"Then we have to be quick," Alaric says.
He moves. He pistol-whips her. A short, brutal strike to the temple. Sterling crumbles. She hits the floor, unconscious.
Alaric stands over her. He is breathing hard, swaying. "We should kill her," he says. "She knows too much."
I look at the unconscious woman. The woman who gave me pills. The woman who tried to turn me. I raise the rifle. I aim at her head. It would be easy. Surgical.Clear the board.
But then I look at the fire. The files. "Alaric," I say. "The files."
I reach into the trash can, ignoring the heat, and pull out a stack of burning papers. I stomp out the flames. I look at the header.PROJECT: ORPHEUS.Subject:Elodie Fray.Phase 3:Conditioning Complete. Asset ready for transfer.
It’s not just a land deal. It’s a program. I flip the page.Buyer Identity:Archibald Thorne.
Thorne. The Senator. The man whose son is a patient here. The man Sterling mentioned at dinner.
"Thorne," Alaric reads over my shoulder. "The Senator wants the land?"
"Why?"
"Because the land isn't just minerals," Alaric realizes, his eyes widening. "It sits on the aquifer. The water rights. In ten years, that water will be worth more than oil."
He laughs. A desperate, jagged sound. "It’s always about money. Boring, pedestrian money."
He looks at Sterling. "We leave her," he decides. "She’s not the head of the snake. Thorne is."
"We can't leave her to call them."
Alaric grabs a roll of medical tape from the desk. "Bind her. Gag her. We take the service elevator to the roof. We need an exit strategy."
"The helicopter is gone, Alaric."
"But the Medevac chopper isn't," he says. "It’s on the South Pad. Reserved for critical transfers."
We bind Sterling quickly. I tape her mouth shut. I look into her unconscious face. "I hope your research was worth it," I whisper.
We turn to leave. The door bursts open.
Three men. Heavily armored. They don't shout. They fire.RAT-TAT-TAT.
I dive behind the heavy oak desk. Alaric spins, firing his pistol.Bang. Bang.He hits one in the leg, but the body armor absorbs the rest. Bullets chew up the wood of the desk above my head. Splinters shower down on me.
"Suppressed!" Alaric yells, dropping behind a filing cabinet. "I'm empty!"
I have the rifle. I have never fired a rifle on full auto.Rhythm.I pop up. I squeeze the trigger. The gun bucks like a living thing, spraying bullets in a chaotic arc. It’s messy. It’s loud. But it works. The men duck for cover.
"Go!" Alaric shouts. "Window!"
"We're on the second floor!"
"Jump!"
He grabs a heavy bronze bust of Hippocrates from the shelf. He hurls it through the plate glass window.SMASH.Cold air and snow rush in.
"Jump, Elodie!"
I look at the drop. Twenty feet. Into a snowdrift. I look at the door. The men are regrouping. I look at Alaric. He holds out his hand.
I take it. We run. We leap into the void.
