Карен Кингсбери - A Distant Shore [calibre]

At least this is the last time I have to do this, she told herself.

Rosa raised her hand and shrugged. “That doesn’t always work, Eliza. Last night…”

The sweet girl launched into a story, but Eliza couldn’t listen, couldn’t stomach the details. She had to focus on the mission. They had eight minutes. Suddenly Eliza remembered. She didn’t have her knife. Whatever was coming, she had no way to defend herself.

Images flashed in her mind. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe . Today on the beach she had finished Chapter Thirteen, the part where Edmund was about to be killed by the Witch, but Aslan rescued him. Only then did the Witch bring up an irrefutable point. Edmund had been a traitor and he deserved death.

Eliza blinked. Wasn’t that her? The Edmund of the story? Acting as traitor to every single girl in the room?

Rosa’s sad tale was winding down.

Six minutes. Eliza walked to the room’s entrance and pretended to pick up something from the floor. Instead she slid the wedge under the door. The whole time she kept talking. “Kindness puts people at ease. And when people are at ease…”

She crossed the room and opened the window. “It’s warm in here. We need some air.”

“Eliza.” Across the room she saw Rosa furrow her brow. “We aren’t supposed to open the windows.”

“I know.” Eliza tried to remember what Jack told her. Give them a wink or a smile. So they want to go along. Already the girls were dressed for the evening, in every sort of silk nightgown and sheer robe. They wore heavy eye makeup and lipstick and hairstyles far too sophisticated for their ages. Together they looked like little lambs headed for the slaughter.

Not tonight, Eliza steadied herself . Not ever again.

Finally she was doing something good for the girls. Even if it killed her. In minutes they would leave this place and the girls would never serve another customer again. Hurry, Luke. Hurry.

A clock hung on the wall. Good thing, she thought. Because otherwise, Eliza wouldn’t have known how much time she had.

In the distance she heard a loud rhythmic whirring. Four minutes . They would be the longest four minutes in Eliza’s life. What was this feeling? Until Jack, Eliza had never felt fear. Sadness, disgust… anxiety over the plans her father had for her. But never fear. Not like this.

Suddenly there came the sound of breaking glass and men yelling, one floor up, maybe two.

The girls all looked to her, their eyes wide. “Eliza… what’s happening?” one of the youngest teens cried out. “I’m scared.”

“I’m not sure.” Eliza swallowed hard. It was the last time she would lie to the girls. “But whatever it is… I’ll keep you safe. I promise.”

Two minutes. There were muffled explosions and popping sounds from upstairs. Eliza clapped her hands. “Tell you what, let’s take an adventure into the yard!”

Terror flickered in Rosa’s eyes. “No, Eliza.” She took a few steps back. “We can never… ever go outside without Anders or the guards. You know that.”

Sixty seconds . Eliza forced a laugh. “We’ll tell the guards later! They won’t care—just this once. I’ll tell my father it was my idea!”

The noise on the floors above them went quiet. And then Luke and a woman appeared at the window. This time Luke wasn’t dressed like one of the men from the Blue Breeze. He was in dark jeans and a dark blue polo shirt and he had a gun in his hand.

He was breathtaking. The most handsome man Eliza had ever seen.

But Luke didn’t make eye contact with her. He acted like he’d never met her and in a single heartbeat the room was in chaos. Luke and Terri pushed the window open wider and turned to the girls. “Come on.” Luke smiled at the girls the way an older brother might do. “We need to go. Now.”

Eliza felt sick and elated all at once. It was happening. They were really getting out of here, but they had only seconds. That’s what Luke had told her. Seconds or something awful might happen.

One of the younger girls started to scream and Eliza rushed to her. “Don’t!” She used her most urgent voice. “I said I’d keep you safe. These are good people.” Eliza couldn’t breathe, couldn’t exhale. “This is Luke and Terri. They’re getting us out of here.” Eliza shot a look to Rosa. “Help me. Please. We don’t have much time.”

Rosa and the other teens seemed to suddenly understand the desperate stakes. As if they’d practiced for this moment a dozen times, they immediately began working with Eliza and Luke and Terri to help the girls one at a time out the window and into the yard.

Next Terri climbed out to be with the younger ones and finally it was just Luke and Eliza. She was almost out the window when she saw the door fly open. It was her father standing in the doorway, his face a twist of rage and hatred. Before Eliza could duck or scream, he aimed a rifle at her head.

This is it, she thought. But at the same time, Luke threw himself in front of the window, in front of Eliza, like a human shield, and as her father’s bullet hit him, Luke fired back.

In an instant, her father was on the ground, blood spilling out around him.

Eliza only stared, her body shaking. She was alive. What had just happened? Luke grabbed her father’s gun and ran back to the window. His shoulder was bleeding, but Eliza was watching her father, waiting for him to say something. Her father always had the last word. But not this time. The man who had terrorized her and held her captive since she was nine years old didn’t get up.

Didn’t move.

“Come on.” Luke climbed out the window and started to hurry across the grass. As if he wasn’t in pain and he hadn’t just been shot by her father. He looked back at her. “Keep up, Eliza.”

She ran as fast as she could. She had no choice. As they reached the stairs, gunfire came from the side of the house and bullets whizzed near them. She was going to die, they both were. But then different bullets rained down from the helicopter still overhead and someone on the ground cried out. After that the shooting stopped.

“Go, Eliza!” Luke ran behind her as she took the stairs.

She saw the children ahead of her, trying to run in their terrible gowns. Get in the bus , she silently screamed at them. God, get us to the bus . And then finally in a blur they were all on board. Luke took the seat next to the driver and as the vehicle started to move, Eliza stood and counted.

Sixteen girls. They had all made it out alive.

Eliza shook as she sat down. What about Luke? Blood was soaking his dark blue shirt. Was he badly hurt? Eliza couldn’t worry about him. She looked out the window as the white wooden porch of the Palace disappeared from sight.

Her father was dead.

The gunfight had taken only seconds, but now here they were and her father wasn’t going to hurt any girl, ever again. The bus drove onto a skinny road and then onto a grassy cliff, where it parked close to the edge. And suddenly something occurred to Eliza.

Since she was first brought here, this was the only time she’d been off the Palace property without a gun at her back. She stood and motioned to the girls. “Come on.” The young teens hurried from their seats, scrambling down the aisle.

Rosa put her hand on Eliza’s shoulder as she rushed past. “Thank you.”

Eliza nodded. They were the best words she’d heard in eleven years.

Even before she stepped out of the bus, a helicopter was landing, the largest one Eliza had ever seen. Two men in helmets and full military gear jumped out and began lifting the girls inside. Then one of the soldiers saw Luke and he shouted to someone in the aircraft. “Help! He needs a medic!”