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“Open the gate!” I shout again.
The guard by the gate understands English. He met me this morning.
Sloane’s head lolls against my arm.
The siren grows louder.
Vlad is behind me. His strides are long. Walking. Not running. Hand on his gun.
The guard pulls on the large door, sliding it backward on the metal track. The dirt area outside the compound comes into view. Sirens blare. A white van with the word “Emergency” in English along the side pulls up. One row of red lights sits atop.
The driver is a dark-skinned man with black hair.
Fuck!
The ambulance’s back door swings open. Max wears a blue short-sleeved shirt with navy slacks and black shoes. His shirt has the local area hospital logo. He glances behind me, hands on a stretcher.
I don’t give him a chance to pull the stretcher out. I jump into the van and lay Sloane down across the stretcher.
Max pushes me out of the way, checking her pulse and doing whatever else medics would do. For our team, Max was the medic. I leave him to it, closing the back van doors.
“Wait!” Vlad shouts.
“Go, go!” I shout loud enough for the driver to hear me.
The last thing I see as the door closes is Vlad aiming his gun. At us.
But his expression is one of indecision. Lost seconds. His loss.
If he shoots, I don’t hear it.
The siren wails.
The employee parking lot is a good five-minute walk from the entrance. We’ll have a decent lead time, should Vlad pursue us.
By the time he realizes we aren’t headed to the hospital, we’ll be long gone. Once this vehicle is closed in the garage, we’ll change cars. Cross the nearby border. And head home.
No kill shots. No international crisis.
Max opens Sloane’s mouth, breathing in while pinching her nose.
“I’m losing her. Charge the paddles.”
CHAPTER 38
Sage
“Hey. Sage.” Knox’s voice bears a raspy quality.
He’s alive. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine. We’re all fine.”
“Oh, thank god.” My palm flattens over my chest. My lungs expand, breathing freely for the first time since they left.
“We, um…we, ah, encountered an issue.”
“Sloane wanted to stay?” Please, no. Say she didn’t. Say she left willingly.
