“We’ve got to help them!” I said immediately. Why was he even hesitating?

“Our job’s to get you out.” I could see the battle going on in his eyes. Protect me or save the team?

I put my hand on his chest. “It’s my decision too. We have to help them.”

Danny cocked his head to one side and stared at me, then slowly shook his head in wonder. “Stay at the door,” he told me firmly. Then he and Kian pushed open the door and crept in.

I peeked around the edge. A hallway led to a balcony overlooking a library. Two guards on the balcony were firing down at a big wooden desk. I saw JD pop his head out from behind it for an instant, then duck back as more bullets hit.

Between us and the guards were two pedestals, each topped with a stone bust. I watched, digging my nails into my palms, as Danny and Kian crouch-walked closer and closer to the guards until they could get a clear shot. Then there were two quick bursts of gunfire and the two guards dropped to the ground. I slumped against the wall in relief. Whew.

That’s when the third guard, the one none of us had seen, ran out of the shadows and slammed his rifle into Kian’s head. Kian sprawled on his back, not quite unconscious but not getting up, either. The guard raised his gun to shoot—

Danny dived at him and tackled him to the ground. Both of them lost their guns and rolled over and over, hands at each other’s throats. Danny wound up on the bottom, his face turning scarlet as the guard choked him. The team were running to help, now that they weren’t pinned down, but there was no direct way up to the balcony from where they were.

I limped towards Danny, adrenaline making everything bright and clear. I grabbed one of the stone busts and—

Oh God, it was much, much heavier than it looked. But I was committed now. I staggered on, the guard looked up as he heard me coming—

I pretty much fell on him. It wasn’t elegant, but the stone bust hit him in the face and he fell off Danny, out cold.

I slumped on top of Danny and we lay there panting. A moment later, JD and the rest of the team arrived. “You okay?” JD asked me immediately.

I nodded shakily and pointed to his arm: he was bleeding.

He shook his head. “Got clipped by a chunk of wood. I’m fine.”

Kian raised himself up on his forearms, groaning, and looked at the library below. “Where’s Becker?”

Bradan ran to the balcony and looked over the railing. “Shit. The bomb’s gone, too.”