THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

her arm and pulled her toward the door.
    “My purse!”
    “Quickly.”
    She dashed back to grab her bag from her bedside, then Delano was tugging her forward again. Within seconds, they were racing through the halls at a dead run.
    “We’re going too fast. I can’t see anything!”
    “I can see. Just stay close.”
    “Where are we going?”
    “There are tunnels below. But save your breath. We have to get clear before they get close enough to get a lock on our infrared signatures.”
    He was worried about their infrared-freaking-signatures ? That had to mean they were dealing with attackers who had heat-seeking weapons…
    She stumbled, but he righted her before she could fall, then tugged her onward at a pace even faster than before. Which was way faster than she was capable of running. It was his speed and strength that impelled her. She forgot to worry about slamming into unseen objects and merely concentrated on keeping her feet churning beneath her fast enough to avoid stumbling again.
    They ran for what seemed like forever, but was probably a matter of minutes. Delano quickly learned to announce corners before they negotiated them. “In five seconds, we’ve got a left turn, 90 degrees. Left again in five. Right. Steps. Left. More steps. Five, four, three, two, one … ramp.”
    By the time they reached the ramp, her leaden legs could no longer respond fast enough to keep up. He’d merely slid an arm around her and lifted her clear of the ground, pelting down the ramp without losing a fraction of his speed.
    Before she could marvel at his endurance, he stopped and set her back on her feet.
    “We’re here.”
    “Where is here?”
    As though in response to her question, a very dim light came on. She was standing in a cavern of some sort. And in the center of the cavern, resting like a great sleeping beast on the rock floor, sat the strangest looking aircraft she’d ever seen. A helicopter, she realized. Well, maybe a helicopter. It had rotors, anyway. That’s about where the resemblance ended.
    “What’s that?”
    “That’s our ticket out of here.”
    Out of here? Reflexively, she glanced up, straining to see the roof of the cavern. Though she could not discern it through the inky darkness, she felt its looming, containing presence, heard it in the way their voices bounced off the walls. How was a helicopter going to get them out of this cave?
    A man detached himself from the shadows, a pair of helmets in hand. “Fuelled up and ready to go, boss.”
    Eli! A pang of guilt pierced her. She’d forgotten all about him in the headlong rush to escape the bombardment above.
    “Oh, thank goodness, Eli! You made it out.”
    “Yes, ma’am. Now put this helmet on. We’ve gotta strap in, pronto.”
    She accepted the helmet, but before she could put it on, the floor beneath her feet started to vibrate. Her gaze flew to Delano, who pointed upward. She glanced up to see the ceiling above them sliding open, exposing cold pinpoints of starlight in the pre-dawn sky. A retractable roof!
    She should have been relieved that an escape route had opened up, but all she felt was scared and confused. Who was Delano Bowen to command these resources? More importantly, who was he to attract a military-style attack on his house? “I don’t understand this. I don’t understand any of it.”
    “I’ll explain later. But trust me, we have to get out of here, and we have to do it quickly.”
    Her answer was to jam the helmet on.
    Minutes later, she finished strapping herself into the seat Delano indicated. He and Eli sat up front. Even before their seatbelts were fastened, they’d run through an ultra-rapid pre-flight check. Then Eli powered up the engines. Faster than she would have imagined possible, the beast lifted smoothly off the ground.
    Ainsley squeezed her eyes shut. She would have characterized herself as a comfortable flyer, but one glance at the cavern walls closing in on them as the craft ascended convinced her that this was one takeoff she was better off not watching.
    “It’s okay.”
    At the soothing sound of Delano’s voice inside her helmet, she opened her eyes.
    “Eli can fly this thing in his sleep, and it’s very maneuverable. Oh, and his helmet is equipped with night vision sensors. He can see like it’s high noon.”
    Good. That was all good. “What about the heat-seeking technology you mentioned?”
    “It won’t be a problem now that we’re inside the craft. It’s equipped with the