Page 72 of Till Death Do Us Part

She was faster than I was, though—tried to push her away, but she grabbed me, and I swore as she wrenched me along after her, slamming into the railing and falling over. I grabbed the rail before I fell, and Vera caught my arm, hanging onto me.

“Thought you were more graceful and delicate than the rugby tackle,” Vera called up to me, her voice straining.

“Thought you were too antisocial to catch yourself by holding someone.” I tried to wrench my hand away—the table below would be a hard fall, fragile champagne flutes standing tall like glass knives, but Vera held on firmly, hoisting herself up and holding onto the banister next to me. I lunged with the knife in hand, driving into her back as she did, but she’d come prepared—a protective vest under her clothes, and she grunted from the impact force, but the knife didn’t go through, Vera pitching up over the railing and skidding across the tile.

She brandished her knife, and I dropped down into the drapery, out of reach, but she wasn’t aiming for me—she threw the knife upwards, a precise strike against the sprinkler, and with a crack, it gave, spraying water into the room below as people gasped.

Subtle. So much for her expert touch.

I threw the knife through the railing while Vera was waiting for me to come over it instead, and it struck true, hitting her in the calf muscle just above her shoe, and she swore, staggering back as I leaped up over the railing and lunged in, slamming into her. She directed us away from the railing, but I still managed to pin her to the wall, grabbing the knife at my side just as Vera grabbed it too, our hands locked as I pinned her against the wall as alarms flared around us and sprinkler water pelted me in the back.

“What’s the plan, then?” she said, gritting her teeth. “You also in on Horizon now?”

“What’s your plan? Decided Elaine’s more valuable alive?”

“Upset to see her alive?”

I clenched the knife tighter. “Even like this, you still won’t answer a damn question.”

“Vera!” Elaine’s voice called, and Vera and I both glanced at where she rushed through the curtains onto the balcony with us. “The building is being evacuated. Peter’s outside, heading for his car, but Petra’s identified which one.”

I glared. “So you are working together.”

Elaine’s gaze softened. “We both decided some things are more important. That the past doesn’t have to define us. Vera’s keeping me safe.”

“She was planning to kill you.”

“I know that now. There’s no time to explain, but… we’re not enemies right now. We all want Horizon to stop. That’s why we’re here.”

I narrowed my eyes, studying her—that intense look of quiet strength in her eyes, the one thing that broke through my defenses—but I let my guard down. Vera took advantage of the opening, shoving me, and I went staggering backwards as she pitched me over the railing.

Partly because I went willingly. I hit the banister and ducked to drop over, rappelling down into the drapery with a strangled gasp to pretend it had been an accident, and I slipped into the drapery and hung on inside to press up against the wall and listen.

“Vera!” Elaine said. “I was just saying we’re not enemies, and then you push her over the railing?”

“If we want to get out of here before they turn this building into a fireworks show, we don’t have time for a heart-to-heart. Yulia would never listen to reason anyway. She’s a Whitecliff drone through and through… let’s just move.”

“Vera,” Elaine gasped, and I watched from my vantage point as Vera snatched Elaine up off the floor and rappelled down a long curtain at the side, down to ground floor, and out of the rapidly emptying building.

Protectively.

A Whitecliff drone through and through.

I clenched my hands in the drapery.

Chapter 34

vera

“Floor it,” I said as soon as I got in the car, pushing Elaine in ahead of me, and Petra didn’t even wait for me to shut the door, slamming the gas and squealing out of the parking lot. Behind us, I heard one crack, and then another, as explosives went off in the building behind us.

“God, I hope everyone got out,” Elaine breathed shakily, buckling her seatbelt and taking her mask off as she craned to look through the rear windshield at the flashes of light and color.

“Only straggler was Yulia,” I said. “And she’s hard to kill. She’ll make it out. Which car are we after, Petra?”

“Bright green sports car with red racing stripes.”

“Tasteful man, I see. And subtle at that.”