A sharp whizzing flew across the side of my head, disheveling strands of hair as it blew past. In the following seconds, another suppressed pop exploded against medical equipment at my back.
Gunshots.
I made a run for Sam, but Leni fisted the back of my jacket and pulled me back.
“Eva, no! It’s Belov’s men. We have to run, or we’re dead.”
Heavy gunfire erupted around us, drowning out her voice in a sea of chaos. One of the officers keeping Yuri’s room guarded dropped while the other and a guard ducked for cover before returning fire.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“We can’t leave… Sam…” The words died in my throat as I watched in horror as his knees hit the floor.
With eyes half-mast, rivulets of blood poured from a bullet wound on the side of his head.
“No!”
Leni dragged me to the floor. Once we were behind the desk, tears slid down my cheeks. For Sam, the other officer, and the nurse who lay dead on the floor beside me. Leni and I made eye contact, shaking our heads in disbelief.
“It was a trap,” I whispered. “We have to get out of here, Len. Do you know how to make it off this floor?”
A barrage of bullets exploded over our heads as automatic weapons came into play.
She pointed to the far side of the room. “The vent. They’re strategists and most likely blocked off the elevators and stairwells.”
I swiped harshly at the last drops of tears and inhaled a sharp, resolute breath. “Go, Leni. I’ll cover you.”
Well aware that the chances of making it out alive were slim, I sent a quick prayer up for my father. Thoughts of the devastation my death would cause strangled the air from my lungs. It killed me to know he’d be alone—first my mom, then Frankie, his best friend, and now… me. I was thankful he’d decided to go home instead of taking on a double shift like he’d planned.
Leni rolled up the pant legs of her medical scrubs. Strapped to each calf was a Glock 17. Before I could even register what I was seeing, the woman, who seconds ago was just a civilian, pulled up her shirt, revealing a tactical belt around her abdomen. She tossed me two magazines without batting an eye, as if all of this was perfectly normal.
“No time for explanations. Let’s go.”
With that said, she was gone, and I was on my feet, raining hellfire down the slim hallway. By the time I reached the vent, Leni had popped it open. Eying her with an edge of suspicion, I motioned for her to crawl in first.
Twists and turns took us far enough from the gunfire that they were mere echoes in the distance. Leni came to a stop and leaned her head against the metal. Closing her eyes, she blew out a heavy breath. As she turned to face me, she froze, the barrel of my gun pointed between her eyes.
“Leni, I need you to talk to me right now because what the fuck just happened? Who are you?”
“Put the gun down, Eva. You know who I am. And if I wanted to hurt you, you’d be back there with Nurse Callahan.”
“Ifyou wanted to hurt me?”
“Yes, of which I have no desire. But I will defend myself if it comes down to who leaves this tunnel alive and who doesn’t.”
Had I been transported to the twilight zone?
The once-friendly clinical psychologist and good friend of my father just threatened to kill me if the stakes came down to it.
“You’re armed to the teeth. I could have you arrested for unauthorized possession of a firearm and ammunition in a hospital.”
“But you won’t.”
Her voice held an undercurrent of danger. The threat was loud in the hard glare behind her eyes. But I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge. I clenched my jaw, the weapon still trained on Helena Adamos—or whoever the fuck she was.
“Don’t fuck with me, Leni. This is not the time.”
“You’re right. It’s not. First, we need to get the hell out of here. Then, you and I can talk.”
