Page 57 of Croatia Collateral

Not that she’d allow him to get very far. With every intention of using the butt of the handgun to hit him over the back of his head, she waited for the moment.

The Russian bent toward the interior passage. As he ducked through the entrance, she held the pistol pointed at him.

In a flurry of motion, the Russian’s arm shot out, knocking the pistol from her grasp, sending it flying through the air to land against the wall of a building.

Giva dropped into a defensive stance, her hands balled in fists, her head held high.

The guard dove into the passage and ran. By the time Giva retrieved the handgun he’d knocked from her grasp, he’d disappeared, and the door was closing.

She hesitated for a moment, worried he would catch up with Dax and keep him from reaching the Nexus Collective’s command center. She wanted to follow the man and stop him from interfering with Dax’s mission. If she did, she risked being taken and wouldn’t get to the team to pass on information or bring them back to help Dax.

Dax needed more help than she could give alone.

Giva spun on her heels and raced to the end of the building.

As she rounded the corner, she plowed into a large man.

He gripped her shoulders and shoved her against the wall.

She fought, kicking and punching, anything to free herself. Time was running out for Dax. She had to get help

“Giva,” a voice broke through her desperate struggle.

She looked up into the face of the man she’d been pummeling.

Fearghas Gordon stared down at her, his brow furrowed. “Giva, where’s Dax?”

Her knees buckled. If Fearghas hadn’t been holding her by the shoulders, she would have collapsed in a heap at his feet. “He’s in there,” she said, her voice catching on a sob. “You have to help him.” She broke free of his grip and spun back toward the door hidden in a stone wall. “Hurry.”

Fearghas grabbed her arm. “Slow down. Tell me what happened.”

“He doesn’t have time. If we don’t get there soon, they’ll kill him and then kill twenty-five million people.” She tried to pull free of the hand on her arm, but Fearghas held tight. He tapped his radio headset. “Located Giva. No, he’s not with her. Will wait for you before we go in.”

“We can’t wait,” Giva cried. They’re going to send an EMP to Shanghai. Dax is trying to stop them. But he’s just one against several armed Russians.”

Fearghas’s brow creased. “Dmytro, Atkins and I are going with Giva. The Nexus Collective are planning to fire off an EMP at Shanghai. Dax is trying to stop them.” He released Giva’s arm. “Go. I’m right behind you.

Freed, Giva raced ahead of Fearghas, skidding to a stop in front of the stone wall that had been a door moments before.

Her brow was knit as she skimmed her hands across the stones, searching for the metal plate hiding a keypad beneath it. She finally found it, slid it upward and entered the code.

As the door opened, Peter Atkins appeared at the end of the building and ran toward them.

With an abbreviated glance toward the two men, Giva shot through the door. She raced down the tunnel, pausing at the first locked door to enter the code.

Peter and Fearghas caught up with her as the first door opened. They ran through, following Giva as she led the way along the stone-lined passages to the great room where she’d last seen Dax.

Her heart hammering against her ribs, Giva rushed across the floor to the corridor Dax had disappeared into. Time was running out. She felt it in her bones. For Dax, for Shanghai and twenty-five million unsuspecting people.

One locked door led to a second. Her fingers shook as she keyed the code and waited, her pulse pumping hard through her veins. She almost cried when she reached the third door.

“How many of these are they?” she muttered, keying the code and waiting for the door to open enough for her to slip through it.

She sprinted down the passage without looking back to see if Fearghas and Peter were behind her. If she ran into Russian guards, she’d kill them and keep going.

As she rounded a corner, an explosion erupted from a doorway ahead, rocking the ground beneath her feet and sending debris shooting out, followed by dust billowing like a gray cloud into the tunnel.

Giva staggered backward, dropped to the ground and covered her head.

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