Page 102

The elevator doors opened. Ice and I stepped out.

“Four minutes,” Smith shouted behind us. I turned to Ice.

“He means we should step outside and wait on the sidewalk in four minutes,” he explained, setting his watch. I waited with him—no disobeying from me. The moment the alarm went off, he took my arm.

As soon as we stepped out onto the street, a blue van screeched to a halt about nine yards away. I see a masked man. The side door swings open, and more men poured out—all dressed in black with dark shades.

“Run! Run!” Ice shouts, his voice cracking with urgency. I froze for a heartbeat until I spotted three of the men charging toward him, their boots pounding the concrete like war drums. “Run!” he screams again, desperation etched across his face. My legs finally obeyed. Muscles burning, I sprinted toward the basement parking where I knew Smith would be coming from. Heavy footfalls thundered behind me—one pursuer closing in fast. Ice couldn’t hold them all back.

“Don’t look back. Move faster till you get to safety.” Amrit’s training mantra echoed in my mind, flooding my system with electric fear. I pumped my arms harder, lungs screaming for air, refusing to glance back even as prayers for Ice tangled in my thoughts.

As I rounded the corner toward the dimly lit garage, I collided with the solid wall of another armed man. His fingers dug into my shoulders like steel claws. My body reacted before my mind could—my knee driving upward with crushing force. His grip loosened on my right arm. I unleashed a swift punch that connected with his jaw, the impact jarring up to my elbow. He staggered backward, eyes widening in surprise. His hold broke completely.

“Run!” screamed every cell in my body. “Smith!” I call out, my voice raw, hoping desperately he was within earshot. I could sense the attacker getting closer.

“Smith!” I shout louder, panic rising like bile. “Smith!” I shout louder again forcing the sound out with everything I have left.

“Get down!” Smith’s loud command cut through the chaos. I instantly dove to the concrete, scraping my palms as bullets whistled overhead. Everything blurred into fractured seconds—gunfire erupting in deafening cracks. Smith’s body appeared beside me, pulling me further into safety. He is hopelessly outnumbered. He threw himself over me as a human shield, pushing me down. My temple cracked against something metallic. More shots explodes around us. Warmth spread across my side, sticky and relentless. Consciousness began to slip away like sand through my fingers. “Jola!” Bruce’s voice broke through the darkness as it finally claimed me.

Chapter sixty

Bruce

Malik has an update on the Aspen guy and on Pete’s security breach. I’ve just entered our secure room, trying to trace the source of the leak in Pete’s detail. Some men broke into his apartment, which forced us to move him to another safe house.

I think this attack finally made him understand the seriousness of his protection. The man cut him and he cried like a baby.

Now we need to figure out how they got that close.

Malik starts mapping the building and tracking movement patterns. We are still working when Grayson bursts through the door, panic written all over his face.

“Alert on Ice and Smith just went off,” he blurts out.

My mind goes sharp. That means Jola is in danger.

I turn to Malik. He is already powering on his other laptop.

“I already activated our contacts in the force,” Grayson adds.

“Who do we have close to them?” I ask, already moving toward the gear room.

I grab my weapons. James and Wolfe are already pulling on tactical gear. One of them throws me a vest. We head for the elevator.

I shut out my pounding heart and every worst-case thought. We move in tactical order, fast.

Wolfe is driving, connected to Malik who is feeding us updates in real time.

“She’s running,” he says.

Keep running Jola. Don’t stop. Please keep running.

Wolfe weaves through traffic at speed. Our police liaison has the siren on and we stay right behind.

“Three minutes out,” James calls.

It feels like forever.

As we get closer, I see her from a distance. Jola is fighting one of the men and running toward the parking lot. Ice has just taken another down and is chasing after her.