and draped down to his lip. I gasped when I saw it, felt my fingers grow weak with the weight of the fire extinguisher and it fell from my hands.
As it landed and echoed, Charlie pulled himself from the floor and charged at the small glint of light in Wallace’s hand. Logic told me to try and hit him again, but both bodies were scrambling on top of each other at such rapid speed, I knew I could never be fast enough to target just one.
Failing anything else, I ran back to the door and tried it again. This time I screamed, putting all of my weight into it as I pulled.
Mid-scream I fell to the floor.
The door was opened from the outside and I had less than three seconds to cover my head before Reid and Polo practically stepped on top of me.
Frankly, though, they could have stepped on me and I still would have been completely ecstatic to see them.
Polo managed to brush by me with his Polo laugh, noticing somehow in the chaos that I was there. “Hey! Hey! Sorry, Addie!”
More limbs and fists entered the tumbleweed of violence and I had to look away. As I did, Yuri ran past me, nodding in my direction. Ben Walden came through the doorway behind him, as placid as ever. “Are you all right, dear?”
I nodded frantically, to which he patted me on the shoulder and walked into the chaos. For a brief moment, he turned back to me. “You should probably wait outside.”
I hardly needed to be told twice and stumbled my way out the door on shaky legs.
Waiting.
Chapter 15
Exactly whatever Yuri and Polo did with Wallace, I never asked about, and no one ever volunteered the information. As the noise settled and only the pitter-patter of a gentle rain took its place, I knew the danger was over.
I slumped against the wall and pulled my knees against my chest to rest. My mind echoed in and out to the sound of boots stomping and Polo laughing, but I blocked it out as best I could. I wanted to count, but I didn’t know how. I wanted to go home, but I didn’t know the way.
“Hey.” Charlie’s hand was warm against my cheek. I could feel myself relax. “Let me take you home.”
Considering the company I was keeping, I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything less than the personal luxury plane that had been commandeered for our travel. Despite my lack of knowledge, I had to figure this was a leading-edge aircraft. Even judging from my brief glimpse at the engine span, I estimated that it was probably worth more money than I had ever seen. I reminded myself to ask questions later and keep my mouth shut for now, a trait that other people seemed to acquire when Ben or Charlie were around. I struggled to keep my legs steady as I soldiered up steps to the plane’s entrance, my ankle was still slightly swollen and my knees as steady as Jell-O.
When I finally made it inside, Yuri was shouting something in his native language and Reid was already in the cockpit, trying to adjust a headset and a number of switches and gauges that seemed far too complicated to follow.
“Oh man, oh man, oh man!” There wasn’t much of the narrow aisle left, but Polo still managed to pace diligently in the small space between the cushy, white leather seats. I guessed the plane could probably fit ten people comfortably. Did they own this?
“What happened back there?”
“Later,” Charlie said. He eased himself into one of the seats, his knuckles growing white as he clenched his abdomen. It was only now that my relief was wearing off that I noticed how pale he was, how slow and winded his movements were, as they had been since limping from the hold.
“Charlie?”
He smiled at me, but it was thin and worn. He reached out for my hand and let his fingers dance on my wrist. The fear began when I saw how much they shook. And now that it occurred to me why they were all so eager to get back to the States and out of Singapore, the terror erupted in me as well.
“It’s just a scratch. Promise.”
I sat next to him and began preparing myself. “Leave lying for the liars.”
His smile looked more like a grimace, but I pulled the hand away as gingerly as I could, careful not to aggravate the injury further. It was startling