“We could fight,” said Colton. “Fall back room by room, try to find another way out.”

JD shook his head. “They’re cops. We’re not going to start shooting them.” He looked around at us. “Everybody put your guns down.”

We could hear booted feet racing up the cathedral’s steps. Reluctantly, we tossed our guns on the floor. None of us wanted to give up: Erin was in danger. But JD was right, we couldn’t get into a firefight with innocent cops.

When the police burst through the door, we were on our knees, our hands laced behind our heads. The cops weren’t gentle, as they cuffed us and led us outside to a van, but at least no one got shot.

We were nearly at the van when I saw Erin. Becker was guiding her towards a car, keeping her cruelly bent over by her bound wrists. I exchanged a panicked look with JD. Becker was going to take her off somewhere and interrogate her. Then he’d kill her.

The police bundled us into the van and slammed the doors. I sat there staring at the bare metal wall in defeat.

Erin was going to die. JD hated me. We had no way to clear our names and were all heading to jail. And once Becker sold the nuke, it would kill tens of thousands of people.

We’d lost.

68. Erin

68

ERIN

As soon as we were out of the city, Becker pulled over on a quiet side road. He hauled me out of the backseat, pushed me around to the back of the car and opened the trunk. “In.”

I froze. Just being his prisoner was terrifying. Being locked in that tiny, dark box as we drove God-knows-where….

Becker leaned close. “You can get in now, or I can hit you again. I’ll make sure to break a few ribs, this time, and the broken ends will grind together every time we hit a pothole.”

I stiffly climbed in and lay down on my side, trying not to cry. He slammed the trunk and it was worse, much worse, than I’d thought. I’d known it would be dark but it was pitch black: I couldn’t even see the walls. But I could feel them, so close to my face that I had to fight not to panic.

We moved off and, immediately, I was thrown to the back of the trunk. With my hands behind me, I couldn’t brace myself or hang on. I was just dead weight, hurled around every time we went around a corner and soon my whole body was throbbing with bruises. I lay there sobbing, terrified and helpless. No one was coming to save me. I kept seeing JD, Danny and the others being led towards the police van in cuffs. They were going to jail for years.

And I was on my own.