The hallway is dark.
Too dark.
Someone killed the lights.
That alone tells me everything I need to know.
This isn’t random.
This is planned.
I move barefoot across the floor, silent, breathing slow, every instinct sharpened.
Then I hear it again.
A whisper of movement.
Right outside Laney’s door.
Something cold settles in my chest.
I don’t think.
I explode into motion.
The door is already cracked open an inch when I hit it.
Wood slams into the wall with a violent crack.
A shadow turns.
Gun in his hand.
I fire.
The blast is deafening in the narrow hallway.
The man jerks backward, crashing hard into the wall before collapsing to the carpet.
Another shadow moves at the far end of the hall.
“Saint!” Laney screams.
I pivot and fire again.
The shot sparks off the wall.
Miss.
The second man bolts for the stairs.
“Trigger!” I roar into my comm.
Heavy footsteps thunder somewhere behind me as the team wakes up and moves.
I kick the fallen man’s gun across the floor and drag him into the dim emergency light spilling from the stairwell.
Blood is already spreading across the floor.
