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The knock on the door was soft. Too soft. Professional.

My heart stopped.

I lifted my phone that I’d never bothered to set down, and pressed in the last number I’d called.

“Are you in the Uber?” Code said.

"No." I whispered. "Code, someone's knocking on the door."

“Do. Not. Answer. It.”

“I’m going to go check to see who it is.”

“No!” he roared. “Don’t go near the door. You stay put.”

I got up with my phone still pressed to my ear.

“Please, please. I’m begging you. Open the door.” The woman’s voice was distinct and full of fear.

“Somebody needs help, Code. I’ve got to go.”

“It’s a trap.”

“If it is, I won’t open the door.” I set down my phone on the dresser and put the speaker on. “There, the speaker is on. You’ll hear everything. You’ll see none of us will do anything stupid.”

“Help me. Please.” I flinched at the agony in the woman’s voice.

"Kit?" Sophie whispered from where she sat on the bed, hands still trembling. Russell stood frozen by the desk, blood from his broken nose dried on his chin.

I held up one finger. Stay quiet.

“Our Uber is here,” Russell announced quietly.

“Let me see what’s going on with the lady outside, then we can go.”

I crept to the door and looked through the peephole.

Viktor Sokolov stood in the hallway, one arm wrapped around a young woman's throat, and she was turning red. Her mouth was taped shut with a wide piece of silver tape. She was wearing a hotel maid uniform. She couldn't have been more than twenty. Her eyes were wide with terror. Viktor's other hand held a gun to her temple. Even through the fish-eye distortion of the peephole, I could see the silencer attached to the barrel.

"Russell, are you in there?" Viktor's voice was calm, almost pleasant. Russian accent, but his English was perfect. "I know you're looking at me right now. Open the door, or I kill the maid."

My mouth went dry. I couldn't move. Couldn't think.

"Kit?" Sophie's voice cracked behind me.

"Don't." I barely got the word out.

"You have five seconds," Viktor continued. "Five. Four."

Think. Think like Code would think.

"If you kill her," I called through the door, forcing my voice steady, "you lose your leverage. You won't kill her."

The silence lasted two heartbeats.

Then Viktor shoved the maid against the opposite wall. She stumbled, tried to run. He took aim with the casual precision of someone who'd done this a thousand times.