It was aboutbuying time.
I dropped another hostile, then spun back toward Raine. She was crouched over the woman, one arm steady on her pistol, the other cradling the victim’s head. Her hair clung damp to her cheek, but her eyes—God, those eyes—were fire.
The sight hit me harder than any bullet. She wasn’t just surviving this. She was fighting it her way.
And I swore right then—I’d level the whole damn city before I let them take her.
“Two minutes!” I roared. “Get them moving, now!”
94
Raine
Gunfire cracked like lightning, each shot echoing through the sterile hall until it rattled my bones. I crouched low, one arm braced around the woman’s frail shoulders, my pistol steady in my other hand.
The air was sharp with smoke and gunpowder, the overhead lights flickering under the hail of bullets. Every instinct screamed at me to run, to get out, but I couldn’t. Not with them here. Not with lives still strapped to gurneys like cargo.
“Come on, sweetheart,” I whispered to the woman, fumbling at her IV. My fingers trembled, slick with sweat, but the line snapped free. Her head lolled weakly, a faint moan slipping past cracked lips. “Stay with me. Please.”
Another burst of fire exploded down the hall. Blade’s knife flashed, Hawk’s rifle barked, Adam’s voice cut sharp and steady, holding the storm together.
I swallowed my fear, forcing steel into my spine. I’d worn the uniform. I’d led men. I wasn’t going to fold now.
“Logan!” I shouted over the chaos. “Help me move her!”
He was there in two strides, his face grim, sweat streaking his temples. He slung the woman over his shoulder like she weighed nothing, his sig snapping off shots with his free hand.
I spun toward the next gurney. A man, pale and trembling, eyes half-lidded under sedation. My heart slammed.Too many. Too damn many.
I ripped at the straps, my breath coming ragged. “You’re not dying here,” I whispered. “Not today.”
The leather gave, and I slid under his arm, grunting with the weight as I heaved him upright. My ribs screamed, white-hot pain tearing through me, but I kept moving.
“Raine!”
Adam’s voice—sharp, desperate. My head snapped up. He was holding the line at the doorway, his Glock blazing, his eyes locked on me. For one heartbeat, I saw everything in them—fear, fury, love—and it steadied me more than any cover fire.
“I’ve got him!” I shouted back, hauling the man against me, my knees buckling under the weight.
A bullet sparked off the gurney leg inches from my boot. I stumbled, teeth gritted, dragging the man toward the exit.
The hallway was chaos, bodies moving, gunfire roaring, Adam barking orders through it all. But I had no room for fear anymore. Only fury.
Fury that this was what they did to people. Fury that they thought they could reduce lives to parts. Fury that made me stronger than pain, louder than terror.
I clutched the man tighter, my voice a vow even as bullets tore the air around me.
“You’re getting out. Every last one of you.”
95
Adam
The hallway was a warzone—smoke, blood, the crack of rifles tearing holes through the sterile white walls.
But all I saw was Raine.
She staggered under the weight of a half-conscious man, her ribs screaming, her jaw clenched, and still she kept moving. Every instinct in me wanted to drop my weapon, scoop her up, and carry her out of this hell myself.
