Page 32 of Broken Embers

He stumbles.

I turn and see Valeska standing behind him with a metal pipe.

She swings again. This time, the blow sends Mikhail to his knees. Valeska doesn’t stop. Over and over—she beats his body like she’s exorcising a demon.

And maybe she is.

He goes down, blood pouring from his temple.

She kicks him in the ribs. Once. Twice.

“Feel better?” I rasp, still catching my breath.

She spits on his unconscious or possibly dead body. “A little.”

We don’t waste another second. We limp-run down the hallway, turning corner after corner.

“Just a few more feet and through that manhole into the tunnel.” Valeska points to a metal cover sticking up from the ground in front of us.

We have to creep along the wall to keep from being caught by the spotlight swinging across the grounds. We’re almost to the maintenance hole when the alarm howls to life, loud and sharp.

We turn, and my blood runs cold—Mikhail is shouting and barking orders to the guards.

“He’s still breathing,” I gasp.

“Obviously, I didn’t hit him hard enough,” she growls. “Quick.”

We make a dash for the maintenance hole that is already open. “I see you’re prepared.”

She nods, pulling it back and letting me go first before dropping down behind me.

The metal lid slams shut, and she switches the flashlight on her phone, leading the way through whatever sludge is squelching beneath my boots. But at this point, I don’t even care, especially if freedom is just ahead, and I would karate chop my way through thick cobwebs right now to get there.

Soon, we clear the tunnel and double-time it toward the southeast exit, through another small, pipe-like tunnel with a round wooden door at the end, which Valeska kicks open. Then there it is—freedom.

As I pop out of the pipe behind her, I freeze when a woman steps out of the darkness. My eyes widen with shock.

“Irina!”

“No.” She shakes her head. “Nadia. I’m Irina’s twin.”

Before I can say more, Valeska flies into her arms, and they embrace, sharing a passionate kiss. I step back toward the tunnel we’ve just popped out of to offer them some space. Then, nearly get the life scared out of me when someone else appears out of the darkness.

Syd!

“For fuck sake!” I hiss, holding my chest where my heart nearly jumped out through my throat.

“We’ve got them,” Syd says into her earpiece, then steps forward and does something so unlike Syd—she hugs me. “What was I supposed to do? Knock?” She chuckles. “It’s so good to see you.”

As my nerves start to untangle, Syd moves away. I’m about to ask where the rest of the team was or if there was a rest of the team. As I’m not sure if I dreamed it or not, but I could have sworn I spoke to Oleksi right before our escape.

As I open my mouth, I see Syd lurch toward me. Confusion spirals through me, and once again, fear explodes in my chest when an arm like a steel band wraps around my waist and a large hand grips my throat. Syd goes for her gun.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Mikhail warns Syd, looking pointedly at her gun. “I can snap her neck like a twig before you have a chance to pull the trigger.”

“Let her go!” Valeska hisses.

“You didn’t think you’d get away that easily, did you?” he hisses into my ear. “Pretty new little pet.”

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