Victoria hit the brakes. Milton looked back at the building: on the ground, still attached to the strap, were the bars that had previously secured the window. But the truck had not just pulled out the bars; there was a gaping hole where several of the breeze blocks had also been yanked out. Milton had noticed that the building work had been slipshod and suspected that the wall might be fragile. His biggest concern had been that the cell’s roof would come down, covering Sakura in debris and injuring her, or worse. Thankfully, that hadn’t happened. He hurried toward the hole. Victoria put the truck in reverse and backed it up.

Rapid gunfire came from the front of the police station. A Heckler & Koch MP5, perhaps? The barks of fire sounded too deep to be from a Škorpion or an Uzi. While Milton doubted that the officers in a small police station would have anything more powerful than pistols with which to defend themselves, he was concerned about the amount of ammunition that the submachine guns were chewing through. Victoria’s contacts wouldn’t be able to keep up the distraction for long.

He stepped through the hole in the wall, waving his hand to swipe away the dust that was drifting down through the air. Sakura was still curled in the corner, her arms wrapped over her head. Milton stepped all the way inside and crossed over to her.

“Sakura? Are you okay?”

She removed her arms from over her head and looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

“What’s going on? All that shooting?”

“I’ll tell you later,” Milton replied, reaching down and helping her to her feet. “We need to go.”

41

Milton led Sakura to the hole in the wall and helped her over the pile of concrete that littered the floor. Victoria had opened the passenger door of the truck, and Milton pushed her gently but firmly toward it with a hand in the small of her back.

He bent down and undid the end of the strap that was attached to the tow bar, ensuring that, when they drove off, they would not be dragging the bars after them. That done, he climbed into the back of the truck.

“Go.”

Milton sat back as Victoria jammed the truck into gear and floored it. They raced through the open gate and slid hard left as she turned onto the restaurant’s parking lot. She spun the wheel to swerve around something that appeared in their path.

“What was that?” Sakura said.

Victoria looked in her wing mirror. “No idea. Can’t see anything now. Stray dog.”