I aimed my gun inside as he entered, my ears peeled for the slightest noise. Ian pulled me through the window as if I weighed a trifle. I bit back my surprise. He stuffed me behind him once more and we scaled the walls, listening before we entered each room with a flourish of raised weapons. Each room was empty, the soldiers loitering outside the front door were gone, probably fled.
We exited the same window we entered and approached the kitchen and cafeteria quietly. Ian peered through a low window at the back of the building.
“Shit,” he said under his breath. “That same pair from the children’s house have a handful of children being held hostage at the front of the building. Karina’s with them.”
I glanced through the same window to see for myself. Sure enough, five children and Karina stood huddled together. You could tell Karina was assuring them, attempting to calm them. My stomach tumbled the remaining length of my body to my feet.
“How do we get them out?” I asked.
“Stay here,” he told me, standing.
“Wait. Wait. What are you doing?”
“I’m going to get them.”
“Ian, no. Let’s think about this.”
“And while we think, they could be killed. There’s no time. Stay here or I swear to God, Soph...”
He molded himself to the wall, edging slowly and disappearing from my view. I raised myself just enough to see through the window to the other side in time to see Karina notice him. My breath stilled as the soldiers spoke to one another unaware of his approach.
I couldn’t hear anything but saw Karina suddenly tuck the children into themselves, shielding them.
I waited for the gunfire but none came.
The breath I’d been holding rushed from me and the released adrenaline made my body shake. The soldiers laid down their weapons at their feet before kneeling with their hands above their heads and Karina pulled their guns out of reach.
I ran around the building to help and noticed Mercy had been among the huddled. She was so small we thought she was a child. Two children ran and hugged me, crying.
I sank down to my knees. “Shh,” I told them as they wrapped their arms around my neck and waist.
Mercy grabbed theone wrapped around Karina and took the one already with her as well as mine. She ran with them to join the others who had already escaped and Ian escorted them. Karina took one of the soldier’s guns and held them at gunpoint. I raised my own gun to assure them they weren’t going anywhere.
While we waited, I drank the two men in. They were practically boys, seventeen at the most with bodies only on the verge of becoming men, really. Their faces still exuded innocence. They were a walking dichotomy. Baby faced assassins.
Back home, these boys would have been peers, with lives of their own. Lives unstolen by a psychopath and I almost found myself feeling sorry for them. Almost.
“Is anyone hurt, Karina?” I asked her, feeling out of breath.
“Not that I know of. Somehow, by the grace of God, the children came out of this unscathed. They’d opened fire on them almost immediately.”
I released a shuddered breath.
“I’m so sorry we weren’t here.”
“You were doing your jobs, Sophie. We all were. We were just a day too late.”
“It’s okay, though,” I told her. “We can leave tonight. Thank God the CHU’s are there.”
She nodded.
After a few minutes, Karina approached one of the boys.
“What are you doing?” I asked her, nervous.
“I’m checking to see if he has any other weapons hidden.”
I nodded, lowering my gun closer to their heads.