The emergency lights throw pulsing red shadows across the narrow hallway while my sneakers slam hard against the concrete. Somewhere outside, tires screech across the pavement while men shout over each other in Russian.
Then another gunshot echoes close enough to shake the walls. I round the corner toward the staff offices just as Viktor crashes hard into the hallway wall. Blood splatters behind him across the white paint.
For one horrifying heartbeat, my brain refuses to understand what I’m seeing. Then Viktor fires twice down the hallway. The deafening sound makes me recoil instinctively.
A masked man lunges from the side office doorway while another grabs Ivy straight out of Irina’s arms.
“No!” Irina screams.
Ivy shrieks instantly, terror ripping through the sound hard enough to split me open.
The man hauling her backward toward the rear exit moves fast, like he’s done this before.
Irina launches herself after him with pure protective fury. She claws at the attacker hard enough to rip part of his mask sideways while Ivy cries hysterically between them.
“Let her go!” Irina screams.
A second attacker slams Irina backward into the wall. Then a gun fires. The sound detonates through the hallway. Irina jerks violently, and blood blooms across her shirt.
Everything inside me stops. For one impossible second, I’m frozen.
Then Ivy screams again, and my body finally moves.
I throw myself straight at the man holding her. The impact sends all three of us crashing sideways into the wall hard enough to rattle my teeth. Ivy slips partially free during the collision, and I grab her immediately, wrapping both arms around her while clawing desperately at the attacker with everything I have.
“Get off me!” he snarls.
His accent hits me a second later. Italian.Oh God.
The man backhands me hard, causing pain to explode across my cheek, but I still don’t let go of Ivy. I twist my body around hers instinctively, shielding her while she cries hysterically into my shoulder, and the attacker fights to yank her away from me.
Then another pair of arms slams around my waist from behind.
Strong hands wrench backward, trying to tear me away from Ivy while panic explodes inside my chest. The attacker reaches for her again, and I lash out blindly, my fingers catching the edge of his mask before ripping it completely off his face.
Dark eyes stare back at me beneath the red emergency lights, his crooked nose and the scar near his jaw fully exposed now that the mask is gone. Thirty maybe. Cold expression. I force every detail into my memory because somewhere deep inside me, I already know this face matters.
Then shouting erupts farther down the hallway. Russian and close.
The attacker hears it too. His entire expression changes.
“Move,” the second man barks.
The one whose face I uncovered shoves me violently, my shoulder slamming against the wall while he tears free from my grip. Ivy stays clutched against my chest as both men sprint toward the rear service exit.
A gunshot cracks somewhere outside. Then another.
Bodies thunder through the loading area while men shout over each other beyond the back doors. I hear Alexei yelling in Russian as more men rush past the far end of the hallway, butby then the attackers are already disappearing into the darkness behind the shelter.
The entire building smells like gunpowder and copper. My ears ring violently while Ivy sobs against my chest, shaking.
Then I look down and see Irina bleeding across the floor. I can’t breathe.
Irina.
“Oh God,” I whisper.
She lies crumpled beside the office doorway, clutching her stomach while blood spreads rapidly beneath her across the concrete floor.
