From the corner of his eye he saw Ezra take a step closer, his stare unrelenting. “Release her now. There’s nowhere for you to run.”
The boss’s eyes darted around, taking in the formidable team standing united against him. But instead of showing fear, he only tightened his grip on Emily. “One step closer, and I pull the trigger.”
The beast within Carter roared louder.
Now! Strike now!it demanded. But Carter, battling both his internal instincts and the external threat, tried to remain calm.
“Listen,” he said, voice barely controlled, “Let her go, and we can work this out. You don’t want to do this.”
Logan murmured from the side, eyes locked onto the boss, “Carter, give the signal, we can take him.”
The boss’s eyes gleamed with madness. “A signal, huh? Try it. I dare you. She’ll be dead before you take a step in my direction.”
And the madness in his eye left no doubt that he would carry out his threat.
Chapter Twelve
Emily
The cold metal seared into Emily’s skin, a constant reminder of the razor-thin line between life and death she teetered on. Her heart thudded painfully against her ribs, each beat underscoring the risk she had taken and the possible cost of it. While everything seemed to move at a snail’s pace, sounds melded together, except for one voice.
The boss’s words, venom-laced and dripping with malice, cut through her heightened state of anxiety.
“You and your friends,” he spat in Carter’s direction, his breath hot against Emily’s neck, “You think you’re all heroes, swooping in to save the day. But you’ve ruined years of meticulous planning!”
Carter’s voice was calm but laden with fury. “What were you planning?”
A cruel laugh erupted from the boss, his middle eastern accent getting thicker the more agitated he became. “More than you can fathom. With my army of super soldiers—shifters, enhanced with science, stripped of weaknesses—I could have changed the world order. Imagine,” he hissed, his voice dripping with anticipation, “an unstoppable force, loyal only to me, descending upon the US. The chaos, the devastation... it would have been a masterpiece.”
Emily’s heart ached at the sheer magnitude of his malevolence. She struggled to find her voice, pushing past the lump in her throat. “Why? Why would you want to do that?”
The boss tilted his head, regarding her with cold eyes.“Because, my dear, the people who are in control of this country think they have all the power. They think they are superior to every other country. You bring your jets and your army to our country and stick your nose in where it’s not wanted! You kill our people like we are nothing to you! You’ve taken everything from me! And I am going to take it back!”
Carter’s growl reverberated in the silent tension of the room. “You’re insane.”
The boss simply smirked. “They do say there’s a thin line between madness and genius, don’t they?”
The cold fury in the boss’s eyes was a chilling contrast to the beads of sweat forming on his brow. Emily felt every step as he yanked her forward, the grip on her arm punishing. But even as fear clouded her every thought, she couldn’t ignore the telltale signs—the tiny quiver of his fingers on the gun, the erratic rhythm of his breathing. For all his bravado and ruthlessness, the boss was human. And humans had weaknesses.
He dragged her along the corridor and up the stairs, using her body as a shield. Suddenly, they burst onto the rooftop. The wind was wild up here, roaring and whipping around them, tangling Emily’s hair and pulling at her clothes. The deafening thwack-thwack-thwack of helicopter blades punctured the air, adding to the disorientation. She started to panic as she imagined him dragging her onto the helicopter and taking her God only knew where. She didn’t know what would become of her. Would he kill her when he no longer required to use her as a hostage, or would he take her to some other facility somewhere to continue her work, keeping her a prisoner forever? The idea that she would never see Carter again caused a sharp pain to lance through her chest.
Through the blinding gusts and noise, her gaze sought outCarter’s. He was a silhouette against the building’s backlight. There was a fierce determination in his eyes, mixed with concern—an unspoken promise that he wouldn’t let harm come to her. In that fleeting connection, Emily found an unexpected reservoir of strength.
“It seems like your knight in shining armor won’t give up,” the boss snarled, following Emily’s gaze to where Carter stood, every muscle coiled and ready to pounce.
Emily swallowed, summoning as much courage as she could muster. “He won’t be the only one. You might have your plans, but you’re outnumbered and outmatched.”
A humorless laugh left his lips. “We’ll see about that,” he said, dragging her closer to the waiting helicopter.
The noise of the helicopter’s engine filled the air, making it almost impossible to hear anything else. But Emily didn’t need to hear—she could see the boss shouting commands to the pilot, his face contorted with a mixture of rage and desperation. The cold metal of the gun remained pressed against her side, a chilling reminder of the stakes. Glancing around, she noticed Carter and his team positioned in a semi-circle, watching the boss’s every move, their faces etched with concern and concentration.
As seconds felt like hours, a thought struck Emily. The boss was confident because he believed he had the upper hand with her as his human shield. But if that changed, even for a split second, the tables could turn.
With a deep breath, she recalled self-defense moves she’d learned in a class years ago when she was an undergrad. Waiting for the perfect moment, she shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet. Then, with as much force as she could muster, she droveher elbow into the boss’s midsection.
He grunted in surprise and pain, his grip on her slackening for just a second. It was all the opportunity Emily needed. She reached for the gun, her fingers grazing the cool metal before wrapping around it and yanking it away. The weight of it in her hand was unfamiliar and heavy, but the immediate shift in power dynamics was palpable.
The boss lunged at Emily, his eyes wide and manic, consumed by desperation and hatred. The world seemed to blur as they grappled for the weapon.
