We watched as the Saviours in the water about-faced and rowed their boats away.
“We can go down there now.” Yolanda’s voice trembled. “We’re getting out of here.”
“Wait,” Kara cautioned. “Some of the Saviours are insane. Literally insane. The ones who lived here at the monastery. You’ve destroyed their home, and they’re not about to let you go, even if they die, too.”
And then I saw them. Crawling over the rocks like shadows to our left, staying out of sight of the fast-incoming coast guard boat.
“Get ready,” Sethi hissed. “But don’t go crazy. Maybe they want that we fire off all our ammo.”
Those of us with guns raised them, facing left.
Sethi fired first. A barrage of gunshots followed from both sides.
“Get down!” Jennifer grabbed Hop and Yolanda, forcing them below the rock that they’d been firing over. “They’ve got semis. Their bullets will take your heads off.”
Hop and Yolanda panted, wild-eyed, pressing back against the surface of the rock.
The coast guard boat pulled close to shore, deploying an inflatable raft.
The Saviours who’d been hunting us directed their fire at the approaching raft.
“We need to get out of here!” Sethi yelled. “That boat has machine guns. Point fifty calibre. Move it!”
Jennifer and Sethi covered us with gunfire as we rushed along the beach, staying close to the cliff base.
“We’re out of range now,” said Sethi. “We can stay here. And hope.”
A loudspeaker blasted through the air, instructing everyone on the beach to stop. The Saviours fired in response.
Machine gun fire followed—so loud it stole my thoughts away.
“We have to be careful now,” Sethi told us. “If the coast guard think you’re shooting at them, they’ll shoot back. Hold your fire unless we’re under threat.”
To the left of us, shadows stretched across the sand. A group of people running towards us from around the bend of the cliff base.
Whether they were Saviours or coast guards I couldn’t tell.
I glanced back at Jennifer and Sethi. At a distance to the right of them, three figures stepped along the sand, coming towards us. Dressed in ordinary clothing. All apparently hurt and limping.
As they came closer, Constance clutched Kara close, moving herself in front of her. “It’s James.”
My lungs tight, I watched the figures approach us. Brother Sage, Sister Dawn and Harrington. Cuts and dirt smeared on their faces. Brother Sage and Harrington in ordinary pants and white shirts, Sister Dawn dressed similar. Both of them with their hands in the air. Harrington had a thick layer of ripped cloth tied around the arm that had been shot.
“How on earth did he survive?” said Constance darkly.
“I can guess how.” Kara shot a grim look at her mother. “One wall of the tanks in challenge room two faces the remembrance hall. They must have shot a hole in the tank wall, let the water spill out and then gotten through that way. Before the blast hit.”
The three Saviours stopped together, their expressions unreadable.
Was this a trap? A trick?
Richard and Yolanda raised their rifles and shot, the bullets pinging into the sand.
Reaching across, Jennifer put a hand on top of the barrel of Richard’s gun. “No! Wait. Something’s wrong here. They’re making it too easy.”
“Stay away from Kara,” Constance warned Brother Sage. “You’re evil. I’d hoped you’d died.”
Brother Sage just stared at her, impassive.
“Put down your weapons,” Sister Dawn suddenly called to us in an authoritative tone, completely unlike the voice she’d used in the monastery. “This is Police Lieutenant Colonel Dimitra Georgiades.”
“She’s with the police?” Sethi exhaled a tight breath.
The people casting the shadows to the left of us pulled into view. A group of men in uniform. The Hellenic Coast Guards.
“This is Commander Liourdis. Lower your weapons,” demanded one of the guards—a stocky blonde man with deeply olive skin. “Place them on the ground. One wrong move and we’ll shoot.”
Sethi nodded at us but not without an anxious look in his eyes. “Do it.”
Members of the coast guard moved in to take the weapons. Seemingly emboldened, Brother Sage, Sister Dawn and Harrington stepped up close. The three of them suddenly had guns—they must have been concealing them in their waistbands behind their backs.
“We’ve got this under control,” Sister Dawn told the blonde Commander, flashing a police badge.