Page 48 of Act of Passion

There was simply too much atstake.

Brooke turned and started to run again. The side street was a dead end, but she wouldn’t let that stop her. In seconds, she’d already soaked in her surroundings, knowing the best route to take—it wentup.

She leapt up and seized hold of a metal fire escape ladder and swung herself up and onto it, drawing on the speed and strength the very people chasing her had ensured shehad.

A bullet whizzed by her, going through her hair, narrowly missing her neck. The sounds of sirens grew nearer and she knew local law enforcement wouldn’t help. The people chasing her were widely connected. The odds of the police being diverted by The Corporation and its affiliates were great. That was also something she’d learned longago.

Trust noone.

She climbed higher and dodged anotherbullet.

“Aim for the torso!” shouted one of the men. “Elm wants her alive. No fatalshots!”

Brooke kept going higher and higher. One of the men fired at her again and this one ricocheted off the metal railing, near herhand.

There was snarling and then more gunfire, but no bullets came near her. She’d been hunted for too long by The Corporation to think for a minute the men had missed that wide. No. They were trained killers who were more thanhuman.

She slowed enough to look down. The entire end of the street was blocked off by SUVs now. Something was happening down there. The men who had been after her had turned and were converging on something or someoneelse.

Her head told her to keep running. To put as much distance between herself and the bad guys as she could. Her body refused to move. It was as if she were frozen in place, the overwhelming urge to see who or what had caught the men’s attention was great. Whatever it was, it waspissed.

Her jaw dropped as she watched one of the men in the suits get tossed in the air like a ragdoll. He fell back into the mass of men. Blood splattered onto the building across the street in such an amount that there was no doubt the owner wasdead.

“Move,” she said out loud, hoping her body would obey. It didn’t. Her hand tightened around the railing as she remained locked inplace.

Half the men splintered off, their attention coming back to her. Two lifted their weapons and aimed. Even with the threat of being shot, she couldn’t get her body torespond.

Another man in a suit flew into the air and then landed with a thud that echoed loudly. A man with shoulder-length black, wavy hair emerged from the crowd of men, his back to her. This one wasn’t in a suit. He was wearing exactly what the man in the Egyptian mask had been wearing at theclub.

He had a handgun held up like he more than knew his way around one. He popped off a shot and one of the men who were aiming at her went down fast. The man shot another in a fraction of a second. He stepped partially under one of the lights from the building and turnedaround.

She saw his face and thought for sure her mind was playing tricks onher.

“Malik?” she whispered, and his gaze snapped up toher.

He was dead. That was what she’d been told. What she’d believed foryears.

It was him, but his hair was shorter than it had been five yearsback.

He’d been the man she’d rubbed all over at the club? The man she’d wanted to give herself to the same way she’d given herself to him all those yearsago?

Another shot rang out, this one coming from above. Brooke glanced up to find men in suits descending from the roof on the very same fire escape she was on. They opened fire on her and she jolted back fast. Too fast. The railing gave out behind her and she reached out, trying to catch hold of anything to keep her up, but shemissed.

Vaguely, she heard Malik shouting her name, sounding frantic. She shut off, focusing on twisting in preparation for landing on her feet. Shots came from above and one hit her in the arm and another hit her in the upper leg, the pain and impact throwing her off. The ground met her, and it wasn’t with openarms.

Pain raced through her and she lay there on her stomach, the wind knocked out of her. There was a huge roar not far from her and then an explosion of gunfire around her. She waited, expecting to be shot again. The Corporation was very aware of her healing abilities. After all, they’d given them to her. They’d have no issue filling her with bullet wounds they knew would heal if it meant they got their clutches on heragain.

No bullets struckher.

Confused and disoriented from the fall, she lifted her head slightly. It took a second for her vision toclear.

When it did, she found Malik there, not far from her, his upper body seeming even larger than before. Tan fur coated his arms and long claws tipped his fingertips. His normally dark eyes were a vibrant amber as he spun and slashed open the neck of one of the men in asuit.

Pain radiated throughout her as she began to put the pieces together. Malik was a shifter? Everything began to make sensethen.

Someone touched her shoulder lightly, and she gasped as pain went through heragain.

“How hurt are you?” asked a familiar voice. One she’d heard at the club and knew belonged to the man called Auberi. “You require medical attention. First, I have to try to cage the lion before he goes on a killing spree that extends beyond these assholes. Do me a favor and try not to die. I’llneverget him settled down if you die. Plus, I really hate doingreports.”

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