Staying Alive Read Free Page A

quickly enough that they wouldn’t witness the horrible scene unfolding around them. The three masked men entered the room with Mr. Allen in tow. Claire kept a close eye on her students, hoping their curiosity wouldn’t have them peeking.
    She should have known better than to hope.
    “Down on the floor,” the goon in charge growled to Mr. Allen.
    A single gasp ignited a rush of wide, curious eyes peeking above little arms.
    That was when the screaming began.

Chapter 2
    C laire moved from student to student attempting to calm them down.
    The man who appeared to be in charge pointed at her. “You. Come here.”
    He leveled his weapon on her as she approached. It was difficult for her to draw in a breath, much less put one foot in front of the other.
    When she stopped about four feet away she looked him straight in the eye. “Yes?” Somehow her anger had overtaken her fear. Or maybe she’d gone numb or stupid with the business end of that automatic rifle pointed at her heart.Whatever it was, she hated this man for scaring the children like this.
    What kind of animal terrorized children?
    “Move everyone to the back of the room.”
    He gestured to the area behind the children’s desks, where a long window that filled most of the wall looked out over the inner quad. Claire blinked in disbelief. She hadn’t noticed until then that the police were already on the campus. Beyond the inner quad, just past the drop-off point, at least a dozen official vehicles had gathered in the front courtyard of Whitesburg Middle School.
    She turned back to the man doling out the instructions and nodded her understanding. He was taller than the other three, but slight, not nearly as heavily built. His voice, though mean and uncaring, sounded young.
    “Line up as many of the children as possible on the window stool with their backs to the room. Do what you must to keep them quiet.”
    Her heart thumped hard at the oddness of his request. “Why?”
    Cold black eyes glared at her. “Do it or die.”
    Somehow the order to move made it from her brain to her legs and she took the necessary steps to follow his order. As she moved back across the room she glanced at Mr. Allen. One of the masked men hadsecured him to the chair behind Claire’s desk with what looked like yellow nylon rope. The bindings were clearly too tight. Her heart went out to him.
    What did these men want? Why were they doing this? Why her school?
    She scolded herself for letting the questions splinter her attention. She had to keep her head about her.
    One by one she ushered the children to the back of the room. “Help me move the projects and plants, okay?” She had lined the window stool with plants that the children helped water and projects that had been completed recently.
    “What’s happening, Miss Grant?” Kira Hall stared up at her, her hazel eyes round with worry. “Why are those men wearing masks and holding guns?”
    “I’m not sure, Kira. Let’s just do what they tell us to do and be very quiet. I think everything will be okay if we do that.”
    Claire prayed she wasn’t lying to the child.
    Please, God, don’t let this turn out badly.
    Once the window stool was cleared, she assisted one child after the other onto the wide marble ledge. “Face out the window,” she told them quietly. They would be better off not seeing whatever was about to happen in this room.
    By the time she’d reached the other end of thewindow, her entire class stood on that ledge staring out at the cluster of law enforcement vehicles.
    Claire chewed her lip. Maybe this was worse than sitting in their desks staring at those men. She just didn’t know. Seeing those police cars out there would only alarm the children all the more.
    “You!”
    She pivoted to look at the man, the one she presumed to be in charge.
    “Come here.”
    “Stay very still and quiet, boys and girls,” she said once more, her voice as soothing as she could make it. Then, with a deep breath for