Page 123

Then they all went still as she looked at the others.

“Begin the evacuation.”

An alarm sounded through the house.

When she turned back to me, the disappointment in her face almost made me wither with shame.

“Your call was traced. This house has been compromised. Collect your things and follow the evacuation procedure.”

“I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

She turned and walked away.

Doors opened along the landing almost at once. Women came out wearing coats, bags already in hand, calling for their children and helping one another with fastenings as they moved. Tessa appeared with my coat and a small pack, pressed both into my hands and joined the women waiting at the stairs.

I had barely pulled on my coat when a shout came from below.

“Aircraft! Keep away from the windows!”

Mistress Kennett shoved me against the inner wall as an engine roared over the roof.

Something struck outside.

The floor jumped beneath my feet, and glass burst across the landing. I crouched with my arms over my head as another impact shook the building.

The child with the loose shoe stood frozen in a doorway. I caught her wrist and pulled her against the wall just before her mother reached us.

“Rear stairs!” Mistress Kennett shouted. “Move!”

Gunfire broke out below. Tessa caught the shoulder of a woman trying to turn towards the front of the house.

“Rear stairs. Follow me.”

We ran.

Dust filled the stairwell as another impact shook the walls. At the bottom, a member of staff held open a reinforced door beneath the landing.

“Through here. Keep moving.”

The woman ahead of me stumbled and struck the frame with a cry.

“My ankle—I cannot put any weight on it.”

I caught her around the waist, and Tessa took her other side.

“Put your arm around my shoulders.”

We dragged her through the doorway and down into the tunnel. By the time we reached the exit stairs, a refuge guard was already coming down towards us. He took her weight and called another man to help.

“Follow the blue markers,” he told us. “Transport is waiting beyond the lower gate.”

We emerged behind an outbuilding among the trees. Smoke rose above Haven House, and an aircraft hovered beyond the roof while another moved along the boundary, low enough to tear at the upper branches.

I followed Tessa downhill towards the stone gate.

Then an amplified voice carried over the engines.