Her mouth tightens slightly.
Because she knows exactly what I’m doing.
Pushing forward.
Refusing to look at the bigger problem sitting between us.
Children.
Dr. Hannah Bowers.
Dr. Stephen Cole.
Still somewhere inside this nightmare.
Gunfire erupts ahead.
I catch Olivia by the waist and yank her backward just as bullets rip through the wall where her head was.
Concrete explodes across the hallway.
I shove her behind me and fire around the corner.
One man drops.
Another.
A third disappears back behind cover.
“Russ!” Lucas barks through comms. “Move!”
“We’re pinned.”
“Not for long,” Clay cuts in. “Thirty seconds.”
Thirty seconds in a firefight is forever.
I glance back.
Olivia’s pressed against the wall breathing hard, one arm wrapped around her ribs while she fights to stay upright.
Still trying not to slow me down.
Still trying to look stronger than she is.
That nearly destroys me.
I step closer and brace one arm above her head while firing blindly down the hall with the other.
“Tell me how bad.”
Her eyes flash. “Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not ideal.”
That answer almost makes me lose my mind.
