I turn and grab the closest guard by his collar, slamming him against the wall hard enough to rattle his teeth. "You're all dead. Every single one of you." His eyes go wide. "Sir, we didn't know—"
"I don't care what you knew." I release him, and he crumpled to the floor, then I turn to the others gathered in the doorway. "Get the helicopter. Now." They scatter, and I'm left standing trying to get my breathing under control. My phone is in my hand before I even register pulling it out. The fire was a distraction. She had already planned to leave she started this but I knew she could not do this alone. Someone had to have helped her carry out his plan.
• • •
The helicopter descends within minutes, cutting the air. I stride in, and we take off. “Thermal imaging,” I bark at the pilot as I haul myself into the cabin. “Find her.” I say and the equipment hums to life. We begin scanning the treeline and within seconds the screen lights up with blooms of red and orange.
Most of them are small, animals moving through the underbrush, but then I see them—two figures running through the trees, outlined in bright orange. “There.” I jab my finger at the screen.
“Land.”
“Sir, the trees are too dense for a landing. We’d have to—”
“I said land.”
We drop fast, the helicopter lurching as it descends, and my men pour out the moment we touch ground, drawing their weapons.
I start moving, crashing through the underbrush with branches whipping against my face, but I don’t feel any of it because all I can focus on is the sound of footsteps ahead, panicked breathing, and twigs snapping under running feet.
I push myself faster, to the point that my legs burn, and then I see her. Iris is stumbling through the trees, her hair wild and tangled, her clothes torn and dirty, and the investigator has his hand wrapped around her wrist, dragging her forward.
“Iris!” She looks back over her shoulder, and when those eyes meet mine I see pure terror.
The investigator yanks her harder. “Don’t stop. Keep moving.”
I raise my gun and take aim, not at him, but at her.
“Keep running, angel. Let me show you just how good my aim really is.” The shot cracks through the air and a strand of her ginger hair falls, severed clean by the bullet that passed so close to her skull she felt the heat. She screams, her free hand flying to her head, but I’m already adjusting my aim and firing again. This time the bullet rips through her sleeve, tearing fabric but missing her skin by a hair’s breadth.
“ILAY, STOP!” Her voice is raw with terror, but I don’t stop.
The next shot hits the ground at her feet and dirt explodes upward, then another shot, closer, and another, forming a pattern around her running feet with bullets slamming into earth inches from where she steps.
She’s sobbing now, stumbling, and I pull out my radio without breaking stride.
“Light it up. I want smoke thick enough she can’t see three feet in front of her.”
Static crackles, then: “Copy that, sir.”
Within seconds, smoke begins rising from multiple points around the forest where my men are setting fires, and the helicopter drops thermite canisters that make flames erupt in a line, cutting off their escape.
The investigator sees the smoke and his body goes rigid for a split second before he tries to change direction.
“Don’t shoot at her!” I roar at my men. “Shoot at him!” Gunfire cracks through the forest, and the investigator jerks to the left, pulling Iris with him.
She screams, and then something happens that makes my blood run cold.
She runs closer to him, and puts her body between him and the bullets, shielding him from me.
“Don’t fucking shoot!” The words tear out of my throat. “Nobody fucking shoot!” My men hesitate, lowering their weapons as they look at me with confusion. “Just run and catch them,” I snarl.
“Nobody shoots. GO!”
We surge forward, crashing through the underbrush, and I can see the investigator glancing back with panic written all over his face as he realizes we’re gaining on them. The smoke is thicker now, rolling through the trees. Iris is slowing him down, her legs giving out every few steps, and he keeps having to haul her back up, his grip on her wrist never loosening.
I will cut off that hand he’s touching her with. I’m close enough to hear her crying, and that’s close enough range to aim and fire.
BANG! The shot hits him in the shoulder, and he goes down hard, taking Iris with him. She hits the ground with a cry, herhands scraping against the dirt, as I close the distance within seconds.
