Page 110

Ethan wasn’t at all surprised to find a dart stuck in Gator’s shirt—the same type he’d found on the Tifton driveway.

Checking his vitals, Gator seemed steady. As Ethan rolled Gator onto his side in rescue position, he discovered a stun gun under his leg.

He tested it, and it was out of juice.

Ethan put the picture together: Someone shot Gator. Gator had no comms. He ran for the door to raise the alarm. Someone stopped him with the stun gun for long enough that the meds would take him down.

“I’ll be back, Gator. I need to find Piper,” Ethan said as he focused on the light in the computer lab and the smoke that was filling the hall. “Tango, guard.”

Tango sat at attention next to Gator as Ethan put his shoulder to the wall and made his way down the hall on silent feet.

He had no weapon, but a chirp from Ethan would set his fur missile in motion.

Smoke slid over the ceiling and out of the top of the door.

The smell of burning machinery was intense.

Piper was alone in the room, crumpled under the computer desk as if she’d slid to the ground.

The computer was open, and three letters sat in the password bar.

White powder coated her face and arms.

So white that at first, Ethan didn’t grab at the chair and move Piper.

If she was dead, this was a crime scene.

He crawled under the desk, ducked his cheek to feel her exhale, and the sense of joy that filled him was almost unbearable.

“Piper, it’s Ethan.” He pushed the chair away and lifted her into his arms. He had to get her away from the smoke and toxins that filled the air. “I’m here, sweetheart. I’m going to take care of you. Tango’s here. You’re going to be okay.”

Flames licked the wall, melting the carpet.

He spotted a syringe by the wall.

Ethan moved Piper into the hall and laid her down. That syringe might be what was wrong with her. He needed to take it to the hospital with her.

Finding an empty water bottle in the waste basket. Ethan put the syringe inside, twisted the cap back on, then went to the hall to put the water bottle in Piper’s dress pocket—the one she’d texted him happily about when she discovered it. If they got separated by the emergency. Ethan needed the syringe to get where she was going.

Scooping under Piper’s knees and rolling her to his chest, Ethan lifted. “Here we go. I need you to stay with me just like you did on the boat.”

She seemed to hear.

Ethan sensed her body trying to move, but she was a noodle.

“Good girl, Tango.” Ethan looked up the stairs, then back down the hall as the flames peeked out from behind the door and scorched the white walls. “This is going to be a trick.”

Ethan had to lay Piper down, move Gator, and get the door open wide enough.

With Piper lying against the wall, Ethan thought he’d get everyone to the stairs, shut the door against the smoke and flames, and then call for help.

But as Ethan moved through the well-practiced maneuvers of getting a battle buddy onto his shoulders, he realized he didn’t have time.

Although every cell in his body screamed at him not to leave Piper, Ethan moved through the door and raced up the stairs as fast as he could move. Feet stumbling, crashing from wall to wall with the giant of a warrior on his back, Ethan reached the top and dropped Gator.

Using the handrails to propel himself down, Ethan leaped the stairs in three bounds, reaching Piper, his chest heaving.

Once again he made his way up the stairs, lifting his feet high as they tangled in the volume of her dress.