touch and go. Royals: ten accounted for, unharmed. Please report. Brett.
Kieren blew out a breath. “It’s done.” He quickly typed out a message and sent it. “We need to wait here for further instructions, but we should be good to go.”
