Kingdom: The Complete Series Read Online Free PDF Page B

Don't
ask." He takes her hand and pulls her down the corridor. "Just
run."
    They flee down a narrow
corridor that smells like medicine, lit with cold white lights and old, chipped
plaster. Clamouring voices surround them as though they are caged in by riots.
The crashing of doors being thrown open echoes down the corridor. Jamie drags
Chloe down an open stairwell into the gloom of the lower floors.
    They barrel around and
around, down into the damp darkness where the lights don't quite work.
    “ They
took me up nine flights of stairs,” says Jamie. “Keep count.”
    With his mouth slack
and hanging open to breathe, Jamie can taste the blood from his nostrils
dripping into his mouth with every step – he wants to throw up, coughing up
bile as he breathes.
    Orders ring out above
them, and the battle-cries of an eager hunting party follow them down the
stairwell. A burst of sub-machine-gun fire erupts like lightning from above,
and the couple flinch away from the banister as it explodes, coughing splinters
at them.
    “ They're
heading downstairs," comes a voice.
    “ Lock
the exit down," yells another. "Use the shutters."
    “ Are
you hurt?” Jamie tries to turn and ask Chloe, but she's pushing him to keep
going; she nurses a bloodied arm marked with splinter-cuts.
    “ Don't
stop running,” she pushes him forward.
    They can hear the
staccato crash of boots on the stairwell above them now, countless footsteps
pursuing them into the depths. Jamie feels the fear like a hot iron band around
his heart – he's sweating, breathless, his nose is gushing claret blood that's
stained the front of his shirt like a red tie.
    Heavy clangs begin to
rhythmically punctuate the sounds of the chase.
    “ What's
that noise?” she wheezes as they run.
    “ I
don't know.”
    The floor count in his
head finally reaches nine and he leads Chloe away from the stairs, down a
hallway that he remembers the distinct smell of: tobacco and gunpowder –
probably where the King's guards live.
    There are no windows
down this hallway – the only light is artificial.
    “ Not
much further...” he begins, but he trails off.
    The sound of their
footsteps fades to nothing as they come to a breathless stop.
    The hallway should end
in a wooden doorway to the lower levels. Instead, there is a single, featureless
slab of steel blocking their path. Jamie runs a hand over it, fighting to get
his breath back. His hand leaves a bloody smear across it.
    Chloe hits the metal
with a clenched fist.
    “ We're
trapped,” she whispers.
    Jamie turns and points
the pistol back down the hallway, towards the stairs. He waits for movement,
trying to urge time to a halt again – but nothing comes. Each second arrives
regardless of his efforts.
    “ Jamie?”
Chloe asks him. He can hear the fear in her voice. "What do we do ?"
    “ I'll
get us out of here, don't worry."
    She steps forward and
presses herself against him, and he puts an arm around her whilst his other
keeps the gun aimed down the hall.
    "You shouldn't
have come here," she says, her voice shaking. "You should have just
left Glasgow, twenty-four hours is enough to get far away -"
    He cuts her off with a
long, cold stare from his bloodshot eyes.
    "We leave together
or not at all," he says.
    “ I
don't want it to end here."
    "I'm sorry I got
you into this – it went a lot smoother in my head."
    She says nothing, but
presses her forehead against his neck.
    “ Just
get us out of it," she whispers, "and we'll call it even.”
     
     
    Mark's eyes open. His
vision is blurred like a rain smeared camera lens. The coppery tastes of bile
and blood catch in his throat as he draws breath, and the most familiar feeling
in his life hits him: hangover. His pulse pounds in his head and he can sense
every cell in his body groaning at him.
    Somewhere nearby, a
neat-cut voice says:
    “ We've
got target four – bullets don't do much to him but he's out cold – left a
crater from a three floor drop. Definitely the guy we're