Page 131

The gun made a sound like a sharp cough.

The maid screamed behind her gag—a muffled, animal sound of agony—and collapsed against the wall, clutching her thigh. Blood bloomed through her khaki uniform pants, spreading fast.

"Oh my God," Sophie gasped behind me. “Was that a gunshot?”

My legs nearly gave out. The maid was writhing on the carpet, trying desperately to crawl away while her leg left a smeared trail of blood.

"That was leverage," Viktor said pleasantly. "I didn’t hit her femoral artery, but still, I nicked something bad. It looks to me like she’ll bleed out in less than fifteen minutes. If she gets medical attention in ten minutes, she probably lives. You have three seconds to open this door, Katherine. Three. Two."

My hand was on the deadbolt before I consciously decided to move.

"Kit, no!" Russell grabbed my arm. "He'll kill us all!"

I looked back at Sophie and Russell. Sophie had gone white as paper. Russell's eyes were so wide I could see the whites all the way around.

The maid whimpered in the hallway. I could hear it through the door—small, desperate sounds of someone dying alone.

"One."

I yanked the deadbolt open and was confronted by a smile of pure evil. I tried to dart past him. Tried to get to the bleeding woman in the hallway, but he shoved me back so hard, I fell into a heap on the floor.

He turned his head and said something in Russian. I watched as two men in black t-shirts and black slacks, both wearing almost identical black blazers, came into view.

“Move,” Viktor said, as he shoved at me with the toe of his expensive loafer. I scrambled up off the floor. When I got up, I turned and saw Sophie and Russell both sitting on the far bed, looking shell-shocked.

Viktor’s men followed him in, one carrying the maid, the other shutting and locking the door behind him.

The man carrying the maid dumped her onto the floor near the bathroom. She writhed in pain, her muffled cries pitiful behind the tape over her mouth. Blood was spreading across the carpet in a dark stain.

"Nobody makes a sound," Viktor said pleasantly, his accent making each word precise. "Or I finish what I started with her. Understood?"

Sophie and I both nodded. Russell just stared, frozen.

Viktor crossed to Russell in three casual steps. Then, without warning, he swung the gun in a vicious arc. The butt of it connected with Russell's temple with a sickening crack.

Russell crumpled off the bed onto the floor, blood immediately streaming down the side of his face.

"Russell!" Sophie started to move, but one of Viktor's men grabbed her arm, holding her in place.

"Now." Viktor crouched down beside Russell, who was groaning and clutching his head. "You are going to give me everything. All your code. All your files. All the deepfake technology. Yes?"

"I don't—" Russell's words were slurred. "It's not here. It's all in LA. I can give you access remotely, but I need⁠—"

Viktor said something sharp in Russian. Immediately, both men started tearing through the room. One yanked open the dresser drawers, the other started going through our bags.

"Phones," Viktor ordered in English. "All phones. Now."

The first man moved to Russell, patting him down roughly and pulling out Russell's phone. Then he moved to Sophie, snatching hers from her pocket.

My heart was pounding so hard I thought it might break through my ribs. My phone was still on the dresser. Still on speaker. Still connected to Code.

The man walked over and grabbed it without even looking at the screen. Just shoved it into his jacket pocket with the others.

Please, Code. Please understand what you heard. Please hurry.

"You two," Viktor gestured at Sophie and me. "Stop the maid's bleeding. I need her alive for now. She is my insurance if anyone comes."

Sophie and I both scrambled to the maid. Her eyes were rolling back, her skin was going pale. There was so much blood.