Bullets whistled past Nora's head as she slammed her back against the crumbling stone wall. Heart pounding, she gripped the child's small hand tighter. "We are not dying here today," she said, voice steady even as fear clawed at her throat.
Blake crouched beside her, his eyes scanning the narrow alley filled with enemy soldiers. "Nora, there are too many. Drew, you see any way out on your side?"
Drew pressed against the opposite wall, his breath coming in short bursts. "They have us boxed in. But listen, the kid just whispered something about a hidden path under the old market. We have got to move now."
The child, a boy no older than ten with wide curious eyes, looked up at Nora. "I can feel them coming. But I can help. Watch this." Without waiting, he raised his tiny hands. A sudden gu
