“It’ll be fine.” I gave her a reassuring smile. “Stay safe. If the elevator door is breached, you should get out of here too. I’ll leave my weapons room unlocked in case you or anyone else need anything.”

“Alright. Good luck,” she said, and her eyes got a little bit teary. God, I hoped this wasn’t the last time we’d see each other. If my plan worked, then once James and I were out of here, the assassins would go away.

“James, let’s go. We need to get some more weapons,” I said to him, and we started for the door. Before I shut it behind me, I glanced back at Felipe and Meg. “I might have to ditch my phone or the car so they can’t follow me, but I’ll find a way to contact you, okay?”

They both nodded.

As James and I raced down the hallway, another explosion rocked the ground, and the alarm was blaring even louder. He and I shared a look, and we knew that we had to get out of here before it was too late.

Chapter 23

AFTER A VISIT TO THE weapons room, James and I made our way toward the stairwell door. Two more explosions had sounded already, and I thought the assassins had to be very close to breaching the door by now. Were they hoping I’d stay in here? Maybe in some room I thought was safe?

“Wait.” James stretched out his arm in front of me and stepped forward, his gun raised. He peeked around the corner, then waved at me. We broke into a run again, but just as the stairwell door came into sight, another loud bang rippled through the air, the walls and floor dangerously shaking under our feet.

I stopped, glancing behind me and wondering if this meant the assassins had already breached the elevator door. If they had been successful, then they were already fighting my guards who’d been waiting for them there, and if the assassins defeated my men, they’d scour the whole hideout, killing anyone in their way.

“Arianna! We have to go.” James’ voice snapped me back from my thoughts.

“What if it’s too late? If they don’t see me leave...” I didn’t know if the assassins fought my men with weapons or if they had some kind of incapacitating gas with them. Since there was just a small group of them, I suspected they were using the latter. Our alarm had gone silent, and I figured everyone had been alerted by now, so Meg or Felipe had switched it off.