The Oval Office ✓ (Book One)

Chapter Nine

                               
TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING

                               Lauren's P.O.V

They've unchained us, but there are still multiple guards outside of the door and cameras in every corner of the room. James is now one of them. I refuse to believe that he did this without a reason. "Ariyah." I whisper as low as possible. "Ariyah!!"

She finally looks at me, then the gaurd, then back at me. "What?"

  "Give me the wiring from your bra."

  "Those cameras are watching every fucking move we make! You do what you want but I'm not dying because of you. Besides, whose gonna look after him if we get out? Neither of us are in any position to carry him and he can barely walk right now." Ariyah turns her back after one of the guards raises an eyebrow at her.

   The cell door is just a standard lock- they probably thought guards and cameras would be enough to keep me in. My bra doesn't have any wiring, and James took my emergency necklace while I was knocked out. Damn, I wish I had it right now. That thing was a taser, lock pick, and flashlight- which I didn't even think of using while I was fighting James. Stupid, stupid me.

  I look around- there's not much to work with. The chairs, which are bolted into the floor. One very terrified thirteen year old boy, an equally scared twenty something year old- and me, a scared thirty eight year old with ten years of FBI experience. It's not like I can pick a lock with a piece of cloth- I've tried that before. I really couldn't do it without them noticing. It would only take one of us somehow getting out to save the rest, and no offense to my fellow cell mates- but their prospects aren't looking too bright. I have to do this.

"James!"

"Shut up before I have to make you, Lauren." He doesn't even look at me.

I look around again- and then it hits me. "Amber! Hey, it's okay- I'm not gonna hurt you. Give me your index nail."

  "What the fuck-"

  "Just trust me. I'm gonna get us out of here." Amber's nails are very long for a thirteen year old boy, and one of them is hanging on by the tiniest piece of skin. Ripping that one out would be nothing compared to what he's been through the past couple of days. He sighs, looking away as he rips it out so it looks like he's just messing with his hands out of boredom- and then slides it across the floor to me.

I bend it to test the strength- and it doesn't budge. Perfect. I walk across the room and sit down next to the door, acting as if I'm about to go to sleep. There are still four guards though- I can't do this alone. I give Ariyah the look again, but she just shakes her head.

"You think you can run?" I mouth to Amber with my fist propped up against my cheek to cover it.

"I might pass out, but yeah."

"You take one. I'll Get the other three, just follow me." He nods.

The guards are guarding the doorway more than they are us- I guess they're stupid enough to assume the cameras would keep us in. The cameras will catch me when I start fiddling with the lock- which means I'll probably only have about thirty seconds to get the hell out of wherever I am. No use in postponing. This either ends really well- or really badly.

I slide the nail halfway in, and it actually manages to do the trick. I shoot Amber the "now or never" look, and he shoots up form where he's sitting, grimacing at the pain. I slam the door open so fast that it literally cracks one of the guards heads open- then when another turns around, I shoot him with his buddy's gun. Amber decided to just bash his guy's face in, but something in me just can't kill James, so I shoot him in the foot instead.

Well Damn. That was an eventful ten seconds. I take two more seconds to go through one of their pockets, which- thank god, has a keycard in it.I start running like hell, Amber trailing slightly behind me, until we turn a corner. The guard at what I assume is the exit door starts spraying bullets, none of which hit me, before I put one right between his eyes. I turn around- Fuck. Amber. No time for emotions. He's thirteen. Thirteen and he's dead now.

I look away before I start crying, and shakily scan the keycard, praying that it'll work. I want to cry even more when it does. The door is at the bottom of a staircase that leads upwards. I run up them faster than I've ever ran before, and then my heart drops into my stomach when I realize I've been here before. I stay in shock for about twenty seconds,unable the move. I'm in the fucking British royal palace. That.Bitch.

During my moment of shock, I get tackled to the ground. I watch my gun slide across the floor and out of reach, unable to process anything.I feel James's hand on my shoulder as he leans into my ear to whisper something.

"I'm sorry. They've got my girlfriend too."

——-The Vice President's Inauguration Day—-

  In the seconds after the gunshots, James drops to the ground, taking me down with him. Because I am so tiny, his body easily covers mine. Kyle has three agents around him, while about ten have dispersed into the crowd to protect high value politicians attending the ceremony. "The shooter is down!" I hear from James's walkie talkie. "The shooter is down." The chaos of the situation finally hits. Marisol  lays a few feet away, three bullets in her chest. James's Arms are dripping blood from the bullets that were meant for me, yet he acts like he feels nothing. People are evacuated, ambulances arrive in minutes- yet I still can't process what just happened.

  "Lauren!!" Kyle tries to get my attention. "Lauren! Come on, you have to go to the hospital." I look down, and there's blood dripping down my legs.

  A lot of it.

  —-Two Days after the shooting—

Marisol will make a full recovery. James will make a full recovery. My baby will not.  Four hours after the shooting, I had to deliver it, dead. I haven't cried once yet- I just feel numb. James, even with bullet wounds on both of his shoulders, has refused to take time off for his recovery. I imagine he feels guilty about pushing me- but he didn't really have a choice. His main priority is protecting my life, which he did.

As of now though, Marisol can't even move without being in pain, so i knock on her door before letting myself in. "Hey." I say.

"Hey. How are you doing?"

"I'm alive, I guess."

  It hurts her to even breath. "Are you... when do they think you'll be able to leave?"

"In a couple of weeks." She replies. "Lauren. You just lost your child, how are you actually feeling?"

"I'm not going to talk about this." I wipe a tear from the corner of my eye that was threatening to spill over.

"You have to- otherwise it's just going to build up until you lose your fucking shit."

"When did you-"

"Five years ago. He was three months old and he...he just...died in his fucking sleep for no reason."

"How do you survive that? I can't imagine... how much worse it would be if mine had already been born." Now, I just let the tears fall.

"I don't have a choice." She says. "I have two daughters- they're with the nanny right now. I refuse to let them see me like this."

There's another knock at the door-Kyle. "Hey- I brought you two lunch."

"I'm not hungry." I wipe my face on my sleeve. "I need to get the fuck out of here."

"Okay-" he places a hand on my back. "Where do you wanna go?"

"Home."