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Chapter 35

Leigh realized that Doug was joking about tackling the security guard when she caught sight of him. He patrolled along the perimeter, his massive shoulders moving back and forth in tune with each step. She didn't know if she'd ever seen a guy that big--except maybe on the television. He had enough bulk to smack them both flat. She also doubted that he'd feel much of a blow through all that muscle.

Doug and she were flattened against the side of an old and rusted car. Every so often she would take a quick glance through the broken glass window above her. The compound was right across the street. The fence looked so harmless and unnoticeable, followed by an old and crumbling building beyond. Doug gripped her wrist and pulled her back down again.

She sent him a questioning glance.

He responded with an urgent look. She could faintly feel caution emanating from him. She wished that she could always feel his emotions. There was something so comforting about being bathed in his emotions and reactions, even the negative ones. If he would only let her turn him into a wolf so they could always be together that way...but he would never go for it. Besides, it was too late to be thinking about such things. They were about to break into a compound and she was afraid that he would lose his life in there.

And with all that was facing him, he still had the presence of mind to worry about Leigh being seen by the enemy. It warmed her heart.

"It's okay," she whispered. "Everything will be alright."

They both knew she was speaking empty words. But if made her feel better to utter them. Doug understood immediately and only nodded to her. He knew her so well. As well as she knew herself. She was glad that she'd let him see her for what she truly was before the end. She reached out and squeezed his hand. A moment later she felt the pressure of his return squeeze.

His lips were moving soundlessly, counting down the seconds. Three, two, one...

At zero, he took a quick glance up through the shattered window. He nodded to her and whispered next to her ear. "We have about two minutes before he comes back around the side."

She nodded and without needing to explain to each other, they both took of. They darted across the road like two fleeting smudge of color. Leigh crouched beside the fence, bunching her muscles for one giant spring. She release herself, propelling her body to top of the fence in one burst of speed. She hung there for a moment to see if Doug's human legs were up to the task.

He exploded upward to meet her, hovering on extended hands.

She grinned unabashedly. He was forever amazing her. He was more wolf than human in so many ways. They slipped over the other side and fell. Her werewolf muscle knew just what to do, landing perfectly. Doug was right behind her.

Then the wailing began. Great loud sirens hit her ears and it was all she could do not to clap her hands over her ears and cower like any sensible wolf in the wild would do. She clapped her hands over her ears and ran for the back door instead. She could feel the tremor of the earth coinciding with Doug's feet pistsoning against the freshly mowed grass. If not for that, she wouldn't have known he was there as she ran blindly for the doubledoors.

She pulled a hand away from her ear to twist the knob and found it slick with blood. She cringed and twisted. It was locked. Figures.

Doug ran at the other one, hitting it hard with his shoulder.

It didn't even shudder. They shouldn't have been surprised. Of course Rollson wouldn't install flimsy doors. The man was thorough. They were probably being watched by a dozen cameras as they worked. They didn't have time to wrestle with a door. Leigh pushed Doug aside and held up the gun, firing at the deadbolt. A clean hole appeared between the two doors.

Leigh pushed. Still more resistance. There must be latches near the top and bottom of the door. She shot the gun in each of the spots respectively, feeling the pressure of the gun kicking back in her hand. Now when she worked on the door, it was unresistant in her grip.

They hurried into the dimly lit corridor, smashing every camera in sight. She was finding it hard to run in the heavy, uncomfortable rubber suit. But it would be better than frying to death on their way out--if they made it.

She smashed at a few more cameras as the corridor turned and widened into a hall.

Doug grasped hold of her wrist. "This way," he said.

She kept pace with him, running down a maze of hallways. She frowned to herself, feeling a little uneasy. They hadn't seen one person since entering the property. They should all be running to head off the invaders, but no one hurried into sight. The corridors were empty and silent, except for the soft sound of their feet pattering against the floor.

Doug stopped suddenly, gasping for breath. "Here," he breathed. "We'll leave it here."

Then he turned and battered a camera that was turning on the wall. It crumpled backward under the blow, groaning in protest. Doug hit it one last time and the camera was useless. "I hope there aren't any miniature cameras," Doug breathed.

"Doesn't matter," Leigh replied, helping to pull the weighted backpack from his shoulders. "In ten minutes, this place will be in smitherenes."

Then she voiced her fear. "Doug? Why hasn't anyone tried to stop us yet?"

He shrugged, pulling the zipper open in a great flourish. "I don't know. They might not be here. He could have anticipated us...but at least we'll be able to destroy the building...and all the equipment inside--unless it's been moved."

Leigh glanced at the vent running along the wall as Doug worked with the explosives. She knew nothing about bombs, so she thought she should leave that venue to his expertise. Her fingers curled over the vent and she ripped it from the wall. The nails popped free from the plaster, leaving long jagged holes in the wall. She set the metal covering aside and leaned over to glance inside. The air duct curved, leaving a nice little nook for the explosives to sit in.

"Aha!" Doug announced, lifting the bomb. He instructed. "Watch your head."

She moved out of the way and he fit it inside the little opening, moving a few more things.

"Help me get this back in the wall," she suggested as he dusted his hands off with a proud nod.

Together they lifted the vent, pushing all the nails back into their previous positions. They moved back, peering at their handiwork. It looked as though it hadn't been touched at all--except for one tiny crack in the mudd by the corner nail.

The sound of thudding feet alerted them.

"Let's get out of here," Doug said on a breath of air.

They both took off in the direction they'd come. It was hard to tell which direction the footsteps were coming from. It sounded like they were coming from behind, but when she listened carefully to the left, they also came from there too. And the right. And the front. Maybe the building was built to disconcert excellent wolf hearing. All she knew for sure was that the footsteps were coming closer and that wasn't a good thing. They were moving as fast as they could--faster, it would seem, than humanly possible. And yet the feet were somehow gaining.

They came to a point where two hallways branched together and suddenly Leigh understood. They were closing in from all four directions. And they'd be within sight within moments. She glanced at Doug fearfully.

He jutted his head in the direction of the door they'd slipped through earlier.

"Just keep going that way," he nodded. "Well have to break through the wall of people."

She nodded and moved in front of him, hurrying along just a pace ahead of him.

"Leigh?" he demanded. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping in front of you," she responded tearsely. "Think of me as a living shield."

"Leigh," he growled out. "Don't. You're going to get hurt."

"And you're going to die," she responded just as sharpely. "So just shut up and let me help you!"

She stopped moving and he nearly bumped into her. She grabbed his arms from behind her and wrapped them around her stomach. "I need you to hold me," she instructed. "Just in case I get shot. That way we both get out of here without being blown into smitherenes."

"Leigh--"

"Just do it before they get here!"

Doug sighed defeatedly and gripped her. Instinctively, he probably knew that it was the only way they were going to get out of here alive. They rushed forward as one unit, their legs jogging along in time. Leigh could feel the rhythm of his feet vibrating up through his body and out his arms into her and went with it. She held the gun at ready.

They probably looked pretty comical when they moved around the curve and met the thick wall of men in dark suits, all holding guns trained at the Leigh/Doug unit. Leigh didn't think. She only acted. She fired and cocked the weapon back and fired again, faster than was humanly possible. Men were falling back everywhere. But for some reason, they were getting right back up on their feet. She'd finished off all the bullets in the gun before she realized that the men were also wearing bullet proof vests.

She swore under her breath. She didn't want to take the time to reload, so she gripped the other gun at her side. Doug had freed one of his hands from around her waist to use his own gun.

By this time, shots were being fired back in return. Leigh gasped as she felt bullets diving into her bullet-proof vest and blowing the air out of her lungs. It was all she could do to keep the two of them in an upright position with all the bullets slamming into her body. One smashed into her arm, cracking through the bone as it flew passed. Luckily, the arm was already healing. But that didn't stop her from feeling the excruciating pain that was lancing up into her shoulder.

She lifted her good arm and shot a man point black in the skull. She shuddered as he feel to the ground. I'm a murderer now, she thought sickly and shot at another man.

They were too close now, overwhelming Doug and Leigh. Someone wrenched the gun from her fingers.

Someone had placed the barrel of a weapon against the side of her head. She could feel the cool hard metal through her hair.

"You're going to pay for that!" A rough voice announced.

Leigh gasped on a breath of air, feeling Doug's tightening arm about her middle. She waited for the pain to explode into her skull.

"Wait!" A voice anounced, followed by a string of curses. "What do you think you're doing? Rollson wants to personally dispatch of them. It is not your prerogative. Lower your gun immediately!"

The gun dropped away from her head. Leigh sighed in relief, even though it was only a temporary solution.

"Take them to Rollson's office!" The man commanded again.

The group pulled the two apart, binding their arms behind their backs and pushing them forward roughly. Leigh barked out angrily when one of the men came close to fondling her.

"We'll be making the rules around here," a man snickered to her left and shoved her forward again.

Leigh only growled out and made it very clear what she would do to the next guy who attempted to touch her inappropriately. Doug also let out an angry burst from her side. There were a bunch of snickers in return.

"Enough!" The commanding voice called out. "We're not a bunch of children here! Do what Rollson wants!"

They were pushed ever closer to Rollson's office, and there was an incessant ticking in the back of her mind reminding her that there was probably only about six minutes left before the building exploded.