Page 79 of Colombian Chemistry

I took off down the hall after her, running as fast as I could in my stilettos.

Holy shit. We’re all gonna die.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Marcus

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I wanted to scream Irene’s name as panic like I’d never known coursed through me. I heard her deep breaths while she ran, then more gunshots.

“More guards coming on your left. Take the hallway on your right,” Wesley said to them. “Marcus. I’m muting you now so I don’t distract you and Knox while I direct them out of here. But I’m still watching you. I’ll jump on if anything comes up on your end.”

Just like that... silence.

As much as I wanted to demand someone tell me what was going on, my position dangling in the rafters above two guards forbid it. Even the slightest noise would alert them to my presence.

She’s with Piper. Piper will keep her safe. Stay focused on your own mission, I reminded myself, attempting to calm down.

The guards finally moved directly below Knox and me. He looked over and gave me the nod. We dropped from the ceiling, each landing on a guard and silencing them quickly with our knives.

Several more dead guards lay behind us in our path to Dr. Saltzman, and there would be several more corpses before we extracted him. Or from the sounds of what had happened with Piper and Irene, a lot more corpses would litter this compound. They knew there was a security breach now, and that meant our element of surprise had vanished. Luckily, at the moment, the cartel only knew they were chasing after two women and had no idea we were here or what our mission was.

“Shit,” Knox whispered. “That didn’t go as planned.”

“We need to go help them,” I said.

“No.” Knox wiped the blood off his blade. “We need to stay focused on our mission. Let Piper guide them out of there. By the time we find them, they’ll probably be out. Let’s stick to our plan. We’re almost there.”

As much as I wanted to argue, I clamped my mouth shut. Piper and Irene were on the move, and there was little chance we could intercept them with backup before they got free.

“She’ll be okay.” Knox pressed a hand onto my shoulder. “We’ll make sure both she and her father get out of here alive.”

With a deep breath, I nodded. “Let’s move.”

Knox and I wound down the stairwell to the basement where Wesley had last seen Dr. Saltzman. Now he was off comms helping Piper and Irene, so we had to go based on the last information we’d been given.

Footsteps around the corner stopped us in our tracks. We pressed our backs against the wall and waited.

Three feet... two feet... one foot.

The guard passed the opening of the hallway we stood in. Knox reached out and snagged him around the neck, pulling him into his arms and covering his mouth while he slid his knife across his neck. Knox lay the dead guard gently at his feet, careful not to make a loud sound. He poked his head around the corner.

“Clear,” he whispered.

We moved as one, ducking in and out of the shadows and taking out our adversaries until we reached the door that Dr. Saltzman was behind.

Knox and I gave each other a brief nod, and I positioned my gun over his shoulder as he opened it up. The door creaked on its old hinges, and a nearby guard spun round.

I fired two silenced rounds into him, then Knox and I spun to take out the other guard still fumbling to get his gun. He dropped quickly, and we quickly surveyed the rest of the laboratory.

Dr. Saltzman cowered in the corner, covering his head. “Please don’t hurt me.”

“It’s me, Dr. Saltzman. Marcus. We met in Bogotá.”

Dr. Saltzman slowly peeked up from his crouched position, and his eyes widened when he saw me. “Marcus!” He rose to his feet. “Irene! Is she okay? Did you save her?”

“I did. And she’s here.”