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“Walk away,” said another, this one calmer. “We won’t be doing business with you tonight.”
And then…
“In that case, gentlemen, it seems you’ve misunderstood the situation.”
My heart fell all the way down to my heels. I knew that voice.
It was Dominic’s.
“Because I am not asking,” he growled, and it was unmistakably Dominic. “You either give me that case, or you die. Take your pick.”
It all happened so fast. One second, the air was loaded with silence, and the next, things were being thrown against walls and against the floor. Growls filled my ears, whines and screams—and a gunshot, too.
Instinct took over, and the next blink, I found myself in front of the door, kicking it wide open, my gun in my hand, aimed forward at nobody in particular.
“Stop!” I shouted at the top of my voice.
The four men and Dominic, who had his large hand around a man’s neck, froze, their eyes wide as they looked at me.
“ODP! Put your hands up right now!” I demanded, forehead lined with sweat beads, but my hands didn’t shake. My gun was secured in my hand and fully loaded, finger on the trigger.
Except the men had already seen my pink hair and pink eyes, and they did not take my gun seriously at all. That was why they continued to fight like I wasn’t even there, and one of them was already in front of me, trying to grab my gun from my hands.
I moved without really realizing it. I ducked and kicked him in the shin as hard as I could. It didn’t knock him down—he was a big guy—but it did make him move back long enough for me to pull the trigger and catch him right in the thigh.
He hit the floor with a roar, holding his bleeding leg while I went deeper into the office-like room to see Dominic pushing off two guys. One of them was so skinny and young, he couldn’t be older than twenty. They both fell against the wall while the third guy came for me, teeth gritted as he raised his hands toward me. The air charged with magic before a blast of it hit me straight in the chest. The only reason I didn’t fall was because I hit the wall with my back. It held me up long enough to see Dominic leaning down and spinning with his leg outstretched to take the feet from under the wizard who’d attacked me.
He hit the floor with a loud thud, and Dominic jumped over the large desk on the right of the room, while one of them went after him. The skinny guy wearing a red shirt ran fast out of the room in panic. I couldn’t stop him because both the guy with the bullet in his thigh and the wizard were on their feet again.
“You bitch!” the one I’d shot called as he came for me again, while his friends went after Dominic. I moved away, eyes on Dominic—and the wooden box he had in his hands, kind of like those cigar boxes I’d seen in movies. He opened it, and it was full of syringes with orange liquid in them.
And then the guy coming for me slammed onto me, almost knocking the gun out of my hand. I did my best to push him off so I could see where I shot him. I didn’t want to kill him if I could help it, but it was impossible.
The guy slammed his fists onto my face a few times before he grabbed it in both his hands and squeezed so hard, I thought for sure he’d break my skull.
I shot my gun two times without looking. I aimed it at his torso, but the adrenaline coursing in my veins made it impossible to know for sure. He let go of my head and fell back, looking down at his chest, at the two bullet holes oozing blood, turning his white shirt red.
One in his chest, right between his pecs, and the other a couple inches lower.
He fell to the floor on his side the next second, and I could see Dominic again, wrestling the two remaining guys with his bare hands, his arms bloody and bruised, like someone had clawed him just hours ago. The case was on the floor, syringes spreading everywhere, and I made to take one, hide it in my pocket. It had to be full of Crackdown, and there was plenty of it inside for the Research crew to test.
But before I managed to reach one, a booted foot slammed on my face, knocking me to the side instantly. I fell back, black dots filling my vision. I could barely breathe, but I still tried to stand up. My gun was no longer in my hand and my ears were ringing, but somehow I made it to my feet holding onto the wall.
About a hundred blinks later, I began to see the view in front of me again.
Dominic was sitting on the floor in the corner of the room, elbows over his knees, head down, breathing deeply. The guy I’d shot three times was on the floor, eyes open as he stared at the ceiling but didn’t see anything.Dead.
And the other two who’d been wrestling Dominic were gone. So were the syringes that had been scattered all over the floor, though the empty case was still there.
Something warm touched my lips and slipped right inside my mouth. Blood. My nose was bleeding though I didn’t really feel any pain yet, and my gun was right there by my feet. The corridor outside the door was empty. Those guys were long gone. I sighed, reaching for the phone in my pocket, begging my hands to just stop shaking for a second.
Before they did, Dominic raised his head and looked at me.
And I saw his chest.
Or better—the syringe sticking out of him. Theemptysyringe.
My fingers froze before I could press the call button. My own eyes must have been playing tricks on me because Dominic closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall behind him, and…the bruises on his arms, on the sides of his neck began to fade. Right there, right in front of my eyes, they began to fade.
