More footsteps sounded, saving Opal and Dixon from any more of Clementine’s wrath—at least for the moment. The giant smoothed out her features and turned to face the two men who were running down the hallway toward her.

“Anything?” she asked when they finally stopped in front of her.

They both shook their heads. Like Opal and Dixon, the giants took obvious care to stay out of reach of her long arms. Smart move, given the murderous rage that still glinted in her hazel eyes.

Clementine raised her walkie-talkie to her lips. “All teams, report in.”

“Team one, here.”

“Team two, here.”

And on and on it went, with the giants reporting back to Clementine—all except the ones I’d killed.

When Clementine realized that she couldn’t raise her people in the security center or the two who’d been down by the bridge, she let out another loud curse. She lowered her walkie-talkie and stabbed her finger at the men standing in front of her.

“You two, come with me,” she growled before glaring at Opal and Dixon. “You two, stay here and start organizing a search. I want to know who was in the vault, how many of them there are, everything they took, and where they and Grayson are now. So move! Now!”

Opal and Dixon scurried back into the vault area to do her bidding. Clementine marched off down the hallway with the other two giants, heading away from Owen and me. I waited until I was sure she wasn’t coming back, then looked at Owen.

“Come on,” I whispered. “Let’s get while the getting’s good.”

* * *

The giants had started their search from the vault and the rotunda, spreading out toward the exits. They didn’t bother checking behind them, so Owen and I were able to trail along in their wake, weapons in hand, eyes open in case any of them doubled back on their search pattern.

“We need to get outside,” I told Owen. “Bria and Xavier should be here soon. Jo-Jo too. She can heal Phillip after we take out the guards in the rotunda.”

“If he’s even still alive,” Owen said, his forehead creasing with worry.

I shrugged. Another twenty minutes had passed since I’d first gone into the vault after Owen, but there was nothing I could do about the time that just kept tick-tick-ticking away. First, I had to get Owen to safety. Then I’d worry about rescuing Phillip and the others.