Stairs or elevator?
I crept out of the office, past Albert’s receptionist’s desk. My whole body jolted as the elevator doors sounded, incredibly loud in the silence.
Stairs.
I ran. One hand holding my gun, and the other pressed against my aching side.
I hit the stairs at a limp, my ribs screaming at me, but I picked up the pace. Either Ben or Bruce was in that elevator. I’d bet one of them had found Wes, and they’d split up.
If they hadn’t, and they were together, I was screwed.
My thighs burned, desperation and adrenaline driving me faster. I kept my eyes on the stairs as I ran down them. If I tripped, I was toast.
Three floors. I had to get down three floors. Each step jostled my ribs, and my breath sawed in and out of my lungs in pained pants.
I almost missed the door to the 6thfloor when I hit it. I took one breath, and shot out of the stairwell. The elevator doors opened.
I spun as Bruce came into view, a smirk playing around his mouth.
Our eyes met.
I fired.
He ducked, and I used the two seconds of his distraction to haul ass. My feet slid on the cheap carpet as bullets whizzed past my head.
I wasn’t dying tonight.
26
Danica
Iturned and ducked around the corner, careening wildly through the stacks of shelves, dodging through them at random.
The library was like a labyrinth at night, but I knew the general direction I was going.
“Oh, Danica… you have nowhere to go, you idiot.”
I was faster than Bruce. But I was pretty sure my ribs were cracked if not broken, and the heavy chains wrapped around my wrists were slowing me down.
Thirty feet away, Mella’s desk lamp glowed like a beacon.
Twenty feet.
Her head popped up from her bed beneath her desk as I sprinted toward her. “Danica?”
I pulled her pelt off from around my neck and her eyes widened.
Ten feet.
Mella rounded the desk and jerked against her chain, arms outstretched.
Faster. I had to move faster.
Bruce hit me like a truck and Mella shrieked. I stumbled. I had less than a second to decide if I’d use my hands to break my fall or throw the pelt.
I threw the pelt as far as I could.
My gun went flying as my bad side hit the ground and I screamed. Bruce flipped me over, his grin lighting up his face.
