“Stay back from the windows,” he ordered, pushing me against the wall beside the window frame. I grunted at the impact and scowled at him, but he wasn’t looking at me. His gaze, narrowed and grim, was on the rows of houses beyond the broken glass. “Snipers,” he breathed, as Riley pressed himself to the other side of the frame, his lips curled in a silent snarl. “They’ve found us.”

“Brilliant,” Wes spat from behind the couch. “Snipers, that’s bloody fabulous. I am so glad we risked life and limb to rescue you, St. George.” He glared daggers at Garret, as if wishing the next bullet would make the soldier’s head explode. “I don’t suppose giving you back will make them leave us alone?”

“Over my dead body,” I snarled at Wes, my stomach clenching violently at the thought. “Try it, and I’ll throw you through that window.”

“It wouldn’t matter, anyway,” Garret replied in a serious voice, as if Wes’s suggestion was actually legitimate. He looked down at me, his expression pained. “I would surrender to them,” he said, “if I thought the Order would spare you. But they’re here for all of us, and they won’t bargain with dragons. I’m sorry, Ember.”

I glared back at him. “I wouldn’t let you go, anyway. So you can stop being so damned fatalistic. No one is giving anyone up. We’re getting out of here together, or not at all.”

He blinked, a raw, almost vulnerable look passing through his eyes, and we stared at each other a moment. Outside, it was eerily silent. The sunlight slanting through the broken window caught on shards of glass and glittered red, like drops of blood.

Riley’s low, frustrated growl broke the silence. “Dammit, where are they?” he muttered, peeking cautiously around the frame, careful to keep his head back. “Why don’t they just charge in and shoot us already?”

“This isn’t the full strike force.” Garret stared out the window, his expression grave. “Not yet. When the survey team followed Wes back, they had to alert headquarters to let them know they found the targets. They have the sniper guarding the house just to pin us down, make sure we don’t leave until the assault team arrives.”

Wes swore again, peering around the sofa. “Right, then, if that’s the case, I vote we not stand here and let them pick us off. And since the van is now shot to hell, who’s up for sneaking out the back door?”

“No.” Garret shook his head. “That would be a bad idea. The sniper will be positioned in a spot where he has a full view of the neighborhood. If we try to leave, he’ll just as easily pick us off from where he is now. It’s not worth the risk.”