They didn't slow until the apartment door shut behind them.
Iyisha's breathing was uneven now, the control she had forced at the gate finally slipping as the red lights continued to pulse outside the windows. A second later the first gunshots cracked through the night.
It was not close.
But it wasn't distant either.
Sharp bursts.
Return fire.
Then shouting.
Marybeth flinched hard at the sound.
Reya was still unconscious over Malcolm's shoulder as he moved quickly through the apartment, not wasting a second. He set her down carefully against the far wall, then crossed to the windows and killed the lights.
Darkness swallowed the room except for the red flashes bleeding through the curtains.
Another round of shots echoed, closer this time.
Iyisha's heart slammed against her ribs.
"They started," she whispered.
Malcolm was already moving.
