02:04
Episode 2: When You See Daylight
Part 4
Sporadic automatic weapons fire sounded up and down the long hallway and clouds of black smoke billowed out of a pair of doors at the end. Bullets slammed into the doors next to Violet and she dove for cover back into the stairwell. She peered out of the entry, careful to keep her blond head down as far as she could. Guards jogged past her towards the burning room and a siren began wailing through the building.
“Christ, it’s that witch again. I know it,” thought Violet.
Cautiously she stood up and looked down the hallway trying to see how many were behind the doors battling the guards. There were four groups of four guards kneeling behind planters and benches. The guards fired off shots as the doors swung open and Violet could only hear the target returning fire. At least three men lay on the floor in pools of blood. Cautiously Violet stood up to see how many men the guards were fighting. When she finally caught a fleeting glimpse of long, dark hair above an HK 416 she swallowed and mentally mapped a route back through the building the way she had come.
She heard footsteps on the stairs behind her and put the thought out of her head.
“Aw jeeze,” she grumbled and pulled a Colt M4 auto carbine from hammerspace.
Violet brought the rifle up the her shoulder and instinctively aimed down the hallway for the guard’s head, then took a deep breath and dropped the barrel lower. She squeezed the trigger and rattling fire burped out. The bullets struck thighs and legs of the three guards in the group in the back splattering the clean, white walls with dark, red blood. The injured guards fell over and the rest of the squads turned to see what had made the noise. Violet fired into the group at the other side of the hall, hitting two more guards before the rest found something to hide behind. Half began popping up to fire at her and half at the double doors.
Violet pulled a percussion grenade from behind her back, turned and tossed the sphere into the stairwell behind her. She stepped clear of the doors. The blast went off and she hoped no one was anywhere near the bottom. At the same time the double doors at the far end of the hall swung wide and a flaming bottle flew out into the middle of the guards.
“Bomb!” yelled one guard and the rest dove under whatever they could find.
When the bottle smashed on the floor a ball of fire roared down the hallway. Violet, afraid for her own safety, dove for the floor and covered her head just as the blast washed over her. When she came back up she caught a lung full of acrid smoke and her ears rang from the powerful explosion. None of the guards moved but Violet heard groans and sobs from the wounded. She stood and jogged down to the double doors.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she bellowed.
Laurel crouched on the floor just behind the double doors. She leaped up and threw her arms around Violet’s neck hugging her tight and nearly pulling the older woman over.
“I knew you would come,” Laurel said with a bright smile. “I knew you wouldn’t leave me here.”
This was too much for Violet. She put her arms out and stepped back from the girl. That is she tried to step back. Even with her strength Violet found it very difficult to extricate herself from Laurel’s enthusiastic embrace. Finally she sagged and allowed the young woman to hug her.
“You know,” Violet said once Laurel had released her, “I was attempting to sneak you out of here.”
Laurel looked up at Violet, her face screwed up in an apologetic wince..
“I’m sorry?” she asked.
Violet closed her eyes and sighed.
“I’m gonna need a drink after this.”
Laurel looked into space for a moment
“The nearest bar is on Nathan Lane and highway 55.”
Violet opened one eye and looked down at Laurel who beamed back up.
“You just Googled that, didn’t you?”
Laurel nodded.
Outside the doors Violet heard the guards starting to rise.
“We need to get out of here now,” Violet told Laurel. “They weren’t going to let you leave before and now they probably want me to stick around, too.”
“I said I was sorry. We can probably go out any door we can find right now. I don’t think the guards will touch us.”
“And just what would make you think that?” asked Violet. “They had a lot of guards out there.”
“They called all hands and this was all they could come up with. Basic tactics. Low manpower. I think they’re ready to call in the cops.”
“And you know all this because…?”
Laurel smiled.
“I have special training in tactics from all branches of the military and from seventeen different countries. “
Violet patted her rifle and smiled a devious little smile at Laurel.
“This is gonna work out just fine, sweetie. Let’s get going.”
They entered the hallway. The guards offered no resistance. Violet and Laurel walked by.
“I don’t see any new guards,” Laurel said.
Violet stooped down to pick up a radio. She fiddled with the knobs but heard nothing but static on all channels.
“That’s odd,” she said.
Laurel shrugged. “Must be broken.”
Violet snatched another radio away from a guard with blood spreading across his leg. She ignored his groaning and adjusted the knobs but with no difference.
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” she said.
Then Laurel stopped.
“What’s wrong?” Violet asked.
“I’m not picking up anything on the com bands they use in house.”
Violet dropped the radio, grabbed Laurel’s arm and started running. She was quick enough on the uptake to drop Laurel’s arm when it became apparent Laurel wasn’t going to move.
“Will you come on!” Violet shouted back at her.
“Why? We don’t know that they’re planning anything.”
From all parts of the hallway and from distant areas of the building there came an ominous clicking as if every bolt on every door had suddenly slid home.
Laurel flashed past Violet and into the stairwell. Violet did her best to catch up to the speeding robot.
“Wait for me!”
From the upper levels of the stairwell guards fired down on Laurel. The bullets ricocheted around the stairs. As she hurried up Laurel nearly knocked her over coming the other way. Violet stopped and the guards fired down at her. She turned and ran back down after the fleeing robot.
“God damn it! I said wait for me!”
