Page 26 of Witness Security Breach

The gun dropped to the floor.

The cop yelped, clutching his wrist.

Charlie kicked the gun, sent it sailing into a corner and threw her elbow into the side of the officer’s head. A follow-up punch to the side of his neck and he fell into a boneless sprawl.

The neck was a vulnerable spot; you could crush a larynx or, as she’d done, deliver a sharp strike to the vagus nerve. At a minimum, it would cause disorientation. In the case of the cop, unconsciousness.

The emergency ward was crawling with police. For Charlie to get out, she needed to make herself less conspicuous.

Taking off her rifle, she grabbed two hospital gowns from the shelf. She threw one on like a coat, completely covering her back, and the second on the right way.

She took another, using it as a makeshift sack for her rifle and the supplies, and put on a white face mask.

Cracking the door, she peered into the hall. An officer was walking past the nurses’ desk. She slipped out of the room and turned right, heading away from the cop.

Quickening her step, she shoved through a set of double doors and hustled down the corridor.

She glanced over her shoulder. The cop hadn’t noticed her and was checking the rooms. Three more doors and he’d find his partner unconscious.

Charlie faced forward as she rounded a corner and slammed into a hard wall of muscle.

Aiden. Her throat loosened.

She hadn’t heard any movement coming in her direction. His stealth never ceased to amaze her.

He was wearing scrubs over his clothes and carrying a gym bag that must’ve had his vest and rifle inside. “The cops have the employee entrance locked down,” he said.

No. They had to get out of the medical center.

If they were arrested, no one would listen to them. Even Draper was ready to think the worst and he had known them for over a year, had witnessed firsthand their work ethic and integrity.

No one would believe anything they said, and Edgar would be tortured and killed.

Think. She had to think.

“There’s another way, but we have to hurry,” Aiden said, giving her a wild flash of hope.

He handed her a lab coat, scrub pants and a cap, then stuffed her makeshift sack into the gym bag.

They went down the hall as briskly and discreetly as they could, with her changing along the way. She ripped off the gowns, handed him her vest, which he stowed in the bag, and she put on the white coat.

As she finished shoving her legs into the pants and put on the cap, a nurse came through a set of double doors. If the woman hadn’t been looking down at her cell phone, she would’ve caught Charlie in an awkward position that would’ve been difficult to explain.

Charlie pushed the balled-up hospital gowns into the trash, and they passed the nurse, who was still preoccupied with her phone.

Aiden led her through a mini maze of hallways. They moved with confidence, acting like busy people who were supposed to be there.

They strode past a small elevator toward an unguarded door.

“That elevator goes directly to the maternity ward. This is a separate entrance for people with newborns, so the babies aren’t exposed to germs. I overheard a nurse escorting a family through here.” Aiden winked at her.

Warm pride filled Charlie’s chest. He was brilliant. She wanted to hug him tight and kiss him. On the cheek only and not all over, she had to remind herself.

She was so attracted to him that it scared her. Attracted to the point where she worried that it distracted her on the job sometimes.

The moment they had first met, there’d been off-the-charts chemistry. Not a simple spark but a lightning bolt. And she knew he posed an indefinable threat. Whenever they’d got close to kissing or anything romantic, instinct cautioned her to keep away, the same sense of self-preservation that warned someone not to get too close to an open flame.

There was a line that she’d never cross. The problem was that the line with Aiden was drawn in sand, easily washed away by waves and redrawn. Sometimes it inched forward; sometimes it was pushed back. While knowing she couldn’t have him made it worse.