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Before the nurse could answer, Viktor’s terse voice answered the call.
“About fucking time you called.”
“Was kinda occupied,” Marissa replied. “Shut up and listen. I’m outta time. The men came in from the tunnel at the datacenter level. There’s a guard at the tunnel, and I suspect it’s also booby-trapped. You guys need to find an alternate way in. They have Tim, Holly, Olsen, Maia, and a security guard. I’m counting six hostiles, maybe more. They may have guys stationed at each exit.”
“Copy that—”
Footsteps caught Marissa’s attention and she quickly whispered, “Quiet, someone’s coming.” She left the line open. She signaled for Sophie and the nurse to hide.
Marissa flattened her body against the wall, hiding behind a cabinet. The doors to the medical bay slid open.
A man cursed in Arabic. Ali spotted Matsuda lying unconscious on the bed.
Before he could inform Rafiq, Marissa made her move.
She drew her KA-BAR from her boot and jumped on Ali’s back. She clung like a crab, her legs squeezing his sides, her arms around his neck, one hand over his mouth and the other about to slice through his jugular. He managed to block her, his hand digging into the knife as he struggled to push it back.
Oh, Shit! Marissa thought. Ali scuttled backwards and slammed Marissa repeatedly against the cabinet until she lost her hold on him and fell on her back. He aimed his AK-47 at her, but she managed to flip on her side as he fired and missed her. Ali screamed in frustration, realizing he had it set to singleshot. Before he could rig it to fully automatic, she swept her leg under him and sent him crashing to the floor.
Marissa grabbed the fallen KA-BAR, straddled Ali, and with both hands plunged the knife down, but he caught her wrists. His injured hand was weak, but he was still strong as she struggled to dig the knife through his eye to scramble his brain. The blade was turning toward her and was hovering close to her neck.
Marissa started shifting away, and just when she thought she’d have to pull back completely, a shot rang out and Ali’s head jerked back, his hands on her wrists fell away.
Marissa glanced up and saw Sophie holding a gun, the muzzle still smoking.
She pushed away from Ali and walked to the blonde scientist. Grabbing the gun by the barrel, and lowering the muzzle, she leaned in and said, “Do you know it’s dangerous to fire a gun in a room full of oxygen tanks?”
Sophie blinked at her in confusion.
She grinned. “Great job, Sophie.”
“Marissa!” Viktor’s voice yelled loudly through the phone.
Shit. She forgot about him.
Viktor wasready to come out of his skin. They were still a few minutes out from HQ and he had repeatedly told Nathan to floor it. Stark’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel as they listened to the sounds of the fight over the phone. Every time Viktor heard a gunshot, he feared the worse. So when he heard Marissa’s snarky drawl to Sophie, he felt relief and anger, which seemed to be his standard reaction when it came to her.
“Marissa!” He was annoyed as hell.
“I’m here, Viktor. Sorry, I was—”
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine. Ali’s dead.”
“We’re five minutes out. Stay put.”
“I need to get to the ventilation duct around the datacenter.”
“And—what—do you plan—to do—exactly?”
“It’s obvious.”
“You can probably get off two shots before you get one of our own killed.”
“Maia’s on the floor. I know she’s not a hundred-percent, but this is our only chance.”
Viktor contemplated her plan and glanced briefly at Nathan who said, “She’s right.”
