explanation. Had the new vampire smuggled in a bomb or something?
“An explosion?” The light color Cynthia’s Latina heritage lent her leached away. “What—?”
Another explosion rocked the building, this one so violent—or perhaps so close—that Emma’s chair rolled out from under her, landing her on her ass. Her computer crashed to the floor on the other side of the desk. Her lamp, too. Paper rained down amid more Sheetrock.
“Emma!” Cynthia cried.
Grabbing the edge of her desk, Emma pulled herself up onto her knees and peered over it. Cynthia still sat in the chair, expression terrified.
Darkness swallowed them.
Dimmer reserve lighting flared to life.
An alarm began to blare. Wonk! Wonk! Wonk!
“Code red! Code red!” Mr. Reordon shouted over the building’s intercom system.
“Oh shit.” Emma scrambled to her feet. During the drills, Mr. Reordon always said he would only issue that order if the network fell under attack.
Cynthia stared at her, frozen in fear.
Emma hurried around the desk and grabbed her friend’s arm. “We have to go. Now!” Yanking Cynthia up, she propelled her out into the hallway.
More explosions rocked the building. Screams and shouts filled the voids between. A crush of bodies flooded the corridor as employees stumbled out of their offices and headed for the elevator and stairwell at the far end.
“Go with the others!” Emma shouted over the noise that now included rapid gunfire as well. She gave Cynthia a push in the right direction, then turned away.
Cynthia grabbed her hand. “What are you doing? You have to come with us!”
Emma shook her head. “I have to get Sadie!” The elderly woman treated everyone under the age of sixty as if they were her grandchildren. She even baked them cookies. And though her mind and wit were sharp, her body was frail.
Understanding dawned in Cynthia’s expression. “I’ll come with you!”
“No. We’ll catch up. You go! Check on Jasmine and Chloe on the way!” Both women were hugely pregnant.
Eyes widening, Cynthia gave a jerky nod. “I’ll get them out! Be safe!”
“You, too! And take the stairs, not the elevator!” Though she was sure the elevator must have some kind of emergency brake, Emma thought it best not to take any chances.
Cynthia disappeared from view as the flood of employees carried her away.
Emma squeezed over to the wall, then forced her way against the tide until she reached Sadie’s office. Someone bumped into her, sending her stumbling inside.
Debris cluttered the office, which appeared empty.
Good. She must have already evacuated. But just in case… “Sadie!”
A head adorned with a gray chignon dusted with bits of Sheetrock popped up behind the desk. “Emma?”
Swearing, Emma hurried toward her, staggering as the building shook again. “What are you doing? Mr. Reordon issued a code red. You’re supposed to evacuate!” She helped the woman to her feet.
“I forgot.” Looking frazzled, Sadie shook her head at herself. “In my day, when you heard an alarm like that, you were supposed to duck and cover.”
Emma didn’t think duck and cover was going to help with this. It sounded as if someone was dropping freaking bunker-busting bombs on them. “We have to get down to sublevel 5.” Nerves jangling over the slow pace they had to maintain, she ushered Sadie over to the door.
Maybe she should just hoist the woman onto her back and try to piggyback her?
When they reached the hallway, Sadie turned left instead of right.
“No. It’s this way!”
Sadie shook her head. “We have to get Wayne and Lloyd!”
Crap. She’d forgotten they had offices down here. Both men were as old and frail as Sadie. “I’ll get them!” she shouted over the booms. “You head for the stairs!” Once she found Wayne and Lloyd, Emma would have to haul ass to help Sadie down the stairs, a task that might actually necessitate that piggyback ride.
She glanced around frantically. “Miles!”
The portly blond looked around, squinting his eyes.
Emma pushed her way over to him. “Miles!”
“Emma?”
“What happened to your glasses?”
“I don’t know! Somebody knocked them off!”
She had intended to ask him to help Sadie navigate the stairs. But Miles was so nearsighted she worried he might take a tumble himself.
After urging him along with the others, she shouldered her way farther back and sighed with relief when she saw Lloyd and Wayne shuffling along with the rest of the crowd.
“Where’s Sadie?” Lloyd called.
“Up there!” Emma stood on her toes and pointed to the dusty chignon bobbing ahead. A blur of motion at the far end of the hallway caught her attention. As she pushed Lloyd and Wayne ahead of her, she caught