Chapter 242: Escape into Darkness

Jasmine's POV

"Are you hurt?" Louis pulled back to check me for injuries.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. But you—your shoulder—"

"It's nothing," he said, though the dark stain spreading across his shirt told a different story. "We need to find the others and get out before this place comes down around us."

He was right. The building was groaning ominously, damaged by multiple explosions. Louis grabbed Alan's fallen gun, checked it quickly, then took my hand. "Stay close."

We moved cautiously into the corridor, the emergency lights flickering weakly, casting eerie shadows on the debris-strewn floor. I activated my comm unit.

"Father? Can anyone hear me?"

Only static responded. The explosions must have damaged the communication system.

"This way," Louis said, guiding me toward what looked like a service stairwell. "I saw the building layout when I was escaping. This should lead down to an underground parking area."

"How did you get free?" I asked as we descended the stairs, alert for any signs of danger.

Louis's expression darkened. "Eva. She came to me just before the attack started, unlocked my restraints. Said her father and Alan had made a deal—they were planning to kill me and frame each other."

Another explosion rocked the building, closer this time. Louis pulled me against the wall, shielding me with his body as debris rained down.

"They're trying to destroy evidence," he said grimly. "Probably set charges throughout the building."

When the dust settled, we continued downward, Louis's breathing becoming more labored with each step. His injury was worse than he was letting on, but I knew arguing would only waste precious time.

"Almost there," he encouraged as we reached a heavy metal door. "This should—"

The door burst open before Louis could touch it, revealing three armed men in tactical gear. We froze, Louis's arm pushing me slightly behind him despite his injury.

"Found two!" one of the men barked into his radio. "East stairwell, sublevel one."

I tensed, ready to fight, when the man lowered his weapon slightly.

"Mrs. Mitchell? We're with your father. He sent us to find you."

Relief washed over me, quickly followed by suspicion. "Prove it," I demanded.

The man hesitated, then said, "Operation Phoenix. Your father's codename is Eagle."

Only those directly involved in our rescue mission would know that. I nodded, and Louis relaxed fractionally beside me.

"We need to move quickly," the team leader said. "Building's rigged to blow in approximately seven minutes. Primary exit routes are compromised."

"The parking garage," Louis suggested, leaning more heavily against me now. "There must be vehicles—"

"Negative. Collapsed in the first blast. We have an extraction point set up on the roof. Helicopter inbound."

Louis and I exchanged glances. The roof meant going up, not down, through a building that was literally falling apart around us.

"Lead the way," I said firmly, adjusting my grip on Louis to better support him.

The security team formed a protective formation around us as we began the arduous climb upward. Louis's face grew paler with each floor, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool air. By the sixth floor, he was struggling visibly.

"Louis," I whispered, "you need to rest."

"No time," he panted. "Keep moving."

One of the security team members glanced back, assessing Louis with professional concern. "Let me help, sir." Without waiting for permission, he moved to Louis's other side, taking some of his weight.

"Two more floors," the team leader announced. "Chopper ETA three minutes."

A violent explosion below us sent tremors through the stairwell. The building was coming down faster than anticipated.

"Run!" the team leader shouted.

We abandoned caution, racing up the final flights of stairs as the building groaned and shifted beneath us. Louis gritted his teeth, pushing through obvious pain, his determination fueling each step.

The roof access door was jammed. Two team members slammed their shoulders against it repeatedly until it finally burst open, revealing the night sky above—and the welcome sight of an approaching helicopter, its searchlight cutting through the darkness.

"Sixty seconds!" the team leader shouted over the increasing roar of the building's structural failure.

We stumbled onto the roof, the cool night air a sharp contrast to the dust-filled atmosphere inside. Louis collapsed to his knees, his strength finally giving out.

"Louis!" I cried, dropping beside him.

"I'm okay," he gasped unconvincingly. "Just need... a minute."

But we didn't have a minute. The helicopter was descending toward us, but the building was shaking violently now, sections of the roof beginning to crack and separate.

"We need to move to the landing zone!" the team leader shouted, pointing to a cleared area on the far side of the roof.

It might as well have been miles away. Louis couldn't stand, much less run the distance. Without hesitation, two team members lifted Louis between them, half-carrying, half-dragging him across the disintegrating roof as I ran alongside.

The helicopter hovered just above the landing zone, unable to fully land on the unstable surface. A man leaned out, extending a rescue harness.

"Women and wounded first!" the team leader ordered.

I shook my head vehemently. "Not without Louis!"

"Together then," the man from the helicopter shouted, lowering a double harness.

The security team secured Louis and me into the harness as the building gave a final, ominous groan. The roof was seconds from complete collapse.

"Go!" the team leader shouted to the helicopter pilot.

As we were lifted off the roof, I watched in horror as the section where we'd been standing crumbled away, taking one of the security team members with it. His scream was lost in the roar of the helicopter and the thunderous collapse of the building.

"No!" I cried, but there was nothing we could do.

Inside the helicopter, I found myself looking into Marcus's worried face. "Thank God," he said, helping us out of the harness.

"The team," Louis gasped as they laid him on the floor of the helicopter. "They're still—"

"Secondary extraction point on the adjacent building," Marcus assured him. "If they made it out of the stairwell, they'll be recovered."

A medic was already cutting away Louis's shirt, revealing an ugly bullet wound that had torn through his shoulder. "He's lost a lot of blood," the medic reported, immediately starting an IV line.

I clutched Louis's hand as the helicopter banked sharply away from the now-fully-collapsing building, a massive cloud of dust and debris billowing upward.

"Stay with me," I pleaded, watching his eyes struggle to remain focused on mine.

"Always," he whispered, managing a small smile before his eyes fluttered closed.

"Louis!" I screamed, but the medic pushed me gently aside.

"He's alive," he assured me, working quickly to stabilize Louis. "But we need to get him to a hospital immediately."

As the helicopter sped through the night sky, I looked back at the plume of dust where the building had stood. We had escaped, but at what cost? And with Heinrich still at large, with unknown enemies potentially still hunting us, how long would this nightmare continue?

Louis's hand tightened weakly around mine, as if even unconscious, he sensed my fear and wanted to reassure me. I leaned close to his ear.

"Hold on, Louis. Please hold on. We've come too far to lose each other now."