And Myrnin seemed quite taken with that, Claire thought; she’d never seen him look at anyone with quite that much admiration. It surprised her that it made her feel a little … what was that? Jealous? Couldn’t be.

‘What’ve we got?’ Shane asked. He stepped forward, too, because if there was any kind of a fight, Shane Collins had to be on the front lines of it; Claire rolled her eyes and pulled him back. ‘What? It was just a question!’

‘Looks like six guys out there,’ Pete said. ‘Six I could spot, anyway. All armed. The four of you might be bulletproof, but I’m not in the mood to try dodging semi-auto rounds today. Any ideas?’

‘It’s the only way out,’ Claire said. ‘At least, that I know of. Eve, you take that wall, look for something we didn’t see before. I’ll go this way.’

But it was actually Shane who found the exit – a rusted iron grate just big enough for a person to fit through, set in the floor in the corner next to an equally rusty water main. Flood control, Claire guessed; it must go directly into a run-off tunnel. Well, that was a good thing. Run-off tunnels generally spilt out somewhere, and if they didn’t, there would be other ways out. Maintenance crews regularly came down to clean out brush and debris that collected in them.

As Jesse pried up the grate – too heavy for anyone else except Oliver, and his hands were pretty much shot for the moment – Pete called back to them with a new, tense note in his voice. ‘Okay, they heard that. They’re on their way, I can hear them talking. Look, they’re probably going to spray and pray, unless they’ve got some kind of anti-vamp devices.’

‘Spray and pray?’ Claire asked Shane, who shrugged and mimed firing an automatic weapon in a circle. ‘Oh. Not good.’

‘Nope.’ He bent and added his muscles to Jesse’s. Between the two of them, they managed to get it up and over, and it fell with a heavy, loud boom on the other side. ‘Okay, Jesse, you first.’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay. Michael, you go, make sure the way is clear. I’ll help Eve down.’

He didn’t protest; Michael jumped down, and Claire had no idea how far down it was, but it sounded like a long drop. No way any of them could make it without vampire help, or risk broken bones at the least. It’d be pretty dumb to die of a broken neck, after all this trouble.

‘Ready,’ Michael’s voice echoed up. Jesse braced herself over the hole and held out her hands to Eve. Who hesitated.

‘Maybe there’s some other way,’ she said.

‘Maybe you’d like to see if you’re bullet resistant,’ Jesse said. ‘But I believe your husband won’t let you fall.’